Restart your Yoga Practice

YooooGaaaa 2

One day the master said, “it is, alas, easier to travel than to stop.”

The disciples wanted to know why.

“Because as long as you travel to a goal, you can hold onto a dream. When you stop, you face reality.”

“How should we ever change if we are to have no goals or dreams? “ asked the mystified disciples.

“Real change is not willed. Facing reality brings about unwilled change.”

The secret to a lasting yoga practice lies in the readiness to start again. This simply shows that you really have accomplished something valuable. Something that makes you step on your yoga mat again and again. Aren’t we all restart our practice every day? It is because we have faced reality. The reality which clarifies that without yoga's well rounded psychosomatic exercises and harmonious breath rhythms life feels incomplete no matter how prosperous it may look. It is like cooking without salt.

After a longer break if you feel ready to get back on your yoga mat and have the willingness to renew your practice, you are in good company. Getting disconnected from, and subsequently coming back to your practice is something that all long-time practitioners did, do and will do at one time or another. Everyone has ups and downs. We are all riding the tides of life that can be overwhelming sometimes. There are days when we sleep in for balance sake. Quit calling it a bad habit, it’s not even a guilty pleasure. Let’s call it a momentary pause of retrospection and refocus.

As you continue on your yoga path, the question is not whether you will get disconnected from your practice again, it is how will you bring yourself back? The good news is that if you ever stop again you can always restart. Some said: "The glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall".

Restart your Yoga practice with these 8 tips

Welcome yourself even more unconditionally than ever. You have faced reality and your return now stems from a deeper space. Trust it.
Begin with something you love, something that feels awesome in your body and proceed from there. (Rolling and rocking the body on the floor is cool.)
Treat yourself. Take your time. Keep it slow & sweet.
Allow more space than usual for rest, breath and simply feel more & think less.
Be more mindful of the benefits of the practice by noting how you feel afterward.
Don’t try to get better at anything. Enjoy the moment.
Have no expectations and do not compare. Whatever you do, that is enough.
Consciously thank yourself for showing up no matter what your practice looked like.

During the cold winter months it is understandable that we prefer to stay at home but that should not delay us restarting our yoga practice. Online yoga could be a great start and a terrific stepping stone to a future in-person class when the weather is warmer.

Some benefits of an online yoga practice