Motivation & Discipline – Part II: Find your happy place!

Maybe it sounds too flaky hippy to tell you to find your happy place, but I don’t know how else to describe it. It is within all of us just waiting to be discovered!

After I started practicing on my own I found that I didn’t need to search for motivation or discipline. Yoga made me feel so happy and incredible that suddenly I had the power and motivation inside me! It was just hard to find.

Here is how I found it… At some point in my practice, usually early on during the lunges or standing poses a feeling of peace and calm would wash over me. I would feel incredible in my body. Once it comes over me I let it consume my mind and body and allow it to build inside me. It is such an amazing experience, and hands down the best part of yoga. It will make all of your problems of the day wash away and seem minuscule.

It is this blissful feeling that translated into motivation and discipline for me. No longer did those words have a negative connotation. That feeling is what draws me to my practice.

I discovered this happy place through yoga, and now it has translated into my daily life! I hope that I can help you realize this amazing effect of yoga. You have this ability within your body and just have to tap into it. Then yoga is easy, your body will crave it, and it will make you feel so good that you cannot even imagine a life before it.

Motivation & Discipline

Part 1: Where do I get some of that?

Motivation and discipline are characteristics that I felt I didn’t have and struggled with for quite a while. I spent four years going to drop in or structured classes and learned some, but felt I couldn’t bring it home. I had trouble just getting on my mat and practicing.

At first it did take a little discipline. Ok, a lot! I would come home from work, put on my 3 second breath cycle cd, and set up my practice area. I still found ways to avoid the practice for a while spending time cleaning up my apartment or calling friends. But after a while I would know I had to get some type of a practice in. I followed the structure my teacher had given me with the Smart Yoga approach. Sometimes I would use a pranayama exercise to calm my mind and breath. When I first started practicing on my own it wouldn’t be for very long. Sometimes only half an hour. And I always experienced great benefits from any little bit of yoga I did.

Yoga builds. My practice built slowly. But now there are times when I loose hours to practicing yoga within that happy realm of motion. It might not be everyday, but it is constantly evolving.

When you get home, clear a space, roll out your mat and enjoy your body!