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| Hey, I haven't come here in awhile. Anyways Happy New year. As usual my new year resolution is to get into shape and get healthy. I was doing yoga awhile back but then stopped due to many excuses. To get to the point, I really need motivation. I just can't seem to get myself to get up and enjoy doing workout. I dread it, even though yoga did make me feel peaceful but that isn't enough to get me moving. Any suggestions or tips?
Annie |
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| [on: motivation mode]
YOU GO GIRL! COME ON, YOU KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! IT'S GOOD FOR YOU! YOU'LL LOVE IT!
[motivation mode: off]
No, earnest, you wrote that you dread it. Please ask yourself why. What points exactly you don't like about yoga? Too slow, too boring, not enough action? You know, there are many more ways to become physically fit and healthy. Maybe yoga is just not your thing. Maybe a Pilates, Aerobics, Jazzercize or whatever class will make you more happy.
Before you ask other people to motivate you, you have to first make your own mind up if you really wanna be motivated. Only if you can answer that question with a decided YES, then it's worth a try. But then you don't really need anymore foreign motivation. There are many of small tricks how to get yourself motivated. But that's for later ...
And a habby new year for you too 
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
    
| Annie - what sort of practice were you doing? Were you "working out" to a boring video or pushing yourself through something sweaty and hard to do? Find yourself three pose you LOVE to do and do those every day for awhile. When you feel stronger, add one that you don't like. Gradually add in more that you like with a few you don't like scattered around and soon you will be doing a fully fledged practice again. I find it helpful to start with something that makes me sit or lie down on the mat so I am less likely to just walk away after a couple of poses  The most important pose is "getouthemat asana". Once you have done that, the rest is easier. Good luck! |
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| I had been trying to do yoga from a video but it is very much slow for me. I have 4 different ones in hopes to keep myself interested. I have also tried pilates and that was not fun, and bellydancing. I did bellydancing for fitness for a year, but I lose interest in a lot of things very quickly. I wish there was a workout where I was having fun at the same time.
What I like about yoga is the peaceful feeling and relaxed feeling. I like the challenge of some of the harder poses and it gives me satisfaction when I am finally able to achieve those poses. What I do not like about yoga is, it is very slow, it makes me feel emotional, and I find it hard to consentrate. For the rest of the day I it seems to go slow.
Bellydancing was a lot of fun in the beginning. After doing the video hundred times, it gets boring. I know there are other videos as well, and classes too but I can not afford to go to classes even for yoga. I think what I really need is just some motivation to just do it!
Annie |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| OK, first of all you don't have to do yoga slowly - I do, but that is because I can be a lazy slug about physical stuff   I thnk a better avenue for you, since you can't afford classes (and check out the thread about that http://www.yoga.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=18078&start=1
someone please fix that link if I did it wrong...- maybe you CAN afford classes and just haven't figured out how yet...) might be to get yourself a good yoga book and follow those practices. They will vary as often as you want them to and will offer lots of suggestions for more challenges. Do them as fast or as slow as you like and enjoy some real variety. Since I study Iyengar, those are the books I know but here are some I like:
-Yoga the Iyengar way, by Mira Mehta. It has pretty much all the poses and lists of practices. The downside is that the pictures are separate from the practices so you have to keep looking back to see which pose is which until you get good at the Sanskrit names.
-Yoga: The Path To Holistic Health -- by B. K. S. Iyengar is great and has tons of practices,
-Iyengar Yoga by Judy Smith has short practices, which are nice,
-The Woman's Book of Yoga and Health: A Lifelong Guide to Wellness by Linda Sparrowe and Patricia Walden is a fabulous book for women.
These are all available online and really not expensive. They may also be available at your local library. Another thing to look at is finding free classes. Our local studios offer them from time to time, maybe yours do, too. Some studios offer the first class free. Check those things out, too. |
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| Baron Baptiste's Journey into Power disk #2 is very close to one of his classes. He uses a more active style of Yoga.
Edited by MrD 2005-01-03 1:50 PM
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| Here is my tough-love motivation:
When you set a goal for your day (for example: working out) there are two possible outcomes: you accomplish your goal or you do not accomplish you goal. These leave you with two things at the end of the day: a sense of accomplishment or a bunch of reasons/excuses.
When you go to bed at night, you can rest easy with a sense of accomplishment or you can go over the tired list of reasons and excuses that show up time and time again. Your choice is simple do you want to hear those reasons and excuses every night or do you want that sense of accomplishment. You can dress this up a lot of ways but it still comes down to the same thing. Do or Do Not.
We like to believe the quality or magnitude of the reason is important but ultimately it isn't. We also automatically assume that because it is called an excuse, that it is BAD. It is not inherently bad or good. It just IS. Not working out does not make you bad (it might make you fat, but not bad), it just is another day gone by without working out.
Part of the process is to be tough yet not beat yourself up.
For example, the alarm goes off and I say I should go to the gym but I would rather sleep for an extra half hour. Then I say, if I don't go now, I won't be able to go later and I know tonight I do not want to have to hear myself complain about not going to the gym. So off to the gym I go.
Or let's say, I hit snooze and go back to sleep. Then later at night, i'm looking at that piece of cake saying I shouldn't because I didn't go to the gym today. I am not going to beat myself up about not going to the gym. However, at the end of the day, I have to account for what I did and did I do everything I set out to do, the answer is no. I didn't go to the gym. Why? Because>>>> bla bla bla. It doesn't really matter why. Whether it is because the trains weren't running or because I hurt my knee, the fact is I didn't go. No amount of excuses will change that. You go to bed and wake up the next morning and try again.
Take emotions out of it. Take out the personal attachments. Simply make it a yes/no one or zero question. Did i go to the gym today? Did I do yoga today? Did I take my medicine today?
Like if your doctor told you to take 1 pill every day. He doesn't care why you didn't take it. He doesn't care how busy you are. Neither does your body. In order to get better you simply have to take that pill every day. I didn't take it because.... or such and such happened and I couldn't take the pill.... is all irrelevant. What matters is simply did you do it today? Your doctor doesn't think you are a bad person if you don't take you pill, he just knows that you won't get healthy. Same thing.
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| That was Brilliant, YG! Thank you! I was in need of that kinda tough love too, since I'm a natural born slacker and have much more excuses than accomplishments. For example I've just found out that my gym doesn't have any group trainings scheduled for the next week again (seems the whole of SA is on vacation). I'm partly sorry but on the other hand I'm quite happy because I can stay put on the couch and watch TV without a bad conscience And I don't do any home practice because [fill in any of my usual excuses here].
Your "sermon" also reminded me of my photo editor at the newspaper I used to work for as a photographer when I was younger. Sometimes, inevitably you come from an assignment back to the office with an empty roll of film because the celeb didn't show up or whatever you had to shot was just too unspectacular. At these occasions he also was like "Well, good excuse, but I can not print excuses and you'll never earn any money with excuses!" Do or die it was! And since I always tend to believe in my own excuses it took me until now to finally get the message
Thank you again! |
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| That's fabulous, Keith!!! Love it! It should be published everywhere so all can see! |
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| Yoga guy, its a really good advice. and I find it useful . But dont you ever feel demotivated ??Dont you get fed up or lazy to do things ? Im just curious. you are a very senior yogo right? You may have a good control of your mind |
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| Annie I think you are too fast! Why dont you slow down a bit, do one thing properly ???? |
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| Annie do you generally have a problem with motivation with lots of things, not just yoga ? Do you get bored easily ? Because I am a bit like that. The strategies I found which help are ( not just with yoga )
1. Set a time of the day for the specific activity. I have recently decided I will get up at 6 am to do yoga before work. And tell yourself it is a special committment. And all the stuff Yogaguy wrote above applies.
2. Do it with a friend. Maybe you can get a friend or two to do yoga together ( or bellydancing or whatever ). It is very hard to say no to doing something when you have a friend pestering you.
3. Join a club. I don't mean yoga but you did mention fun activities. I have recently started dragon boat racing, and they will make you feel so bad about not turning up to training/races that it's enough motivation for me to rock up !
Good luck 
Edited by bomberpig 2005-01-04 3:37 AM
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| I need some relaxing thing before get back to yoga.. I just feel like to go to a spa for a full day program or what ever.( I’ve seen that there are so many massaging, relaxing, therapies they have advertised in many Spas., Can somebody give me some ideas? How to select a right spa? What is fragrant candle treatments for relaxing? How to select a package? I just found this site., Some are Sanskrit words ., Some words I do not understand. Any idea of these treatments??
http://www.thelotusspa.com/ayurveda-treatment-packages.htm
Do they really work? I have never been there before
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| Thushara - 2005-01-04 12:14 AM
Yoga guy, its a really good advice. and I find it useful . But dont you ever feel demotivated ??Dont you get fed up or lazy to do things ? Im just curious. you are a very senior yogo right? You may have a good control of your mind
Thushara
Sure! I get injured, I get tired, emotional, feel fat and lazy. So what? That is normal and human and unexeptional. Nobody wants to hear me b@#$% & moan. What makes people exeptional and enlightened is not how much they believe their own excuses, but how much they ignore those voices in their head.
We all have self doubt and fear. If we listen to it, we will stay sedentary and never evolve or better ourselves. A very great quote I remember says, "There is no success where there is no chance of failure. And there is no art without resistance of the medium."
None of us are bad people for feeling like we have no time or energy. None of us are without the desire to pig out. That's our normal condition. However the path to enlightment is not a downhill journey. You have to overcome inertia and momentum will only take you so far.
I'm not saying I am always walking the path, but I think I have a good idea where it is most of the time. Most importantly, I try not to beat myself up. I count my blessings. I take stock of my victories and my supportive friends and I get myself back on track. |
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| According to this you SHOULD listen to the voices in your head:
http://nypost.com/news/regionalnews/37770.htm
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| Very cool....can't help but hope he spreads some of it beyond his local Brooklyn charities and helps out with the tsunami relief. ((fingers crossed)) It's great to listen to the voices in your head, but just as important if not more to listen to the ones in your heart. OW! Sorry, just got pushed off my soapbox... |
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| >> I have recently started dragon boat racing, <<
Wow, that's great Janet. Say, is your crew attending the races in Cape Town? You know it's like the World Championships here every year, with lots of boats from all over the world. We're watching the races every time. It's big fun!
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| Stefan I am only in the 'season socials' group at the present, although the more sporty types do go all over the place to race. They just went to Shanghai not so long ago and I will be very suprised if they don't go to Cape Town. Shall ask about it when training resumes next week. BTW I visited Cape Town last year and loved it, the winelands were so beautiful, Robben Island was pretty gobsmacking, and it was nice to be able to walk around pretty much anywhere I wanted ( unlike Jo'burg ). |
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| Yah, Jo'burg is a dump. Been there only twice and never went downtown. It's a no-go zone! CT's the place to be. What did you do here, vacation or business?
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Dragon boat racing is really big here on the west coast of Canada. I taught an outdoor yoga class to a team once. If you ever start racing on the international circuit, let me know |
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| afroyogi - 2005-01-06 11:29 PM
Yah, Jo'burg is a dump. Been there only twice and never went downtown. It's a no-go zone! CT's the place to be. What did you do here, vacation or business?
It was strictly pleasure. I went to Jo'burg to visit a friend and when I reearched the trip with the Lonely Planet it basically said 'if you have 2 weeks in SA spend the 2 weeks in Cape Town' so I took a detour. Must say I appreciate living in Australia much more after that trip - not having to worry about being robbed and carjacked every minute. |
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| Yuk, the Lonely Planet  But they're kinda right. SA is a wonderful country with many places worthy a visit. But if you're short on time (1 or 2 weeks only) it's wise to spend it in CT and surroundings. You wanna visit the Kruger Park? Etosha pan? Victoria falls? That's different vacations for themself. We always laugh when we see these Chinese and American travel groups doing their typical "Europe in 4 days, Africa in 2 days" trips. Poor guys! They go everywhere and see a lot but they don't experience anything.
Hm, I would love to travel Orstralia too!
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| Yeah we get those tourists here too. they come to the Gold Coast, Sydney, Uluru and then go home thinking they have seen Australia . If you ( and Mrs Afroyogi ) are near Adelaide anytime send an email, I can show you guys where to taste good drops of red  |
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| Janet, doesn't look like we're having the necessary funds for a travel to your country. We have to buy tickets for flying to Europe once a year, that's expensive enough. About the Australian red, funny, we're living 10 minutes off the South African winelands, so we're kinda surrounded by that stuff ourselves. It's wasted on us though. Mrs Afroyogi doesn't drink any alcoholic beverages at all (with her MS she's becoming a muppet without strings after just a few drops) and I stick to my occasional dutch beer.
Having overcome my massive dislike of water I'm now rather fond of that stuff and drink it all day. I even dropped juices and coke and stuff. Makes me feel like a real yogi
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Need Motivation :cry:
