Tag Archives: habits

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Putting it Together

So far this week, we have looked at the habits that we tend to carry, they types of activities we do with our day, and what groups are the focus of those actions. Perhaps you have discovered that you spend more time and effort with the environment than you thought, or you discovered that you actually seem to place your family at the top of the list. In any case, this awareness of how you actually divvy up your time, shares how you place your effort unconsciously.

Today, I want to suggest that you can begin to consciously apply effort toward caring for others with everything that you do.

by Suat Eman

As you go about each day this week, see if you can remain aware of how what you are doing is actually in service of those key connections (people, places, and things) you listed earlier this week. All that you do can be a providing of service to others.

For me, this successfully helps me to release tension concerning actions I may be, shall we say, less inclined to enjoy. If I can complete all actions in my day from within a mindset of giving and offering service, then I find I am much more patient, understanding, and joyful, really. They call this way of attending your work “Karma Yoga.” The word karma can be translated most accurately into English in the word “habit.” If you need to establish some new habits which will make your life more broad rather than self-centered or closed off from others, this could be a great week for you!

Today, just try to bring your idea of who you are trying to serve or give to with you as you wash the dishes, do your paperwork, or discuss plans with your co-workers. Perhaps just this simple action will open a new level of meaning for you as you go about your day.

Yoga Pose of the Day: Urdhva Dhanurasana – Upward Bow Pose

Yoga Concept of the Day: Who does this action serve?

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Getting Your Practice Going (and Resources)

Photo by: Ambro

Some days it seems there is an urge to stop. Stop everything. Stop practice, stop going out, just stop. It is on days like this when yoga practice can be the most difficult to start, and the most valuable or enriching to actually perform. Those thoughts about not having time, not feeling like it, not being sure what to do are great excuses for the mind to use to provide a way out. The next thing you know, it is 9 pm and you know yoga isn’t happening today. So right now, this is the moment, when actually practicing can be the most powerful, the most life-bringing. To stop everything else and get the mat on the floor is the training. It is the practice.

I find that once the mat is on the floor, and once I have begun my practice, I can stick with it.

Just like all habits that bring great benefit, there is a time when it takes muscle and working through frustration or even boredom to get the habit going. Think back to the habits you have now that you take for granted. I am thinking of brushing teeth (have you ever tried to get a child to do it?), writing, reading, counting, using scissors. All of these things were once difficult and could even cause stress in your mind if you had to do them. Children have to think about these things to be able to do them. However, if you were lucky,  those around you knew it was important. You got some encouragement that it was worth your effort to keep trying, even if you didn’t feel like it. Now, when you need to cut the tags off your clothes, maybe you still skip the step of getting the scissors, but I doubt it causes stress to think about it. I can imagine there are times you use scissors without much thought. Surely, now, you just read without even thinking about it being reading. You count because it is convenient and beneficial, not because you are being tested. Yoga is beneficial to your heart (studies now show), your mind (yes, scientifically proven), and to your spirit (your connection to others and the greater world around you). You can’t really do better, in my opinion.

If you are struggling to stick with your practice, remember this. You will not always struggle. See if you can let go of the feeling of struggle and just let the body do it anyway. Eventually, you will not have to think of going to practice, once you have crossed a certain point. So what can you do to get there?

Go to a yoga class. Just stay. Nothing else is as helpful. Just stay.

Or

Put your yoga mat on the floor and start.

 

Suggestions:

1. Take a class or two in person. I do recommend taking at least a few yoga classes in person somewhere. If you have to travel far to do this, see if you can make the day a small spa for yourself. Take a few gentle classes at different places. I used to live so deep in the mountains that I had to drive a few hours to get to a city with yoga classes. You can always plan to stay one night at a hotel and take two classes a day for two days in a situation like that. It is relatively inexpensive and feels more like a personal spa than like you got run over. Trust me. Just take the gentle classes to start with. The you can pick a few asanas (poses) from class to use in your home practice. Be sure to ask the teacher for the name, and even to check your form for you after class. Most teachers adore it when students ask for help like this. Plus, you will be able to develop some basic confidence when you are sure your form is right.

2. Get a good book. I am listing a few excellent books with poses described below. While I feel the personal support of a teacher in the flesh is necessary at some point, not everyone has the luxury to access this all the time. I actually had to start my own practice with a collection of books. I think some benefit are gained from working this way. a. You develop a close relationship to your own body, which is valuable beyond your imaginings. b. you gain a confidence in working in your own way that many who study in classes have to work hard to gain later. c. you become more creative and inventive with how the poses fit together. When you work with a book, you naturally become creative at putting the asanas into different orders. Your boredom will teach you. You find that some things work while others definitely do not. Believe this when you feel it.

So here are some recommended books from my own practice. I am sure you will enjoy them. And don’t forget, you can always call me for a consult on how to incorporate these resources into your own practice to suit your personal needs and style. Check out my services info and contact information here.

Book Recommendations:

Hatha Yoga Illustrated by Martin Kirk, Brooke Boon and Daniel DiTuro

Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff, Sharon Ellis and Amy Matthews

Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness by Erich Schiffmann

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The Way to Form a New Habit

by Croydad

Surely, there is at least one new habit you are attempting to form at this time. Perhaps you would like to start a personal practice of yoga, or to learn to draw. It doesn’t really matter what habit you want.If you want a new habit to stick, you need to do a few things.

1. Think about why it is important to you. Don’t gloss over this step. If you aren’t motivated enough, it is unlikely you will really keep up the work. So, think about it and come up with 3 really great reasons for the change. Write them down. Hang them up on the bathroom mirror, the closet door, in the kitchen cabinet. Make sure you think about the reasons each day.

2. Keep a chart each day about whether you did it or not. If possible to do whatever the new action is early, do it early. Get it done. If you are changing something that takes all day (like changing eating habits) take time as often as possible to plan for success before you get hungry. Get plenty of healthy snacks you can just grab, prepare sugarless drinks (I love flavored teas) to keep on hand, and plan activities to keep yourself busy.  Benjamin Franklin did this. He acquired many abilities in his lifetime, so it couldn’t be an entirely bad practice. If you want to see what his looked like you can see a description and sample here.

3. Reward yourself in unexpected ways. If you reward yourself with food when establishing a new a diet, that may not make much sense. But a trip to a museum, or a new city might be well worth it and still help you toward your goal. Think about what will be meaningful to you. Rewards that are experiences are more likely to have lasting effects and prompt greater adherence to new behaviors. Small sweets and such may not have enough impact to really feel worth the long term change.

Pose of the Day: Reclining Spinal Twist – Take some time with this and really enjoy the care of the spine and the breath throughout the movements.

Yogic Concept of the Day: Today I find I can pool multiple resources to support myself in making changes.

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Discipline V Drudgery

Public Domain Pictures. Copyright Free Pictures

No one really likes the word discipline. There are so many things we can think of that are more entertaining and require less attention or intention to accomplish. Still, discipline, when undertaken with a certain spirit, can mean freedom.

Yep – I said it! Discipline can mean freedom.

Drudgery is when we are sentenced to have to do something. Freedom happens when we can trust that certain things will be taken care of. We can relax that something is true now.

When we have established a way we do things, regularly, repeated and sure, we no longer must struggle to get them done. Do you think of brushing your teeth as a discipline? Do you think of brushing your hair or fixing breakfast as a discipline? These things became established for us when we were younger. We can just do them without much thinking about whether we want to or not. We can just trust them to be a part of the day.

Discipline = Freedom

Your yoga practice, your meditation practice, your art practice or writing – whatever you do can become as brushing the teeth. You just show up and somehow it happens.

It doesn’t seem that it will ever become effortless when we think about some new attempt at discipline. But that is exactly what the purpose of developing discipline can be, and will ultimately lead to. Use your practice today to explore what you think this might mean, or how this could be.

It is traditional for people to work with discipline, and there is no limit to what can be accomplished.

Today, as we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King Jr., a master of the art of discipline, we can look to his work and his words about it to understand the potential power of working in this way. Martin Luther King worked a discipline to help lead a people, the American people, to a greater reflection of its beauty in diversity through true equality. We can see that he felt giving all of those who worked alongside him a sense of discipline was a way to protect them and guide them so that no person could take their dignity no matter what happened.

“If a man has not discovered something that he will die for, in a sense he is not fit to live.  And the nonviolent discipline says that there is power in this approach, precisely because it disarms the opponent and exposes his moral defenses.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.

While we are not talking about such a big discipline here, one that need protect thousands of people as they face possible arrest or attack, we can see there is a great example in Martin Luther King, Jr. The way King shared non-violent discipline with our people is an excellent example of the power of discipline. In fact, Martin Luther King, Jr. studied the work of Gandhi of India, whose work to free his people from British rule, was based in discipline with ahimsa (non-harming). Martin Luther King’s teachings were based on his own interpretation of the ahimsa of Gandhi, which he translated into “the discipline of non-violence.”

 

Pose of the Day: Gomukasana – Cow Face

Yogic Concept of the Day: Discipline can mean freedom.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/65798313@N06/6156055497/sizes/m/in/pool-685365@N25/