Hello and welcome to this talk about creating your personal yoga routine.
My name is Doris,
I'm a yoga teacher and over the years I've sort of specialised into creating routines or just finding space in your everyday life for yoga.
So just to clarify,
When I talk about a yoga practice or a yoga routine,
This can really mean anything.
So you might think of physical yoga,
The practice of asana,
But it could also be meditation,
It could be breath work,
It could be journaling,
It could even be just shavasana,
Ten minutes of final relaxation or simply relaxation.
So that's just a little intro into what it can mean and this could be any time of the day.
So a routine is normally something that you do on a regular basis,
Perhaps a certain time of the day.
So that really depends if you have time for example to add a yoga routine into your morning or perhaps into your evening or maybe it's just 5-10 minutes that you try to squeeze into every day but you want to be more flexible.
And if you like to implement a morning routine then you might want to check out my other audio file about that in particular.
I'll be guiding you through seven steps or seven points that I find really valuable when it comes to creating your personal yoga routine.
So the first step or first point that I'd like to talk about is knowing why you want to create a personal yoga routine in the first place.
This is something I find incredibly valuable when it comes to implementing change or just adding something new into your life.
So often we come to a conclusion to start yoga on a regular basis but perhaps it's more of a I should or it would be good for me or my doctor said or my friend told me.
But that's not really for most of us I'd say a good reason or a sustainable reason because that's really the reason why you will be stepping onto the mat or just starting that yoga practice every day or every other day.
So why is it?
Perhaps even write it down.
Really think about it.
Is it because you want to support your mental health?
Is it because you want to implement more mindfulness practices?
Is it because you want to support your body in a way?
It can really be anything it just has to matter to you so it's not about what other people think or it's simply what is your reason.
You don't have to share it with anyone it can just be for yourself.
It's your personal reason but that could be something that you might want to consider writing it down and perhaps if you have a physical space where you practice yoga or an area where you tend to practice then perhaps you might even want to put a little note there or perhaps with the mirror.
It really depends what works for you.
Maybe you want to keep it on your phone so it's a bit more personalised.
So that's just something I find incredibly valuable is knowing why and that really goes for any change or anything new that you want to implement into your life or introduce into your life.
The second step is eliminating obstacles.
Say you want to practice physical yoga,
What do you need for that?
So you need your mat to be rolled out and perhaps suitable clothing depending on when you practice.
Say you do it in the middle of the day where you might be wearing different clothing.
So perhaps have your yoga mat already rolled out.
If you have a space for your yoga routine,
Say a yoga mat,
Then my personal recommendation is to have it rolled out all the time.
It's what I do but I know that not for every home that's going to be possible but perhaps you can create a little corner or a little area where you do practice.
So that obstacle is already out of the way.
Maybe you want to,
If you practice in the morning,
You could even prepare your clothing that you want to wear the night before so you're ready or you set it up for the day so it's just about what are the steps that I need to do to practice and what could be obstacles in the way.
So making it really really easy for yourself because when we do something new there are a lot of obstacles,
Some of them are mental but some of them are also physical so it's usually the physical ones are easier to get out of the way.
Okay and then for point three or step three is start small and be specific.
So when people tell me about their plans that they have for their yoga routines it's usually a big chunk of time,
So 15-20 minutes every day and if we look at a 24 hour day sure that's not a lot but if we think of going from 0 to 15 then that's quite an increase,
Quite a sudden increase and you know perhaps you've tried in the past to implement something regular it can be really hard.
So for that I find okay how can we make it more sustainable and that's usually to reduce the time.
So five minutes,
Three minutes,
Even one minute everything is better than nothing and everything is better that keeps you consistently going for what you want to achieve.
So I find five minutes or three minutes is a great time to start it really feels like little time depending on what you do sometimes five minutes can seem like a lot but if we look at it at the spectrum of a whole day then five minutes is really not too bad but again be my guest to make it one minute and you can always add up once you've established that routine which can take usually three to four weeks then maybe you know in a few months you want to add another five minutes but think about that it's also doubling your time then so maybe seven minutes you know you can add up I've started with 10 minutes of meditation and now I'm at 20 I don't I won't go any further I might at some point but I'm that's not my plan so it's not also about consistently adding it's more to get to a point where you're happy with.
So that's starting small and then be specific in terms of what you'd like to do or you know what is something that you want to practice say it's meditation and great five minutes perhaps a guided meditation perhaps it's silent meditation or maybe it's breath work or maybe you want to split it but also being really specific of what you like to do maybe it's a physical yoga practice then that goes back to why you want to practice is there an area of the body or is there a certain pose that you'd like to repeat or perhaps it's a it's a group of poses so really specific of what you'd like to do that is a great way to set yourself up for success.
Step number four is to plan ahead so depending on what your goal is say it's a meditation or a physical yoga practice then perhaps the night before the day before or in the morning if you do it in the evening you could start to research what you do maybe go on to inside timer and scroll the practices that you can do at the time you know a five minute guided meditation perhaps a five minute guided yoga practice and then you can look and see what what you might be in the mood for and I can get you really excited for the next day so I do it with more workout things or with yoga practices is that doing this little research really gets me excited or if you know if you already have something that you'd like to do just maybe deciding I'm gonna do this tomorrow and that can get you really excited or maybe you want to do your own routine maybe plan your own yoga practice but just again this comes a little bit also into removing obstacles is what can you do to make it easier for yourself so that's number four plan ahead.
Step number five comes more into once you have your routine is to not give up if you miss a day or more so I see there's a lot where people then after missing a day because you know life happens you might be ill you might be on holiday you might have someone visiting don't give up I think a yoga routine or any routine should be flexible in the sense that you know when you were somewhere else you might not want to do it and that's perfectly fine I don't think it has to be something that you take with you on holiday it might be but it doesn't have to be I personally don't really do it because I meditate 20 minutes in the morning and you know depending on where I am that's not really always so easy to do and then I just don't want it to get in the way of my life so you know it might be something just when you're home and when you have the time and space and then if you miss a few days even a week even two just get back to it whenever you can it's okay it's not about continuing the streak it you know it might be and that might make it easier but if it's not possible that shouldn't be a reason for you not to continue pursuing that routine so just because you miss something it's not the end of the world it will happen in the future just get back to it whenever you can you're doing great.
Step number six is be patient and kind to yourself so you know some days it might be really easy perhaps at the beginning you're really excited about the routine and then there comes a day when you don't feel like pursuing your routine or maybe if you do something physical where it feels really hard on some days and that's okay you know it's not we're not consistent every day we're human beings so many things affect our daily lives and how we feel and what seems easier and what we feel like so it's completely fine to some days perhaps you know not get that same level of satisfaction from it and that's okay we we want to be patient and we want to accept ourselves whoever we are so that's just a little reminder to be kind to yourself and to be patient with yourself that you can really take into your daily life even it's not just about yoga routines.
And then the seventh and final step is being flexible and open to change so you know you might have decided five minutes of physical yoga is what you'd like to do and then over time you realize that's not really working for you or perhaps your needs shift and it becomes five minutes of meditation or you know you've completely changed when you do your routine so that's so that's completely fine as I mentioned I started with 10 minutes of meditation and then it became 20 but in the beginning I actually did only physical yoga as my morning routine and now I'm doing no physical yoga in the morning as part of my routine so that's okay because I personally benefit more from meditation it's just something that I feel like doing a lot more in the morning and that's that's okay it my routine evolved and yours might too you might stay with it for a few years it might only be a few months it could be that certain circumstances change in your life perhaps you know new people come into your life you move your jobs change so many things can can affect your needs and allow your yoga routine to grow with you and to change and evolve you know you still have this little once you implemented this routine you have this almost blank space to fill and that can be filled in any way that you feel like okay so those were my seven steps on how to create your personal yoga routine I hope that you find it insightful and now it really is up to you and to start making those changes start writing down your why as a step one and I hope that you will find success in creating your personal yoga routine it might take more tries than one and that's perfectly fine as I mentioned it can really be a big step and not the easiest thing to do but I know that you will succeed eventually and I'd really appreciate to hear from you if you found this helpful and maybe check out my talk on how to create a personal morning routine if that's something that you find interesting and I hope you have a great day thanks for listening and take care.
