Check in with your Habits

THE BEST TIME TO START
A NEW HABIT IS NOW.

We are creatures of habit.

When my youngest daughter, Jade, turned two Sandi secured our refrigerator door with a ‘safety’ lock so that she could not rearrange the contents of our refrigerator onto the kitchen floor. While a slight annoyance for the adults in the family, the lock worked well for about 1.5 years. Of course, now that Jade is old enough, smart enough and strong enough the lock is no longer a deterrent.

So naturally, not long ago Sandi removed the lock.

Weeks after removing the lock, my fingers still searched for the security button while trying to open the fridge. The same happened with each of my family members as we all fumbled for something that was no longer there.

Habits are hard to break.

The door lock had become so ingrained for each of us that none of us needed to think about it consciously anymore. I might, for a moment, cerebrate our human minds for doing exactly what they have evolved to do: the procedural memory takes over and a task is completed without awareness.

But it also clues me in to how deep habits run.

Habits and patterns can become prisons that are difficult to break free from. Now, in the case of the habit of reaching for the missing door lock, there was hardly any negative impact. But that’s not always the case. Old habits can also be no longer useful at best, and detrimental at worse. And without awareness, we don’t even notice.

Your yoga practice is a great place to develop awareness. Even during your practice, you will find clear habits… some which may be decidedly worth repeating and others that may be ready for release. As you play with the shapes of your body (Asana) watch what happens (What do you avoid? What do you over-perform?). Notice your thought patterns as well. Observation on the mat will stimulate an awareness of habits that can follow you off your yoga mat and into regular life...

Then you get the opportunity to choose:
what do you keep and what do you let go of…

I hope one of the things you will keep is your practice time with YOGABLOOM. At the start of our new season there are new classes on our weekly schedule, upcoming workshops and events and lots of opportunities to connect with your Self, your yoga community and your joy.