4 TIPS TO STAY MOTIVATED IN YOUR YOGA PRACTICE
Yoga Teacher, Life Coach and Entrepreneur Sadhak Anshit
Shares Some hacks for finding your way back to the mat when life gets in the
way.
During my training to become a yoga teacher, I remember my
tutors telling me how difficult it would be to sustain my own practice once I
got busy with running my own classes. I dismissed the idea at the time —
if I loved yoga enough to want to teach it, why wouldn’t I make time to
practise?
Now a year later, I’m finding myself scouring my diary
for a free spot to get a session in, with coaching, nutrition and yoga bookings
filling up my days. I’m so grateful to be busy with work after becoming
self-employed. However, it has suddenly become a real challenge to prioritise
my self-care, not to mention meditate and practise on a daily basis. As I’m
sure many of us feel, after a long, tiring day all I want to do is sit, eat and
relax. My lovely, rolled up mat sits accusingly in the corner of my bedroom,
daring me to pick it up and put down Netflix.
Perhaps you’ve been having your own love affair with yoga, but
lately things have gone off the boil. Whether busy with work, family,
kids– it all starts taking its toll, even when we know that yoga is what we
need in order to feel better. So what can you do when time and motivation to
move suddenly become an issue on its own? Take these tips into mind for getting
back to your mat.
1. Keep
it short and sweet
If you can’t manage a full 90-minute practice, don’t fret. Even
taking 10-30 minutes can allow you to get the full effect of a session or allow
you to focus on particular muscle groups that may need a stretch. Bringing your
attention to your mat and steadying your breath, even for a relatively short
period of time, will let you reap benefits throughout the day.
When strapped for time, I find even 10 minutes
of seated meditation can set a more relaxed and less frenetic tone for the day.
I can notice that I react more positively to challenges that present themselves
later on. I also usually sleep more deeply if I can manage to get in a short
meditation before bed.
2.
Find a regular time
Set a time each day which you can dedicate to your
practice. Plug it into your calendar. You can also easily start creating new,
positive habits and associations, such as rolling out your mat as soon as
you get home from work to help you relax,
rather than opening that bottle of red. Or perhaps getting up before the kids
to give yourself a precious half-hour before the chaos begins. You wouldn’t
leave the house without cleaning your teeth and getting dressed, would you? In
the same mindset, we can start to adapt yoga into our daily routines.
An online platform such as Movement for Modern Life is designed
to offer you plenty of options for home practice, even if your chosen time is
3am in your pyjamas! You can also commit to attending a regular class in your
home town by buying a block of classes or term membership. Make sure that
the studio is on your way home so you can’t make excuses.
Yoga isn’t just about asana, or poses. Take your
yoga values such non-attachment, gratitude and non-harming off the mat
and into your day. This is a valuable way to develop your practise in a much
broader sense. The physical aspects of yoga are there to help you learn
patience, acceptance and endurance, so bear this is mind. Take a mental step
back when a co-worker annoys you, your spouse hasn’t taken out the rubbish or
you miss the bus home on a wet and cold evening. Take a moment to think before
you speak and say the wrong thing. Remember that yoga has also taught you how
to breathe and calm your nervous system.
Yoga offers a whole toolkit for managing the rigours of modern
life. If you need inspiration, try reading Donna Farhi’s Bringing
Yoga to Life or Iyengar’s Tree of Yoga.
4.
Inspire yourself
There may be a lot of negativity online, but it’s also possible
to use social media in a positive light, for example by following your
favourite yogis to gain inspiration. How about joining one of the many yoga
challenges on Instagram or Twitter that you come
across? I tried one where I committed to yoga every day for an entire
month. It kept me on my mat as I had to Tweet my progress and be held
accountable.
While yoga and consumer culture don’t necessarily go hand
in hand, sometimes a new mat, piece of clothing or something beautiful to add
to your meditation area can be just what you need to give you a little
incentive.
Above all, though, listen to your body and don’t push – that’s “ahimsa“, too,
by harming yourself. Some days, your practice just isn’t meant to be. Other
days, you will benefit enormously from a little positive self-talk and
encouragement to get on the mat. Don’t attach too much to your practice but do
stay in the moment and enjoy every second when you do find your flow.
This post was written by Sadhak Anshit, the founder of Shiva Yoga & Sadhak Anshit Yoga Classes. Sadhak Anshit is a Certified Yoga
teacher. He encountered the teaching while on the quest to heal himself from a
near death experience of a road accident. When Doctors told him that he would
never walk again, he took matters into his own hands and found the healing
powers of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, Meditation and Pranayama. Today, Sadhak Anshit
is one of the most recognized Yoga and Meditation teachers in India and spends
most of his time teaching all over India.
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