(if you prefer watching and listening, scroll to the bottom for a video on this subject)
Having yoga goals has helped so many people to stay consistent in their practice. It is a really great way to keep you coming back and keep you motivated.
What do I mean by yoga goals? Well in this sense I mean trying to get a specific yoga pose. There are so many fancy shapes you can make with your body. Some are yoga asanas and others have been made up over time. In a typical yoga class you can see anything from 3 – 60 shapes made with the body.
No, it doesn’t matter if you can do these poses or not. However they can be fun to try and can feel absolutely amazing when you finally manage to get them after trying so long.
Here are 5 ways that creating pose goals can help you to keep coming back to your yoga practice.
1.
It can give you momentum. If you see a little progress, it gets you excited, your body produces adrenaline and oxytocin and your mind likes it. It wants to get that feeling again so it keeps you coming back to the practice. It’s like how people get addicted to alcohol and drugs. They get a feeling and the mind wants to recreate it so it makes you crave it.
Addiction is not a good thing however if a little bit of oxytocin keeps you coming back to your yoga mat then I say that’s a good thing.
2.
When you have a goal, it helps you to plan your practice better. For example, If you are trying to get into wheel, you aren’t going to be doing all forward folds and no heart openings. That isn’t going to help your wheel pose at all because you are folding the wrong way all the time. So if you have a plan and know what you are working towards you will understand what you need to do to achieve that goal and are more likely to stick to it.
3.
When people have goals its a great idea to write it down somewhere or have a picture (who else had a parent who stick a skinnier version of themselves on the fridge as a goal weight). If you keep seeing these images or words, its a gentle reminder to yourself and will help you stay consistent because it keeps it at the front of your mind.
Another way you can do this step is to keep your yoga mat out, if you see it already set up, you are more likely to quickly jump on.
4.
As you see progress in your body and your goals. You will start seeing other amazing benefits that yoga has to offer including the calming and peaceful feeling you get when you finish a class and this too will become a thing that you will keep wanting to repeat.
Yoga is known to calm the mind and help you feel more relaxed. Who wouldn’t want that?
5.
When you work through a few goals you will notice the change in your flexibility and in your body and practicing will become a little easier. This will help you to create new goals and help you to keep pushing yourself to see what you can do. It keeps you coming back to test the limits, to see just what you can do next. It keeps you looking forward to the next thing that you can cross of your list or that next feeling that gets released taking away some stress from your day.
I would love to know your thoughts. Let me know in the comments below and if you resonate with these and would like some goal setting yourself, then come and join my FREE flexibility challenge starting August 22nd.
