The personal commitment you make towards undertaking a regular Yoga practice could come from a New Year’s Resolution, the desire to start something new, or a way of re-committing to something you used to enjoy doing. It is a wonderful intention to set for yourself. But despite declaring to your family and friends that you’re going to get on your mat right away, those good intentions often fall away to the sidelines of life – as we all know too well. Rather than harbouring feelings of guilt or unfinished business you can use this as an incentive to start a new season with a true commitment to yourself to successfully move forward.

It is not always easy to motivate yourself for your Yoga practice. But it does require a steadfast dedication, faith, patience and being kind to yourself.

Practising Yoga is a habit. A habit is an automated behaviour – you could say breathing is a habit. So for meditation and physical movement to become a habit they need to be things that you do without having to think about doing them. The neurons need to wire up together so it’s automatic for you at your designated times to make a beeline for the Yoga studio. This is how a new habit becomes an ingrained one.

With supported guidance from your teachers throughout your process of building this new habit it won’t be long before you find yourself spontaneously floating up into a Headstand at the end of your class.

A regular Yoga practice doesn’t necessarily mean practising 6 days a week. It also doesn’t have to always be at the same time or of the same style. It may be best to dip your toe in the water with 1 class a week for a month and build up from there.  The idea of a committed practice is unique to everyone but we always suggest a commitment to Yoga starts with 2 or 3 classes a week. How freeing it is to move and breathe once you have that commitment is when you really begin to feel the benefits and the frequency of practice will help you stick with it.

A regular Yoga practice often helps you to make shifts in other areas of your life. It becomes a part of your life that you return to each day to cultivate.

The invitation you give yourself to be committed and inspired to achieve your Yoga goals is a wonderful opportunity to “turn the invisible into the visible” as Tony Robbins says. So ask yourself “what will my life look like in a month, in 6 months or 12 months” if you take action on that commitment.

By Lucy Warde, Yoga student and teacher