Sri K. Pattabhi Jois quote “Practice and all is coming!”. “95% practice 5% theory”

Maybe you can relate.

At the beginning when I first discovered yoga, I had all of the enthusiasm in the world for this new practice that made my body and mind feel so good.  Nothing came between me and my weekly classes.  But, as the years went on, and I was practicing more at home and less in a studio, I found myself getting distracted or bored.  During my “yoga time”, I would end up doing laundry, catching up on e-mails, anything but yoga.   On the days when I would haul out the mat, I might only practice the poses that were easy for me to do – forward bends never seemed to make it to the list!
Fortunately, I found a few things that helped me to stay dedicated.

• First, remember forgiveness.  Be kind to yourself.  Just because some days you are not in the mood, that doesn’t mean that you are a yoga failure!

• Try something else – get creative!   For example, if I cringed when I looked at the mat, on those days I might put on my walking  shoes and go for a really long walk through the woods  and practice pranayama techniques or listen to beautiful chanting on my Ipod.  In the end, I felt calm, completely centered and connected to something greater – and isn’t that the whole point?

• Another way to breathe new life into your practice is to offer your knowledge.  Do you have an elderly neighbor whose sore back from gardening could be alleviated through asanas?  Teach her, explore this practice with her and see its wonders from her fresh perspective.  It might help you to remember why you fell in love with the practice in the first place.  Once, my kids’ elementary school let me teach yoga in gym class.  To see the kids exploring and playing with the poses reminded me that yoga should be fun – it does not have to be as rigid as we sometimes make it.

• Most importantly, do not beat yourself up over it if you take some time off from the mat.

Remember that a yoga practice can be so much more than just asana.  Try to recognize the good even in an annoying co-worker, forgive yourself completely if the laundry pile is six feet high, remember to breathe deeply when you are stuck in traffic and late for a meeting…these are all valid ways of practicing the heart of yoga.  Your asana practice will be there for you with open arms when you are ready to return, and when you do, you will probably wonder why you ever stepped off your mat in the first place.