How to Stay Connected to Your Practice (Season 7, Episode 6)

One of the biggest questions I get from people is how to establish and maintain a regular yoga practice. And I understand why! This is a challenge for pretty much everyone, myself included.

So in today’s episode I’m digging into things that have helped me stay connected to my practice in the past, as well as what’s helping me right now (yes, it’s an ongoing exploration!).

Then we get into how knowing where you are on the path of your yoga practice can free you from feeling like you’re the only one who can’t create a regular yoga practice that sticks no matter what and what can help you connect to your practice no matter where you are on your path.

Plus: an invitation!

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Transcript

[00:00:05] Welcome to Love Curvy Yoga, the podcast where we believe that yoga is not about cutting you off from the world, but rather helping you be in the world as you are with no need to wait to enjoy life until you lose X pounds or finally go on that diet Joanne from Accounting has been raving about. Now let’s get into it.

[00:00:27] Hi! How are you? Things here are good. All of your good vibes must have helped; I appreciate it. Because Hazel did not end up getting that stomach bug that Nic and I had. Yay! I also feel like I need to be like knocking on every piece of wood, doing every other piece of superstition while I say that. But still.

[00:00:56] So we have actually been slowing things down a little bit around here, which has been delightful and very much needed. Nic and I have basically been at the computer what feels like every available moment for the past three or four months, getting everything ready for the new Curvy Yoga Studio site. And we are so happy that we did that because it’s great and people are excited about it and the new apps. But we’re still ready for a little break. So both as a result of that and of wanting to create some new rituals in our family, we decided to take Sundays off of technology. So we started it two weekends ago and honestly, it has been the absolute best. So I actually took Saturday and Sunday off of technology this past weekend, and I feel like it is rewiring my nervous system in a good way. It’s incredible how much time it feels like there is when I’m not spending it all on my phone or social media or whatnot. So we kind of defined what technology we would be off of. So I still am using my Kindle to read, but that does not allow me to get onto the Internet. And Nic and I still watch a show at my because we don’t watch that much and we don’t really feel like watching a show for 30 to 45 minutes a day is problematic for us. I would say our biggest issue is more phones and computers. So that’s what we’re avoiding. And what has been so interesting so far is how it affects the rest of my week. Even having just that one day reset a couple weeks ago, I just found myself with so much less interest in doing the scroll and refreshing the news, etc. So I’m telling you all of this not just as a life update, but also because it relates a bit to our topic today, which we’re going to get to in just a moment. [MUSIC].

[00:03:02] Love Curvy Yoga has brought to you by the morale boosting power of your enthusiastic support. If you love the podcast, I would so appreciate your rating and review and iTunes, sharing it with a friend, responding to invitations, taking a screenshot of yourself listening and sharing it with me on Instagram or any or all of the above. Now, I don’t only need extrinsic motivation, but it sure doesn’t hurt.

[00:03:30] [MUSIC]

[00:03:37] OK. So today I want to talk about how you stay connected to your practice. I think this is really important this time of year as new year enthusiasm may be waning and maybe just not quite enough to keep you going with your practice unless you have something else more solid to anchor it to. I think that there are lots of ways to stay connected to your practice. And at the end of the day, I think the best way is whatever is working for you right now. And of course, that is likely to be different than what has worked for you in the past or what may work for you in the future. That being said, I know that it can be valuable to hear what works for other people. So I thought I would share some things that have worked for me in the past as well as things that are working for me right now.

[00:04:31] So in the past, some different forms of motivation, connection, etc. One has been wanting to learn more about yoga poses in the physical practice of asana, which is another way of saying yoga poses. So those were times that I was really learning about yoga to begin with, you know, more towards the beginning of my practice journey. And I was just so curious about everything and that curiosity can be a really big motivation. And we’ll talk more about this in a minute. But I think that that curiosity can ebb and flow. So though I may currently have less interest in learning about poses, mostly because I know more about them than I used to, there can be curiosity that shows up in lots of different ways. So you might find a thread that has worked for you in the past that now has a different expression.

[00:05:30] OK. Other motivations for me in the past. A physical motivation. So you may know that one of the big reasons, really the reason, that I started yoga in the first place was hoping that it would lessen my migraines. And lots of people have a variety of different physical motivations that bring them to the practice. Other past motivations for me: seeing friends, I’ve had times where I have had kind of like a friend date at yoga classes and also times where I’ve met people in yoga classes that I became friends with. I have also been motivated to practice with a particular teacher that I value and respect. Stress relief has been a big motivation. I think a lot of us get the message that yoga can help with that and it definitely can. So times in my life when I’ve been more overwhelmed or stressed are times where I usually feel like I don’t have time for yoga, but they are also times where I feel like I really benefit from it. And then another motivation I thought of is working through something emotionally. So if I have something big going on that kind of feels like — oof — I don’t know how to work with these feelings or I just need a place to be with them or sometimes a place to just not be with them and be with my body and see what else is arising, of course, it’s all interconnected, that has been another motivation for me in the past.

[00:07:03] So these days I would say some of the primary things that are keeping me connected to my practice are dedicated time to myself. So I’ve talked on here since Hazel was born about how attending classes in person has become a much more regular part of my practice. And I think a big part of that is I’m just like, this is my time where I’m just going to be on my mat, nobody else needs me. I can just have this experience. Also motivations that are working for me now. Another one that has also, like I mentioned, worked in the past: a particular teacher. So there’s some teachers here that I like to practice with and I feel invested in learning from them. Another current one is knowing what my life is like when I don’t practice. So I have plenty of years of experience of knowing that when I am doing less practice and that, as you well know, as a listener of this podcast is very broadly construed in the way that I consider it. I just always feel less connected to my life, my ability to be present, basically all of the good ways that I want to show up in the world as a human being. A quiet stillness and time to listen are also really important to me right now, as is kind of like filling up the bank of my self care. It’s very easy for those reserves to get depleted. So knowing that yoga is a big way for me to fill them back up is definitely a current motivation.

[00:08:48] So part of all of this, what helps you to stay connected with your practice really depends on where you are in the path of your own practice. So I mentioned that earlier and I’m going to go into some components of where you might be on your path in just a moment.

[00:09:08] [MUSIC]

[00:09:15] So this idea of being on a path with your yoga practice has been with me for a while. And I just think it’s something that can be so liberating when you know about it, because at least for me, it makes me feel less isolated and less like I’m the only person who’s struggling with this particular part of practice and more seeing, oh, this is just kind of all part of the process. So like I mentioned a moment ago, I like to think of these as components, not as steps, because I do not see this as a linear process in any way. I see it as something that is always in play and that we’re kind of cycling through it over the course of the lifetime of our practice. And for me, that’s not discouraging to be like, oh, now I’m back to this part of the path that I’ve been on before. Because in my own experience, when I circle back to a particular component, I have a new experience with it because I’m different. I’ve been practicing longer. Things have changed in my life. It’s kind of like I was mentioning earlier with curiosity, which spoiler alert is the first component, where my curiosity is currently less with poses and more with, let’s say (I mean, there’s so many things and so I’m having a hard time narrowing it down). But with what I’m noticing in my body on the map, that’s one big one.

[00:10:52] So curiosity, as I said, is the first component. And it’s kind of this place of, oh, what’s this? I want to learn more. So possible connections here are giving yourself a chance to try or to return. Wanting to know how this would feel for you right now. So how would practicing yoga feel for you? Another possible connection to keep you anchored to your practice, since that’s what we’re talking about in this episode, is a teacher or class or a style that you might like to learn more about. So as I’m sure you know, there’s lots of different styles of yoga and many different teachers. And so that could be something that gives you that foothold into your practice is exploration.

[00:11:42] So the second component is action. And I think about this as the learning, doing, talking, workshops, classes, all the enthusiasm stage. So some connections here that might be a good anchor. I find that this is the stage where it’s often easiest to stay connected because it’s often occupying a large part of your attention because you’re just so excited about it. But wanting to learn and go deeper is a good connection here, so is wanting to make practice a regular part of your life. So you might have moved a little bit through the curiosity phase and now you’re wanting to deepen your practice. And even if you are not new to yoga, there are still ways to engage that process. So other connection points: how you are feeling mind, body and spirit. So really using the enthusiasm of this part of the path to connect more with yourself.

[00:12:49] So the next component is reflection, and I think of this as what do I want to keep from what I have learned so far in my practice? And what do I want to let go of? So this is kind of a reflection and assessment portion of the past. Could be a bit of a questioning time, too. So what am I really doing here? Is this something I want to continue doing? And for the connection points I definitely think it can be a little bit more challenging to connect during this part of the phase. But what I have found is that the reason it’s challenging is when you don’t see it as an integral part of the path. So when you’re more feeling like, oh, I’m not doing as much as I wanted to, should I even keep going? Or you’re like, what is yoga even worth in my life or anything like that. I think that can make you feel like blah and isolated. And like you don’t want to keep going. And I feel like that’s just all part of it. So there are going to be times where you do less or step away or refine your practice in ways that weren’t working for you, making it work for you better. I just think that that’s all well and good. And when you see it as a part of your path, then it’s less stressful.

[00:14:13] So one of the things that I think can be a connection here that I briefly touched on a moment ago is just wanting to figure out what’s working for you now, because there are likely things that used to be a regular part of your practice that aren’t anymore or that you maybe have been kind of wanting to change for a while, but you haven’t. So this is a great opportunity to explore that. And similarly to the one before, a particular way that you want to feel body, mind and spirit is a nice connection here.

[00:14:48] So the last part of the path is integration. And I think about this as what I’ve learned is part of how I see the world. So it’s really folding into your life. And another part of that is thinking things like, I know that I don’t have to take all of yoga whole cloth, that you can apply it to your life in ways that make sense for you. So possible connections here: a new level of importance and understanding about what your practice means to you right now. And aliveness, so really having your practice be a place and a time where you connect with what is alive for you right now. And that is the theme that we’re exploring in the Studio right now for those of you who are members who are listening. And that is a great opportunity to remember why you practice, finding these touchstones for yourself and with yourself.

[00:15:49] And the whole path just keeps cycling and unfolding. And you can approach it with a sense of lightness when you are noticing that you’re at a component of the path that you’ve been at before. When you think about, wow, last time I was here, here’s what was going on in my life. Now here I am and look at what has changed and things that have shifted in ways that I’m thinking about my practice. I really think about it like a mirror in some ways, like it’s a nice time to look back and reflect and see how even though I am usually feeling like I’m not doing enough or nothing has changed in my practice or I’m stuck in a rut or whatever sort of more negative thoughts that I’m having about my practice, when I take a moment to pause and look at where I am and where I’ve been then I can really see the things that actually have been happening that are missing my kind of everyday level of noticing.

[00:17:00] So wherever you are on your curvy path, find what is connecting for you might be some of the things I suggest it might be something totally different and give yourself space for it to shift and change. And like I mentioned, remember that if you’re a Studio member, we have got those Experiments in Aliveness videos available for use. I will link you that in the show notes. And if you are not sure where you are on your curvy path, we do have a quiz for that. So I will also link that quiz. So up next, an invitation!

[00:17:35] [MUSIC]

[00:17:45] So for our invitation this week, I would love to know, now that we’ve dug into the curvy path and different points of connections, where are you on your curvy path and/or, up to you if you want to just answer one of these or noth, what is helping you stay connected with your practice these days? If you would like to share, you know I always love to hear from you. You can email me at podcast@CurvyYoga.com, text me at 6 1 5 – 8 5 2 – 8 7 8 9, or take a screenshot of this episode and tag me on Instagram or DM me there. I’m @CurvyYoga on Instagram.

[00:18:30] OK, let’s close with one breath together. Inhale. And exhale. The light in me honors the light in new. Namaste.

[00:18:43] [MUSIC]

[00:18:48] Stay tuned next week when we will be taking this conversation further and talking about the relationship between feeling and aliveness.