In the Mood
If you've lost the desire to practice, these ideas will help rekindle your passion for yoga.
By Laurel Kallenbach
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 "There should be a Yoga Inspiration Hotline for those who have gotten away from their practice," jokes Todd Norian, who teaches yoga nationwide and is the former director of teacher training at Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, Massachusetts. For those stuck in the yoga doldrums, his phone-support idea sounds pretty appealing.
And everyone has a yoga slump now and then—times when your practice is in a rut, when you feel your discipline slipping away, when you realize that you've been to class only twice in the past month.
Getting yourself through the yoga blues is a challenge, but the first step is to recognize that "This too shall pass." Norian says, "When I'm in a lull, I acknowledge there are different seasons to my practice. Lapsed enthusiasm doesn't mean your yoga days are over," he points out. "A dry spell can be connected with stress at work, emotional issues, or relationship difficulties—wherever your energy is tied up. My best advice: Don't get caught in negative self-talk."
In fact, Norian considers a flagging practice an invitation to go deeper into yoga. "If my attention or commitment is wandering, I know I need a challenge, so I start holding postures longer and deepen my breath," he explains. "These two key things help me break through to new levels of excitement and adventure."
Embrace Change
"Yoga inspires change. It's a tool to help you drop negative habits and adopt helpful ones, to embrace whatever the present and future hold," says Max Strom, a yoga teacher in Santa Monica and Brentwood, California. "I believe you must assess what you're hiding from and be willing to change. For instance, when I'm resistant to my practice, it's often from fear that I'll have to face an emotional issue. We store and process emotions primarily through our bodies, so yoga brings them up," he says. "In difficult times, I return to a few days of gentle, restorative practice so I feel nurtured. I find this leads me lovingly back into a full practice pretty quickly."
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