How to create a regular Yoga habit + stick with it.
Following on from last week’s blog about what keeps me going back to the mat 10 years into my practice, I thought what better way to follow up than give you some guidance on HOW to create a regular practice!
How many of us have committed to an at home practice only to “fall short” within the first month? We bolster up with the best intentions to practice every day; we know how wonderful hitting our mat makes us feel, but we just can’t seem to stick with the regularity over the long term!
Well buddy, below I’ve got some juicy tips to help you ingrain an at home yoga HABIT. OH and FYI I just wanted to pre curser this by saying I am not currently getting up at the crack of dawn to do Yoga every day. I slot it in when I can and the below has and continues to support my practice being something I return to on the regs with relative ease.
Let’s talk habit then! There is plenty of science out there supporting the power of habit and plenty of books and other free resources that tout the importance of creating and sustaining positive habitual behaviour for optimisation of lifestyle and health across the board. Automated behaviour, or habits if you will, actually make up a staggering 95% of our behaviour - meaning only 5% of our behaviour is actually manual - or conscious if you will.
*insert wtf moment here*
Our brains create patterns of automated behaviour (both helpful and unhelpful) leaving more space for the conscious mind to get on with all the other important bits and pieces we need to focus on.
By hacking the primal parts of the brain, we can optimise our time and create more room for the important things. Less decision making = less decision fatigue = more energy to make decisions when we need to!
A Yoga habit, although simple enough in concept, can be one of those small changes that can create really profound and positive change in so many aspects of our life! A regular Yoga practice, I believe, WILL without question give a slew of benefits. A SLEW.
Did I mention I wrote a blog about those benefits? No? check it out.
Not only might your body begin to feel (harder) better, faster, stronger, less grouchy and creaky - you also might begin to notice moments of meaning. You might feel a greater sense of purpose or feel the impact of your kindness and gratitude more keenly. There are f**kin LOADS of good things about a sustained Yoga practice! But you can read about those * ahem * somewhere else…
So are you ready to get this habit baked in and start claiming all the good s**t that comes with? I thought so.
but did you read my other blog first…?
Hehe…
LETS GEEW.
1 . HABIT STACK
Habit stacking is abuzz in the self optimisation world at the moment, but what is it? Well, simply put, its the “stacking” of one habit on top of another to create a routine. Studies show that when we are baking a new habit in, tethering a new one to an old one can be mega effective for making the new habit stick.
So perhaps whilst you wait for your morning brew (ingrained behaviour) disrupt whatever you usually do (I scroll on my phone sometimes…less useful habit) and take 3 minutes of stretching or breath practice (new behaviour) instead?
After pouring your coffee (habit) you might sit down for a 60 second meditation (new behaviour). Think granular, break the big habit (the Yoga practice) into smaller, bite sized steps steps. Mini-habits if you will! Get home from work, shoes come off (habit) and you put your Yoga clothes on right away (new behaviour), pop the kettle on (habit) then roll out the mat (new behaviour), grab your cuppa (habit) then take yourself to the mat and get settled in (new behaviour).
It’s about pairing an automated behaviour with a non-automated one to help the neurons wire up together and make the adopting of the new behaviour easier as you begin to associate the new habit with an ingrained one.
Fancy really sinking your teeth into habit stacking? This article by James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, is Bueno!
2. GIVE YOURSELF SOME MO’UCKIN OPTIONS - but not too many!
So whilst we don’t want too much choice whilst forming a habit (more choice doesn’t really equal automation!), when it comes to Yoga I find that if I am very rigidly aiming for a one hour Asana Practice #everydamnday, I’m not likely to stick with it! Sorry @Yogagirl! Basically the pressure is too high and I tap out after overdoing it because I have big bad perfectionistic tendencies that tell me all or nothing is the only way to operate.
To combat that little (but sometimes loud!) voice in my head, I tend to start the same way every time. I’ve changed into my Yoga clothes, stepped onto my mat (ahem habit stacking!) and I begin with a few moments of centring in either seated or lying down. I check in with my energy levels; the nature of my thoughts; the quality of my breath and the way my body is feeling. From here I’ll likely set an intention for practice that lines up with this data.
Energy feeling lethargic? Vinyasa. Feeling wired? Breathwork. Absolutely exhausted? Restorative practices. And whilst it isn’t always this formulaic, it’s useful to remember that a successful practice is defined by the doing of it and not by the content of it. So ease up a bit and let your practice have a variety of facets, just like you.
Now here’s the thing - this choice for some of us (especially if we’re early in the habit formation, new to Yoga, tired or all of the above) can be overwhelming and result in decision fatigue and (you guessed it) us sacking it off. So for those times it is worth having a secret weapon.
Maybe it’s a YouTube video or podcast saved to favourites; a sequence you already know (Sun Sal A’s + B’s are a great) or Alternate Nostril Breath or Box Breathing.
The overall message here - it doesn’t matter what Yoga you do, how you do it and for how long - the habit we want to ingrain is the showing up itself.
3. SET THAT BAR + Set it low AF
Hands up who loves a reward? Now hands up who feels rewarded when they achieve things? Love a To Do list and ticking things off it? Yep, chances are your feel-good hormone of choice is Dopamine my friend!
As a result of achievement, the reward centres in our brains are stimulated and we receive a juicy rush of the feel good hormone Dopamine if we perceive the completion of a task and or habit as rewarding in and of itself.
Dopamine release is shown to be higher when we expect a reward. Remember going to the dentist as a child and knowing that you’d receive a sweet treat or some stickers after? That manipulation of our reward response made the release of dopamine more significant than it would be had we not expected the reward.
Our brains are hotwired to drive us to repeat the things that make us feel good. If Yoga makes us feel good, we’re more likely to repeat the action and therefore be able to form that habit. If we expect a reward (the feeling of having achieved something could be a part of this!) then the dopamine rush is even more powerful.
So the trick here is to set the bar super low as it means we’re more likely to “achieve” what we have set out to do: Practice!
For me setting the bar low looks like committing to just 15 minutes at a time. 9/10 the 15 minutes flies by and I end up practicing for longer, but on days where I am time poor or just CBA I still receive my favourite feel good chemical. I get the reward of achievement even when practice is minimal, which we know, will keep me going back for me because WE REPEAT THE THINGS THAT FEEL GOOD!
4. PRIME YOUR ENVIROMENT
You have probably noticed this by now - but the general vibe of this whole post is CHOOSE THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE! If your space needs a full over hall to make it practice-ready, you WILL be more resistant to getting to the mat! If it is already set and ready to go, checking in with your practice is going to be that much easier. Likewise, if you sign up to a weekly class 45 minutes away from home or work, it’ll be harder to get to the mat than it would be if, lets say the studio is between work and home!
Look, I know most of us don’t have a space in our home that can be dedicated to our practice at all times, I certainly don’t at this point in time, but we can make small shifts to prime our space - both our physical and our mental!
Consider what your environmental obstacles may be and then prepare ahead of time. I roll my mat out in the tiny space I have in my room so I literally step straight out of bed and onto my mat. Another early morning obstacle? Putting on the clothes! Now I’m not suggesting you go all Robin Sharma on me and go to bed in your Yoga clothes (each to their own!) but try picking them out the night before and have them ready. Or, flip The 5AM Club hack on it’s head and just do Yoga in your PJs (if you wear any…).
Want to practice at the end of the day? Get your Yoga gear out and have it by the door, so that when you get in your shoes come off and your Yoga wear goes on. Before you leave for work, if you can, why not set out your mat and have a candle or some incense ready to go too! If you practice in the studio, have clothes at the office you can change into and go straight to the studio or something of a similar ilk. When the work has already been done and all you have to do is show up, it makes it all so much easier. Seduce your practice!
5. PUT IT IN YOUR SCHEDULE + just f**kin commit.
I know, contentious to say “just commit” when so many of us have complex psychology around doing things for ourselves that are good for us, but what I’m saying here is find your “Why”. Your raison d’etre for the creation of this habit. Do some journaling around your ‘why’ and pin those reasons somewhere you can see them, so you are regularly reminded of why you want to get to the mat. I’d also suggest you take note of how the practice makes you feel - if its good (god I hope it’s good!) put a reminder of that somewhere too. Maybe it’s the background on your phone, of you write it in marker on your mirror…whatever works for you hun. Just make it visible!
So putting my practice into my schedule really helps me to stay committed! I can organise my week around it. Maybe I even get a post practice coffee or wine too if I make it a play date with a Yoga mate. Accountability is a powerful tool so use it to your advantage! If you aren’t practicing in studio - why not film a timelapse and send it to a friend, who has a similar accountability thing going on, so that you can hold each other to your word?
And there you have it friends! my personal faves that help me get to the mat - if you have any tasty tips that help you, why not share them below :)
Big love
x
