How to Practice your Yoga when the going gets Christmas.
Christmas is right around the corner and as a teacher (and a student!) I know this is the most difficult time of year to remain consistent in ones’ Yoga Practice. And we all know why, right? Whether you channel Buddy the Elf or Ebenezer Scrooge, the majority of us are busier than ever! We’ve got work dos, socialising and present buying coming out of our ears. Our weekends are booked up until 2022. Our bedtimes are later and our mornings are stained by the flavour of the evening before.
Ah the joyful cocktail of a stinking hangover and mild anxiety after you “performed” Alphabet Aerobics to your new boss and his wife. Nothing like it is there?
Basically, I know how bleeping hard it can be to come to the mat when we’d rather have an extra hour in bed (or in pitch black silence). I’m not approaching this from a holier-than-thou perspective either, because I too love a party and a busy schedule. I love Christmas and I even thrive a little off the craziness, pace and stress hormones. Hell, only a few years ago I missed almost the whole of Xmas morning because I was hungover, head in a bucket, dry heaving stylee. Classy. What I’m saying is I don’t expect my students (or myself) to try and do it all over this period because we only have so many hours in the week and the last thing I or anyone else need is more pressure to achieve something when the pressure is already turned up to 1,000. What I will say is that there are some wonderful ways we can make slices of time for our practice when it can be hard to prioritise and ironically we need it most.
Doing a little bit of Yoga regularly will help us to feel more grounded when the going gets Christmas. It will help us to regulate both our minds and our nervous systems. Our practice can be a haven for us to escape to when the tinsel and bells get too loud and bright and help us to plant our feet back in the earth and get our nervous systems back to a place of easy receptivity; Ready to destroy our siblings in Articulate and mime the best version of All I Want for Christmas in Charades. In turn that’s going to mean we enjoy each other’s company a hell of a lot more because we’re not fighting to survive, which is the perspective of our nervous system when we’re in highly activated (stressed) states.
If you fancy an in-studio practice (and are a Brightonian) this December, my classes at Upstairs at Six on a Wednesday at 6 pm are on a sliding scale payment of £5/ £7.50/ £10. I’d love to see you there, but if getting out of the house to the studio isn’t you right now, here are 5 tips to help your at-home practice during the Christmas period.
Remove all obstacles.
Yup, make getting to the mat (or meditation cushion or whatever) as easy as poss so that when the excuses come up (and if you’re like me, they will), you can objection handle like a well trained fundraiser. I’m talking put your mat out the night before, or as soon as you’ve made the decision to practice. Save some videos you can access quickly if you practice online. Go to bed in your Lulus...whatever makes your practice harder to say no to, do that.
Put it in your diary.
I know it sounds fairly boring, but honestly, scheduling your practice into your week just like it’s a coffee with a friend or a hot date is a game-changer. Even the simple act of writing it down is incredibly powerful as it breeds accountability whilst cultivating a sense of importance. We write things down when they are meaningful and need to be remembered or we’re excited about them. I like to approach my practice as if I’m romancing it like it’s a date between me and my Yoga that I’ll be damned if I miss. Seduce your practice, you’re far likelier to stick to it.
Utilize the time you have.
I know many of us are used to practising for an hour and/ or at a specific time of day, but sometimes it just isn’t realistic to fit it in. If all we have time for is five minutes of pranayama before we leave the house, this can be our practice for the day. Being intentionally flexible with how much time we dedicate to our Yoga and when we do it, can quieten the part of our mind that has strong expectations about what Yoga SHOULD be. Therefore we can get a little meditation or a 20 minute Yin practice in and actually feel really good about it rather than having the internal voice of perfectionism booming “THAT AINT ENOUGH YOGA”. Honestly, even if all you do is 5 Sun Sals first thing in the morning or a pigeon before bed, you will be grateful for the dedication. Be intentional with the practice, no matter the length.
Be flexible with your practice style.
This can be a little daunting for those that haven’t branched out from their usual style of Yoga, but I promise this can be a game-changer. My at-home practice can be pretty Yang for the most part, with the exception of Nidra and Pranayama. I’ve found during BUSY AF times, a little restorative or softer movement can serve really beautifully to bring me back to baseline. Why? Because we down-regulate our nervous systems. Yippee. If you feel a little self-conscious or at sea, use a YouTube video or follow one of my podcast episodes (plug plug plug). Change it up so that you have a tool to fit every mood.
Be nice to yourself.
Remove your judgement and expectations. They are not useful when you’ve already got a million things on. You sitting there during Home Alone and thinking “Oh I’m such a bad practitioner. I should be doing Yoga right now. I’ve seen this film so many times. I’m so bad.” gets you nowhere. If you’re enjoying the moment, just be there in that moment, isn’t that what our practice is there to teach us anyway? Sure, a little breath, movement and presence are going to serve you well, but being a total shit to yourself when you don’t make it to practice or using your mat time as self-flagellation sure as hell won’t.
It’s the season of kindness, so cultivate that towards yourself too, please.
I hope you spend this season in a way that feeds YOUR idividual soul and that you feel loved.
See you soon.
x
