| A second destroyer of yoga practices is over-exertion. Millions of Americans do not get appropriate quantity or quality of rest, including sleep. This lack of opportunity for our bodies and minds to cleanse and restore contributes to our inability to concentrate our energies toward positive change. Going from zero exercise to seven days a week at the gym may seem like success, but there is a physical cost to adopting this healthier way of being. To attempt to maintain such a fitness routine without providing additional rest will create further imbalance and most likely weaken physical and mental resolve.
Talking Too Much and Excess Rigidity
Every one of us has likely met someone who has successfully changed a health behavior and talks about it all the time. Within families, one member’s new behavior can become a source of conflict that is exacerbated by his/her continual reminder to others in the family of their perceived unhealthy behavior or need to change. This brings us to the third destroyer of yoga practices—talking too much. While it is tempting to share with others all of our excitement about what we are doing and where we see ourselves going on our life’s journey, yogic teachings remind us that talking about ourselves and our experiences all the time can become a distraction for us and a turn-off for others. It is far more important to be living our yoga than talking about it.
The fourth destroyer, becoming too rule-bound, is often coupled with talking too much because our talking about what we are doing is a way of keeping ourselves focused. Again, in adopting new habits, being focused is essential; however, rarely does every day go exactly as planned. If we become extremely rigid about how we will eat, exercise, spend money, and spend time (all typical resolutions in America), we set up unrealistic expectations for ourselves, and we WILL be disappointed in the future. It is essential to balance our resolve and commitment to our resolutions with flexibility and adaptability. The longer we practice any discipline, the more ably we achieve this balance because we’ve had experience accommodating life’s vagaries into our routine. Just know that it is tempting and exciting when beginning anything new to want to do it perfectly 100 percent of the time. Few of us will achieve that. Some who don’t will quit altogether.
Choosing the Wrong Company, Wavering in Commitment
The final two destroyers, choosing unwise company and wavering in our dedication, often feed off each other. On days when one’s dedication to eating and exercising healthfully is faltering, the wisest choice is to connect with those who can be both supportive of one’s state of mind and provide encouragement to continue positive change. However, when we are feeling the pull of old habits, many of us will go looking for the people and places that will affirm us and allow us to smoke a cigarette or eat a plate of fries smothered in chili and cheese without blinking an eye.
This is not to say that when we adopt new behaviors we must abandon all the people in our lives who’ve not made the same commitment, but rather that we must learn how to be with those we love without falling back into old habits. Sometimes, without even being conscious of it, our friends and family will want us to stay just as we have always been—because then they know how to be, too. If we stop being who we’ve always been, are we saying there is something wrong with that way of being? What does that say about them? The fear and uncertainty that this creates for those we care about is another reason to be careful about how much we talk about our new way of living.
As the year goes on and you find yourself faced with the inevitable ups and downs of life, don’t give up on your efforts to create positive change in yourself and in the world around you. Revisit your resolutions and take heed of the six destroyers of yoga (and other positive) practices. Create a revolution (or at least an evolution) by neither giving up nor burning yourself out.
Ashley Cleveland, MA, DC, is Provost and Professor at Cleveland Chiropractic College–Kansas City and teaches yoga in Kansas City. |
