Day 4: Staying Motivated

I have traditionally been the kind of person who is really into a particular style of exercise for, meh, a month or so before I get bored and stop. I've actually been somewhat surprised with my degree of dedication to this yoga practice, and I think it really boils down to one simple idea: I feel better when I go, so I go.

This concept is so simple yet so mind-boggling to me. Exercise isn't generally the kind of thing I jump for joy about. I'll do it, but I don't love it. But for some reason, this yoga just clicks with me. Every day, there's something new to work on or an improvement in a posture that previously plagued me. What my teachers were saying on the first day is so true: the more I practice, the more benefits I feel in my body. If I skip a day, I don't really go backward, but I don't go forward either. I now crave improvement and progress.

Last week, I took a day off from practice because I had a somewhat busy day and was feeling kind of blah. As the day went on, the blah feeling persisted and by the end of the night, I was so cranky I just wanted to go to bed and hit reset. By contrast, today I was somewhat busy and feeling kind of blah. Instead of giving into the tight and anxious feeling in my chest, I pushed through it and took class. Now, my chest is open and light, and the constricted feeling I felt before practice has disappeared. I'm ready to do some dishes and cook some dinner and snuggle up on Jason. I really believe if I hadn't gone to yoga, I'd be grumped out on the couch with a pillow and some fast food and a big pouty face.

This brings me to my new mantra, which Nike has been yelling at me for years: JUST DO IT. Don't let yourself talk you out of doing things which are good for you and which will make you feel better. It's not easy to dedicate yourself to a discipline like Bikram Yoga, but the benefits are so enormous that it's truly worth it in the long run.

Of course, I'm only at day 4. I've a long way to go, but I have my eyes on the prize. Honestly, I don't think I could stand the sight of an empty space on my attendance chart right now. I will fill that sucker up with sparkly blue smiley faces if it kills me!