Consistency in Practice

I ran a 3 month ‘no yoga’ experiment on myself this winter. Here’s what I learned…

I recently spent 70 days in the Kimberley as a Naturalist Guide onboard an expedition ship. We spent all day every day outdoors exploring and facilitating amazing nature experiences for the guests on board. This meant hours in the hot ‘dry season’ sun (on the gorgeous aqua ocean) and hours on my feet driving zodiacs. This also meant early starts, late finishes, every single hour of my day scheduled to the minute, and endless amounts of human interaction in the form of ‘guest entertainment and education’. It was epic. It was hard. It was long. It was everything I love doing, and some.

Because I had to go completely offline throughout this time (there’s no phone service in the Kimberleys…) I paused all yoga classes (of course, the Slow Living Studio kept running in the background) and turned on my email’ away’ settings. I had expectations of having time each day to do my own yoga and I was so excited for this. What they don’t tell you when you’re thinking of becoming a yoga teacher, is that once you’ve done your YTT, your personal yoga practice will never ever be the same. In many good ways, and some not-so-good...and one of those ways is that your practice has now become 'work' and it becomes difficult to switch off and keep your own practice, your own. I started off my first contract with mornings of early yoga on the top deck at sunrise. Day two and three were the same. But by day four after hours on the water, an extra hour of sleep took priority. And then the next day, and the next. I quickly realised that sleep was going to be numero uno for a while and my usual practice fell to the wayside. I took to little bouts of stretching and slow breathing moments on the zodiac in between tours when I could. 

To be completely honest, it was the first time in years that I haven’t had a consistent macro (longer) daily-ish yoga or breathwork/meditation practice. It was the first time in years that I hadn’t had a consistent morning routine that included some sort of movement or self-time. It was the first time in years that I really had to test myself on the realities of 'practice' and commitment and consistency and what that actually meant for me. And - it was also time to ‘reap the fruits’ of my previous consistency in practice for all those years up until now. Here’s what happened…

• My every-day breathing took a down-turn.
• Easeful breaths become challenging. Breathing became shallower and mid-torso centered rather than whole body/belly flow. This was thanks to my reduced movement and ‘breath exercise’ practices - my breathing muscles became tight and couldn't function at their optimum level.
• I started waking myself up at night with a rogue snore-inhale (gasp!). I have never been a snorer. Something I speak of in my Breath; for Life courses is that a consistent (nasal) breath practice can tone your breathing passageways and sometimes lessen snoring/sleep apnea etc. For me, it was the opposite - the lack of breathing was leading to more flaccid pathways and now, snoring.
• Thanks to my consistent practice and awareness of breath over the past 10 years, I was able to find my breath there, somewhere in the cobwebs, when I truly needed it. If I hadn't had a consistent practice before that strengthened my technique, muscles and awareness in the first place...it would have been extra hard. 
  • To stay consistent without a full daily-ish 10-30min breath and meditation practice - I took slow breaths in the multitude of short random moments that I could.
• I got super tight and my body niggles flared up.
• Tight spine > tight torso > tight breath.
• Tight hammies, quads and constant imbalanced leaning/fatigue in my glutes (from leaning into the boat tillers) lead to my knee and hip pain flaring up more frequently.
• But thanks to years of consistently working with physios and trainers, and my previous strength training, I knew how to manage the niggles and pain and keep on with daily life.
  • Staying consistent without my usual 'tools' accessible, looked like - mini stretch sessions and rolling around on massage balls on the floor in my lil' cabin, or I would lay on the floor of my zodiac (boat) with my feet in the air (legs-up-the-wall-esque)...aka zodiac yoga.
• I got resistant to meditation.
• I became less comfortable with the unknown and 'mental hard work' of silence. Yes, silence is a practice in and of itself. Just like rest and slowing down... 
• But thanks to years of surrender into the void of silence through my rest practices and meditation - I knew that even in the discomfort to keep going, because it would eventually dissipate.
  • Instead of avoiding it completely - I would put soothing tunes in my earholes and sit with a cup of hot choc (no cacao on this boat!) while journalling/scribbling/writing...just to stay 'consistent' ;)

I definitely felt the effects of what it’s like to NOT consistently practice in the way that I was used to. My body felt it, my breath felt it, and my mind felt it at times. So I committed to daily-ish micro practices where I could and tried to stay consistent with what was working for me at the time (without guilting myself into thinking I SHOULD be doing anything else, or anything differently). But what I realised is that it wasn't necessarily 'what' I was doing, it was the fact that I was doing it at all. And after all the body niggles and short breath started creeping in and I realised how much I needed to lean on my practices (and how much worse it would have been if I hadn't in the past!), that was the real kicker reminder that commitment does work, and it's often further down the track that you realise just how potent that consistent practice or action, really was/is for the you today.

There's a reason why we call all the yoga, breath and meditation a 'practice'. It's an on going act of consistently showing up and doing the thing, and maybe not 'getting it right' or maybe not having 'breakthroughs' and maybe you can't do it at all one day and the next it feels easy...but you show up. You get on the mat. You do the thing. Because eventually, it will feel more easeful and integrated and embodied. And eventually, you will be able to call upon those practices when you need them, and they'll be helpful when you need them. But we have to strengthen that 'muscle', and if we don't keep at it, the muscle weakens (just like it did for me this winter).  

It’s not about the length of the practice, or whether it’s daily at exactly the same time. You don’t even have to do the same thing or all-of-the-thing all of the time. Commitment and devotion, makes change happen. Nothing changes if nothing changes. Instead of guilting yourself into a daily yoga and meditation practice and then dreading your mat every morning as soon as you flip open an eyelid, start small. Weekly. Instead of completely dreading and avoiding a meditation/breath practice because you have no idea what to do, or you need the guidance of someones voice to keep you on track - find a class that suits you and your timetable (booking yourself in can also be SO helpful to sticking to a practice).

As soon as you start consistently committing to something, it becomes easier and easier. And at the same time - as soon as you keep committing to the same habits, the same old habits will keep showing up. During winter we tend to curl up and fall out of our ‘healthy’ habits because it’s just that little bit harder to get outside and go for a run when it’s raining, or get out of bed in the morning when it’s freezing cold, or go to the gym after work when it’s already dark. But sometimes we need that break too, to remind us of what our bodies truly need and want...

Spring is here. More sun, more warmth, more energy to kickstart the body again. What are you consistently devoting to this season?

Commit to your consistency, and feeeeeel the benefits ripple into your life even beyond your time on the mat...

Slow Flow Yoga Block in Port Lincoln (Sept & Oct)

Breath & Meditation Block in Port Lincoln (Sept & Oct) 

(save 50% when you register for both Slow Flow AND Breath & Medi here 👏 )

*not sure if I'm your vibe? come and try on the 7th Sept to see if you like it before you sign up, just email me to register*

Yours in consistent practice, macro or micro, ship or land...

Sez x