Why a Commitment can Bless You,
and the importance of making small, time specific commitments.
Can you relate to this situation? You decide to do yoga every day because you feel how good it is for you. You make a committment, this is for YOU! The first 2-3 days pass and the yoga feels great. You’re loving it. Then suddenly another 2-3 days pass and you realise you’ve forgotten about your commitment and time has just flown by without you noticing it!
You’re not alone.
Many of us tend to jump quite lightly into unrealistically big commitments on days when our inspiration is high. We may say something like “I’m gonna do this every day now!”, without a clear end date and without thinking too much of what those words actually mean. Glossing over the practical, emotional and mental aspects that come along with in a Yoga commitment.
What often happens then is that we have some days of glory in the beginning, but when the transformation is really starting to happen, which is a part of the process that feels less glorious, then we find ourselves in situations – internally or externally - that we didn’t foresee, that wear on us rather than strengthens us because we weren’t prepared for them.
We end up having to meet with challenges unprepared, make decisions at times when our will power is lower, being nagged by a constant thought in the back of the mind “shall I really keep doing this?”. Often realizing we can’t stay with what we so happily had embarked on in the beginning, instead breaking our commitment, weakening our will power and being left with feelings of failure and low inspiration.
With the right preparation, you can make a well thought-through commitment where you’ve already taken into account all the foreseeable factors so that your commitment is proportional to what is realistic in your life right now:
So it feels easily doable, yet challenging enough to help you grow and develop.
So the time frame is such that you know you can fit it into your day.
So you have a clear end date that you can use as a refuge to think of during challenges.
So you know already beforehand what to do at what time and in what situation.
So you can rest in your commitment and instead of constantly questioning and evaluating “is this really good for me, shall I actually keep going?” when you’re right on the cusp of a break-through (a time that will naturally feel like a challenging threshold), you know your commitment to see it through and evaluate after, thus your mind can be free from the nagging thought of “shall I continue or not”?
Of course you don’t have to commit to anything at all, but there are many benefits to making a commitment. Here’s one ex: most transformation usually happens during times that feel challenging, yoga can release things that are stuck deep in the body and psyche, leaving you feeling lighter and more free – AFTER you’ve seen the challenge through. Without a commitment it’s SO SO common to stop just when it’s actually starting to work, because it’s uncomfortable to release and transform. You may not even notice that you’ve stopped your daily practice, suddenly you’ve forgotten and days or weeks have passed. You’re missing out on growth that could make your life feel much brighter and your heart more open.
Let’s say you feel the yoga calling you, and you do this:
1. You ask yourself, “when in the day can I do yoga?” You look in your calendar, plan ahead, and see: Monday – Tuesday are busy days, I need to get up at 6am to fit it in. Wednesday-Thursday I have a long lunch break, I can do it then if I skip scrolling on my phone in the break. In the weekend I have visitors, I will tell them in advance that I’ll take a bit of time to do you yoga so they know…
Then you don’t have to make the decision when sleepy at 6am “shall I snooze or not?”, you don’t have to discover after the lunch break is over that time flew by without you noticing it or using your time wisely, you don’t have to excuse yourself to your visitors, instead they too may get inspired and want to join!
2. Actually, the first question to ask yourself is what do I want to do and how long time would I like to spend on my committed daily yoga practice? And then, more importantly, ask “is this realistic?”. Our tendency - and I’ve seen this soo many times - is to take on too much and then it becomes a burden. It’s smart to commit to something small, let’s say 15 minutes per day, then it feels easily doable. You can always choose to do more, but if you’ve made a commitment to 1hr per day, you can’t do less without breaking your commitment.
3. Therefore it’s as important to decide on an end date to your commitment. It’s not “every day for the rest of my life”. Maybe it’s every day for 3 weeks. After 3 weeks you evaluate (and celebrate!) – what did it give me, what do I want to keep and recommit to, or change.
These are 3 of 14 questions that I’ve noticed make ALL the difference to whether your commitment will be fruitful in the way it can, or not.
I gave an online workshop on this topic this spring, and I'm planning to record an online mini-course.
Write to me if you're interested to get that!
With Love, Sanna
