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Yoga as a Consistent Practice

by Viki Distin

When I began my yoga practice, I was the mother of a newborn, so my practice was a little haphazard. Nothing could calm my mind or rest my body the way yoga did, yet I was torn with the responsibilities of a new baby.

Life sometimes gets in the way of our yoga. I suspect this is the case with many of our students at Cascade Yoga. Many times when students see me about town, they feel guilty. They often say to me “I really need to get back to yoga, but I am so busy right now.”

I can appreciate where people are at because I have been there. It will be a wonderful time for our community when the importance of the practice will begin to determine our desire for consistency.

Yoga is a lot like flossing our teeth. When we are tired, or too busy, flossing might be something that gets omitted from our routine. It's nice to floss, but it is not a primary need.

The problem with treating our yoga practice like our teeth is that the emotional plaque builds up over time and it is not just our gums that suffer but our whole body and mind. The plaque is the obvious tensions, the not so obvious conditioned patterns and habits, and negative thinking.

Recently my husband had an interesting insight regarding a consistent yoga practice. I was sharing my excitement about a new form of body work that I was doing and he said “There are a lot of cool alternative therapies out there right now, but I think we need yoga to keep maintenance between the therapies.”

The ancient yogis knew about the difficulties of maintaining a consistent practice and spoke of the obstacles on the yoga path. Pantanjali, who wrote the yoga sutras over 2,500 years ago, writes about obstacles such as inertia, doubt (self, teacher, or method), and ego. These are all things that may keep us from a regular yoga practice.

One thing to remember as we strive for a regular practice is that practicing intensely is not as beneficial as practicing regularly. One idea that will help keep us motivated in the midst of our busy lives is to offer your practice for someone else. It is easier to quit on ourselves than it is to quit on someone you love.

One of the best fruits of a consistent practice is that your relationships will improve. If this is the case, then consider your practice as a devotional one to become the best you can be for the people in your life.

Gandhi said that the first step in changing the world is to change ourselves. So once we decide that we would like to benefit all beings, we can get ourselves to the mat not necessarily for ourselves, but to make the world in which we live better.

Q: How many yoga teachers does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Only one, but the light bulb has to practice.