Firstly I want to say, well done! You've done so well to look after yourself during lockdown!
Whether your practice is regular or sporadic, everyday or once a month, you knew that it was worth the effort to come to your mat and take that space and time for yourself. Take a moment right now to thank yourself đ
On Friday the 16th of July, 2021, Melbourne joined Sydney in another lockdown. It was meant to be a quick response 5-day lockdown. As lockdown veterans, we Melbourne yogis had a hunch that it might be a little longer but we went into the 5-days with reluctant optimism. I was asked to increase our twice-weekly online classes to daily classes and we figured it might be 2 or 3 weeks of daily yoga and a good opportunity to focus on our practice.
Fourteen weeks later we are experiencing our first day out of that lockdown. Most of us have plans to get together with family and friends, have a meal out and the like but there are no scenes of hoards of people running out of their homes. I think 'normal' life is going to creep up on us slowly. We'll slowly start to go out more, plan more outings with others and be expected to go back to the office.
So how do we keep your practice going?
Keeping our practice from waning or completely fading away as life gets fuller is more than a matter of hope. During lockdown you made the decision to start, or increase, your practice. You found a teacher (or teachers), you chose class/es, you booked in the time on your calendars. So obviously booking, planning and scheduling will still need to be done. As you already know from lockdown, just because you're a yogi doesn't mean the yoga just happens. You need to decide to roll the mat out. You need to choose to make the effort to login to zoom, or travel to the yoga venue (omg, we're going to be able to do in-person classes đ).
Tips to prioritise your practice:
make a list of all the benefits and rewards you have noticed from your practice and how it has helped you in your life - mental, physical, emotional, social, you might even have found that your practice has been good for others in your life
write down something you would like to achieve with or within your practice - it might be a specific pose or length of time in meditation or it could be something your practice helps you to do such as tie your shoelaces or reach into the backseat of the car without back pain
be flexible (see what I did there đ) when your practice is unexpectedly interrupted or cancelled, avoid 'all or nothing' thinking
use S.M.A.R.T.E.R. goal setting strategies - see the video for more info âĄ
find a yoga or meditation 'buddy' - online, in-person, via text or phone, or social media having a like-minded someone to talk to about your practice can enhance your connection to your practice, and to your 'buddy'
speaking of social media, try not to compare your practice to others'. Your practice will look completely different to another yogi's and the images and videos we see on social media are mostly all cultivated to get clicks, except mine of course đ.....
sometimes routine will help you keep to your practice and sometimes routine becomes dull. When you need to, try something new - go outside to practice, try a new class or a different teacher, introduce 'yoga playtime' into your practice where you get to have a go at a pose or technique that you haven't tried before
ask for help from your favourite yoga teacher, we love to help fellow yogis with their practices đ
So as you start to enjoy our 'freedom', be aware that a yoga practice is just like everything else in life, it's something that needs to be thought about, prioritised and planned. Take sometime each day, week or month to plan your practice sessions, allocating yourself some time and space for your practice. Doing that for yourself isn't selfish, it's self care.
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