Why is it so hard to build my yoga practice?
Have you ever asked yourself…
“Why is it so hard to build my yoga practice?”
You know it’s a really funny thing… I help people build a daily meditation practice, but struggle to build my consistent yoga practice. It leads me to ask… WHY?
Well, I asked a few people about my own struggle and got a few interesting insights beyond some of my own insights after pondering this idea a bit. Here is what we found…
Meditation is different than yoga in that it is a mind and body experience that needs nothing else in my situation. What I mean by that is since I have been meditating for over a decade, I know how to sit, lay, stand, walk, eat, drink, or any number of other things I do in mindful ways. I am seasoned and there are no supplies. I could meditate anywhere anytime without the need for anything, and I mean ANYTHING.
Now Yoga on the other hand is NOT something I have built a daily practice of… at least not yet. Sadly I have rarely had a solid weekly practice for longer than 2-3 months. Because I have not mastered my skill yet meaning all the poses and sequencing to make a solid session, I struggle to practice at home so I feel like I need to go to a class to be led by a seasoned instructor. Heck, that is part of the reason I built this Yoga Directory website… to find more local studios to find some that suit my needs and get me fired up.
Then there is the need for equipment. So when meditating I just close my eyes and start breathing and do whatever practice feels right at the time and I know which practice serves best for different moods or challenges I’m dealing with. In yoga, I do not know which poses or sequences serve best for mood or needs. I am working on it though.
But let me get back to it here with the equipment. At home, I clear out a space to practice and then I roll out my old mat and roll out my nicer new mat on top of the old thin cheap mat. Then I pull out my yoga block and a strap. From there I start seeking what routine, style, or sequence I want to do. Do I pop in a DVD, turn on one of my own self-created courses I built by hiring a yogi to help me build a course to practice, maybe I try one of my books or deck of cards, or do I go on YouTube to find some yoga videos I like.
This takes me time just to get started. You see there is set up time, thinking time to explore what I want to follow and then make a decision and get started. This eats up my time and so unlike meditation, it’s a bit more daunting. Sadly this keeps me from building a regular practice. I need to find 1-3 sessions I can do easily and just commit to them as my base and that are easy to do in an instant.
This morning I think I found my first sequence that I am going to try for a bit. It started off with Yogic Breathing which is very aligned with my mindfulness meditation practices and a great way to calm down in get in the right headspace to try something new. Then I went through a series of 9 poses. Some I was familiar with but I added a few to stretch me a bit.
Then I ended with the Corpse Pose which again is very easy and quite common for me as I do a lot of laying meditations. So I got in the position and just relaxed for 5 minutes in the Corpse Pose (seen below) as I found a small win in trying to build my consistent practice today.
I will say that yoga takes a lot more commitment in my opinion than meditation does. I will say however we commit to those things we want. It was easy for me to commit to meditation because I found it when I was in a dark place and looking desperately for anything to break free of the depression I was struggling with at the time. Now on the other hand, I am looking for a practice that will complement my mindfulness practice, but help me get more active in my life as well as build on my Buddhist and Taoist practices.
Okay, now it’s time to call it what it is… excuse-making. Yes, the previous thoughts although valid and most definitely hindering my ease of building a consistent practice, at the end of the day… they are excuses. I am committed to building my practice so I never give up but I am frustrated at how slow it goes for me in this area.
One lesson I teach when trying to build a meditation practice is… start slow and small. Being aware of stopping and taking 3 breaths each day is honestly enough to start a daily meditation practice. With yoga, I have expectations of a 30-to-60-minute session and I know damn well expectations like this for meditation lead to failure for most people.
So how do I start small? Just do a single pose for 4-5 times and then stop. Then do it again tomorrow and the next day and the day after that? Well, in all honesty, that might be what is needed.
The positive thing about this is it would help me master a single post, build some muscle memory, and also help me get fired up over the momentum of getting even a small habit started and being consistent with it. Then I could switch a pose the next week, and a new one the following week. This could work especially if I didn’t have a ton of setup and breakdown to get ready or do the practice.
Another expectation I have is that it has to be multiple oses together to be a workout of sorts as one of my goals is using yoga as an actual workout. Again, although this is accurate that a session or sequence of multiple poses creates a quality workout, are the excuses keeping me from getting there and getting consistent? Probably.
A friend, Julia of Kaligayahan Yoga, who knows my walk, and whom I really respect as a newer yogi, and friend, shared that “yoga is more than just Asana Poses or body postures.” She shared that “the goal of yoga is to help one settle into meditation. Meaning yoga is often seen as an early stage to prepare for meditation.” She also shared that “beyond just my formal meditation practice, I am mindfully living in many areas of my life” – parenting, relationships, community building, race relations, politics, education, and leadership. It is true, I take practicing mindfulness in to many areas of my life. She said… “That is all yoga!”
I was flattered and honored to hear these kind words and it made me step back and reflect on my definition of YOGA and what it is. I have not come to any definitive answer yet beyond an exercise that fits with my mindful lifestyle, but I am going to continue to sit with this for a bit.
To close the article I think I’m just going to celebrate my small win today and try it again tomorrow.
If you are also asking yourself “why is it so hard to build my yoga practice?” hopefully one tip today helps you. I will also share another article I found that I liked titled – Overcoming 5 Common Obstacles To A Home Yoga Practice. Check it out! If you’d like to learn more about my background and meditation practices you can learn more in my directory listing for Hellagood Life.
What are your thoughts?
Are you a seasoned expert giving this newish guy some time? What would you recommend to the newbies out there looking to build their practice? How should they get started?
Are you a newbie curious, yourself, about how to get started? Have you practiced at all yet? What do you find to be your own struggles to get started or to get consistent with your practice?
Or maybe you are someone who has built a consistent practice. What seems to work best for you? How did you make things work and the practice stick? What were some of your own struggles and how did you overcome them?
Share your thoughts in the comments and let me know your thoughts. Let’s help each other build a solid practice and make a little positive impact on the world by doing so.
I am a yoga fan and practitioner, and studying to get a yoga teacher certificate. I am building the Yoga Directory to try to build a supportive and friendly online community as well as a way to find and try more yoga studios and styles of yoga locally. I want to help others do the same and grow their yoga practice.
I come from a mindfulness background and seem to resonate mostly with a spiritual-based yoga practice that may hail from roots in India.
I run a business called Hellagood Life which offers online education, community, and coaching in many areas for living one's best life. I find Yoga is a great addition to the other trainings I offer.
We write rarely, but only the best content.
