New Again

I often tell students that yoga isn’t a quick fix, but it’s a real fix. With consistent practice over time, yoga supports our whole selves to be better and to live better. 
 
This is why making our practices new - again and again and again – is such an important part of yoga. Learning how to continue with yoga when we become bored, or our practices start to feel lackluster, is necessary to reap the benefits of a regular and long-term engagement with our practice. 
 
In a world of infinite opportunities for distraction, this skill has only gotten more vital to sustaining an interesting and relevant yoga practice.

One of the best ways I’ve found to stay committed to your yoga practice is to make a habit of recognizing and articulating how it benefits you.
 
You can do this by taking a few moments, or even just a few breaths, at the end of practice to notice and articulate the effects of what you’ve just done.

When you emerge from an asana practice feeling grounded, centered and lighter, it can encourage you to return the next day.

When you experience a moment of tranquility and freedom from the busyness of your mind in meditation it can fuel your desire to sit.

When contentment arises as you watch your breath, it can make it more inviting to turn your awareness inside again.

Without the reflection on and acknowledgement of how your practices serve you they can easily begin to feel rote and dry, and become just another thing to accomplish. 

But, ah, when you water your practices with the recognition of what they bring to you, that's when they spring back to life.