There are many different ways to go about practicing yoga. All of them require a good deal of patience and dedication if you want to get the best results possible. If you truly want to succeed at your yoga practice, you will need to keep a steady and consistent schedule and make sure that you practice on a routine basis. For those who would like a little help sustaining their yoga practice, we've created this list of tips you can use to help ensure that you are always keeping on the right track and making progress.
Don't Be Afraid to Hop In!
Of course, one important thing to remember is that everybody starts somewhere. You might not be able to do what everybody else is doing at first, but stick to it, and you'll soon find yourself making progress. If you're afraid to practice, you'll never get better.
As you get better, you can slowly expand your routine, set goals, and track your progress. Pretty soon, you'll be making yoga moves. You couldn't even fathom! All it takes is the right kind of planning and the right amount of determination, as well as patience.
Keep Track of Your Progress
One of the greatest tools for maintaining consistent and steady growth in any practice is to keep track of how you are doing. As you get better at your yoga practice and develop more skill, strength, and patience, you can gradually expand your routine to incorporate more difficulty. In doing so, you can guarantee that you're always growing.
The benefits of keeping track of your growth are numerous. It allows you to feel good about how far you've come and allows you to keep focused on how far you can go from there. As well, it helps when planning and keeping a consistent schedule.
It's important to remember that keeping track of your progress is not meant to discourage but encourage. Everybody starts somewhere, and just because you aren't getting the results you want doesn't mean you're failing. Keeping track of your growth shows you problem areas where you need to focus more of your attention, and all you can do is keep track and try your best!
Stay Consistent
Consistency is one of the absolute most important parts of sustaining an effective yoga routine. As we remain consistent, our yoga routines become second nature, and growth becomes that much easier. When we fall out of our good habits, it's that much harder to jump back in, making consistency and steady practice all the more imperative.
Yoga isn't just about the exercise, but about organizing your life and allowing for a better energy flow throughout all of your daily activities. By incorporating a steady yoga routine into your life, your yoga practice will gradually expand into all areas of your being. The more you practice, the easier it will become, and the stronger you'll be.
Keep Your Eyes On the Prize
Both yoga and meditation are all about focus. If you aren't focused on what you're doing when you're practicing, you won't be making as much progress as you could be otherwise. Be sure that you focus on the here and now, allowing your being to fully dedicate itself to your exercise when it comes time to practice yoga.
Keeping track of your growth is certainly important. Still, when you are practicing your routine, you should only be focused on the moment. Allow all stressors and distractions to leave, and be the absolute best that you can be. When you're all done, you can track your progress and see what areas you need to put more energy into later.
Make It a Social Thing!
As with any other type of exercise, yoga can be a lot easier with a support group. Not only will you have people around you to share your experiences with, but you'll have people that will hold you accountable and make sure that you're staying consistent. Thankfully, there are always increasing numbers of people getting into yoga, so you should find yourself in good company!
Yoga can allow you to meet new friends, and it can also be shared with old friends. The gift of yoga is a gift that keeps on giving and, the more you put it out there, the more positive energy will come back your way!
Don't Get Too Far Ahead of Yourself!
Consistent and steady growth is important, but trying to take on too much at once can actually inhibit more than it can help. Trying to do more than your body can handle might strain your muscles and joints, making further practice harder and, in some cases, impossible. Also, not being able to meet overly exuberant goals can make us less excited to perform our daily practice.
Your best bet is always to remain realistic. It would help if you always were pushing yourself, but not so hard that you're going to break. Yoga isn't about extraneous struggle, as with some sports and other exercises. Instead, it's about patience and perseverance. You should NEVER be in pain from your yoga routine.
Don't Be Afraid To Mix It Up On Occasion
While consistency and schedules are important, don't be afraid to do something spontaneous with your practice! Yoga is all about fun and creativity. Changing up your routine every once in a while is a good thing, so long as you're still able to remain consistent.
You can try going to a hot yoga class, or maybe try switching up your current class times to meet some new and interesting people or receive a new instructor's help. If you don't go to class, you could maybe give one a shot! Or you could research some new yoga moves that you can try at home. The world of yoga is a fun and exciting place, and you should never allow yourself to get bored while practicing.
