Here at Three Minute Egg®, we believe in New Year’s resolutions. Resolutions are promises to yourself, and we take our promises seriously. Having said that, we understand how difficult it can be at times to stick to your resolutions past January 31. It takes will power and determination.
Fortunately for fans of Three Minute Egg yoga, you have an advantage over the average person: your practice. A regular yoga practice gives you access to something that can help you maintain your resolution well into the new year.
Realistic Expectations
New Year’s resolutions are intentions. You intend to make a change to improve your life, your body, your health or your mental attitude. In this way, you intend to improve yourself, year after year, to become the person you ultimately want to be. Viewed from that perspective, New Year’s resolutions are beautiful things, in line with what yoga also hopes to accomplish: a fully integrated life.
Of course, problems inevitably arise when you get into your day-to-day routine. How do you fit exercise time into your busy schedule? How do you cut out those sweets when it seems so harmless to eat that one little piece of chocolate after a hard day? How can you lose weight when that last piece of lasagna is just sitting there waiting for you? How do you maintain a vegetarian diet when there is … bacon?
The first trick is to set realistic New Year’s resolutions. Don’t resolve to lose 20 pounds when you have trouble losing five. Start with small, incremental, achievable goals, and then, once you achieve them, work on maintaining them — the hard work comes from the day-to-day maintenance. Success with the small stuff then leads to more ambitious undertakings.
Yoga and Resolutions
Yoga is the perfect way to focus your intentions. A yoga practice helps your body and mind prepare to accept your New Year’s resolutions. When you first step onto your mat, set your intentions for the session. Then, while proceeding through your sequence, you have the opportunity to put your intention into action and practice what you are looking to create more of. For example, if you resolve to make healthier food choices, practicing upeksha (equanimity) and cultivating karuna (compassionate action) towards your body while on your mat, you realize that the choices you make in your daily life can have the same sense of purpose.
The yoga tradition is full of tools to help us be successful in our efforts. Tools such as abhyasa (dedicated practice) and vairagya (letting go of attachment), and an understanding that the positive effects of sincere yoga practice are cumulative, can help you succeed in keeping your resolutions. Your practice and your new healthy habits become more firmly rooted over a sustained period of time. In other words, keep practicing!
Three Minute Egg Yoga Helps
By incorporating Three Minute Egg yoga props into your practice, you can better integrate the deeper aspects of yoga. The Eggs support optimal alignment and proper alignment in the yoga postures opens you up to experiencing the more subtle parts of your practice that will help you make the lasting changes you seek.