New Year’s Resolutions and Yoga Practice

New Year’s Resolutions and Yoga Practice

The end of a year can be a time of reflection, a time for thinking about places where your life is calling for change. Let that be the incentive to notice what you want for yourself in the new year. If what you want includes starting or revivifying a regular yoga practice, here are some suggestions.

Taking small baby steps can get you started toward making a difference in your life. Sometimes it is challenging to create a new routine, but once you start doing something on a regular basis, like practicing yoga, it becomes automatic. Not that you should do yoga “on automatic” but that you can live in a way that makes doing yoga an automatic activity.
 
Play a game in your imagination. Think about your how you feel in your body and how you feel emotionally. Think about your physical well-being at the same time as your emotional well-being. Write down some answers to the question "Wouldn't it be nice if....?" Feel what it feels like in your body to have that sensation by remembering a time in which it did, or did to a greater degree. Let yourself daydream. Imagine it as if it is already there by capturing the feeling of health and specifically what you want to create in yourself in the coming year. It might help to recall a previous time in which you felt healthy in the way that you desire for the future. 
 
I encourage you to be easy about this process, and find the fun in it. New Year's Resolutions are made for us to feel better and live more fully and happily. They shouldn't be something to bring us down but a way to bring us closer to our true selves. Yoga is a process of knowing our true selves as well.
 
My daydream is something like this: Wouldn't it be nice if I had more energy? I recall feeling that way when in springtime when the flowers were blooming and I was walking outside. Wouldn't it be nice if I felt optimistic? Wouldn't it be nice if my fingers were flexible?  I want to play piano and type effortlessly and easily. Wouldn't it be nice if I moved faster and easily? Wouldn't it be nice to bend down and pick something up without thinking about it? Wouldn't it be nice to feel how my body felt twelve years ago? Wouldn't it be nice if I looked and felt amazing with vibrancy seeping out of my pores? Wouldn't it be nice if my work were easy? Wouldn't it be nice if I had more fun? Wouldn't it be nice if I knew some fun people to hang out with? Wouldn't it be nice if I ate some tasty healthy food this year as part of my routine? I would like to feel as relaxed as I felt on sitting in front of the fire last year. Wouldn't it be nice if I had a more regular yoga practice because it feels so good?
 
The next step with your process is thinking of what one little step you can take to start creating these things in your life. Go about this process with lightness in the spirit of pretending. Go forth and do some little steps, a bit at a time, to bring your desired qualities of health to you. Revisit this feeling place that you enjoyed in your imagination often. That is a way to point you toward what you desire and create it. Make a list of small steps, or even one next step that makes sense for what you want in your life.
 
A yoga practice is something to bring overall health to your body and mind. Having a yoga practice is a way to consider becoming healthier. With that in mind, I am including some tips to get you started with your own yoga practice. Remember that a small practice every day makes a big difference and will start to bring you the amazing health benefits that yoga offers.
 
Here are some ideas for starting your yoga practice:
1. Get something to remind you of what poses to do whether it is a yoga DVD, a chart, cards, a book, a list of poses you know with stick figures, an audio cd. Or whatever works for you.
2. Set out time each day to do a small practice.  It can start taking as little as 5 minutes a day. You will find you can do more, but if you initially commit yourself to a small period of time that you are sure you can manage you are more likely to maintain a regular yoga practice. Morning is often good because you have more energy and won't be likely to let other things take over.
3. Always start your practice time the same way.  For me it is as simple as rolling out my yoga mat, standing or sitting on it, and seeing where I go from there.
4. If possible, go to a regular yoga class.
5. If you have a yoga practice, try a different style of yoga or new poses to spice it up.
6 Try doing yoga with a friend, maybe using a yoga DVD or video.
7. Do some yoga stretches before and after your other activities like working out at a gym or walking or jogging.
8. Do some desk yoga stretches at work if you work at a computer.
9. Be mindful of your breathing, allowing long exhales.
10. Use your breath to notice what is going on inside you, and slow down your speed of living for a few moments each day. An important element of Yoga is self-awareness. Noticing your breathing cultivates that aspect.
11. Read a yoga book or article and get inspired.
12. Do one pose a day until you feel like adding another one and then another one. Soon you have your own yoga practice!
13. Learn how to do the Sun Salutation or another sequence in the style of yoga you are practicing and do it regularly.
14. If you are a meditator, learn some postures to help with your sitting to be more comfortable. Yoga postures are a wonderful preparation for meditation. By settling the body, the mind becomes more still.
 
Special thanks to Victor Oppenheimer for his yoga expertise and editing of this article.

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