If you want to see my strategy, scroll down to “Making it Happen” … or take the circuitous route by my reading my journey, which begins in the very next paragraph.

I feel poised to make this happen now, since I have gotten yoga “down” as part of my “going into Boston” AM routine … (now I need to make it part of “day-working-from-home” and “weekend” AM routines).  Yoga is very portable and taking it on the road is no problem (I’ll be traveling at the end of the month for work). And thankfully, the yoga flow/sequence is in my head such that all I need is the mat**, really…

///**I’ve tried practicing on towels, and it’s just too distracting … the towel bunches easily and doesn’t give the same rooted support as the textured mats, so the weight of the mat is worth it (to me) when traveling.  Of course, many hotels are now providing mats – a nice perk (even nicer if you don’t have to pay for it)!///

My yoga days began way back with this lady on PBS – I was probably five and trying to copy her on the family room floor in our house in Canyon Country, CA.  Fast-forward almost 20 years and I saw an ad at college (UCSB) for an intro class being offered at a studio downtown (Santa Barbara).  It was a great introduction.  Only two of us in the class… and it totally suited me.  I would practice Mountain Pose while waiting for the bus.  I also picked up a yoga book, but didn’t do much else as classes were out of the budget.

After I finally finished undergrad, while I was waiting tables and applying to graduate school, I practiced yoga via VHS tape in the morning before lunch shifts… and definitely noticed a difference. Squatting in my ridiculously straight-jacket-like waitstaff uniform was actually easier!!! (I was working at a Southern California Houston’s, where the uniform was black 501s, super starched white long-sleeved cotton button downs, and a similarly starched apron.  The apron was SO long… it was only about a foot from the floor, and wrapped almost completely around).  So the yoga tape was helping – easier movement made for better attitude …

Yoga took the back-burner when I moved to New England (had not even a TV, much less funds to hit Boston yoga studios) … I did take a few classes in Davis Square, Somerville, but really got turned back on to it when I joined a gym featuring Vinyasa style yoga.  I hadn’t done yoga like this; it was much more dance-like and “flowy” than the very staid Hatha yoga I had done before.  I learned these yoga teachers were taught in the “Baptiste” method…. I also learned that Baptiste style was typically taught in a heated room (90-95 degrees) and I figured, “no way I am EVER doing that!” – (I am someone who passes out WAY too easily). But the instructor encouraged me, and I convinced myself there would be no shame in jetting mid-class if it meant avoiding a medical emergency!

I was SO incredibly self-conscious at 1st.  I assumed everyone in there knew exactly what they were doing – that they were pros.  Everyone had to see how out of shape I was … They had to see everything I was doing wrong. /// I think a lot of people feel this way when they try exercise classes, (even gym equipment) for the 1st time.  While I do think there are people preening in any studio or gym class,  most people are focused on themselves and ultimately, that’s totally what fitness is about.///

Within several months I was signed up for a week-long Baptist Yoga bootcamp.  Later, I would attend a teacher training bootcamp, thinking I might open my own studio one day (running numbers on this killed the studio idea … one needs a major cash infusion, or be willing to take out some major loans… not good options for me).  So I continued to go to class at the Baptiste studio in Cambridge, and later, after I moved to the North Shore, I went to Empower Yoga (a Baptiste affiliate) sorta (not) near my new house… it was closer than the Cambridge studio, anyway.

Going to Empower couldn’t last since it was SO not conducive to my work/commuting schedule. /// I really feel that you cannot be swimming against the tide too much to make fitness happen.///  For me, getting up early wasn’t the issue as much as having to put work clothes on top of a very sticky body, and then do my make-up on the train, and then have hair be redonc for the rest of that day. These things (and more) left me totally out of wack and negated any benefit I was getting from doing the yoga.  For so long I didn’t think my yoga (a personal practice at home) could be as “good” without “instruction” and without the heat of the studio… I felt that my yoga couldn’t be as “extreme” as it needed to be to get the true benefits.

WW has taught me that I was often running after extreme workouts because I thought it was the answer to loosing the few pounds I could never shake; or that extreme workouts were the only way to keep me in my “current” state of “fitness” at the very least.  WW taught me exactly how much food (and drink) affects weight loss/weight maintenance.   Right now, I am maintaining my weight with fairly minimal exercise -> the yoga is keeping me limber (and there are enough push-ups involved to keep my arms from becoming total flab, and my core strong), and the walking I do in Boston gives me some additional activity. The yoga also keeps me centered/sane (which I know is another strong “reason” folks get their workouts in -> to relieve stress).  In the last several weeks, I have been *struggling* with whether or not I am a runner.  After I complete the 30 days of yoga, I might attempt a similar experiment with running (have yet to decide)…. for now, I will focus on yoga.

Why/Goal/Objective- If we want to make something stick, it’s important to understand why we’re doing it in the 1st place.  For me, yoga will continue to:

• help center me, and give me a little time for me, exclusively, on very busy/committed days
• keep me strong and limber
• help me maintain a better attitude: a body that moves more easily reduces the “crankies”, and that is just better for everyone!
  • ///on this note – on mornings when I am particularly resistant to facing the day, I focus only on – “getting to the yoga mat” – something so much more achievable than thinking of ALL that looms ahead; and usually, a mini-transformation happens on that mat, and I am more ready for the *abundance* that awaits///

How- Impacts on routine- what do I need to consider to make this happen – for real?:

• kitchen clean on wake-up (I cannot feel centered when surrounded by clutter); I practice in the space off the kitchen, where there is a mirror reflecting it all back to me (see pic at right)
  • PM routine needs to ensure space is ready
• 10 minutes built into ALL AM routines (consider 20, 30, or 40 minutes on non-commuting days)
  • calculate into wake-up time
  • go to bed early enough that sleep is  not sacrificed for fitness!! (I hold sleep higher than exercise)
• mat at the ready (I keep stored right off the kitchen space)
• tank and shorts ready (I love the $1.98 tanks from Forever21 and I wear men’s boxer briefs – the LUXURY of practicing in your own home!  The briefs are wicked comfortable and super inexpensive! – see right pic!)

Data- Things I want to note/observe daily:

• physical (strength, flexibility – does my back hurt…?)
  • note how AM walk feels -(consider too what is in my bag and what shoes I’m wearing)…?
• mind/attitude (if my ‘tude is off, try to note what else was going on – work, life, hormones, sleep…?)

Why collect the data?  I want to reassess the “whys” from above – ultimately the more grounded I am in my goals, the more likely I am to stay motivated.

Do you want to try a similar fitness challenge (or anything you want to make a habit)?  I invite you to join me – of course, if you need to get something set up in order to be “ready” – then start a few days after (or weeks, or months) and report back here (or on FB) on how it went.  I REALLY believe knowing WHY and HOW you make Activity (or whatever your new habit is) happen … what keeps you motivated when everything else gets in the way?!