When I was in my late teens, I discovered yoga for the first time. I went with a friend to an inexpensive night school class where a tiny, ancient woman softly taught us to breathe through the movement sequence that I came to learn was called a ‘sun salutation’ (or a ‘salute to the sun’ or a ‘sun salute’).
At the end of the class, after calmly putting her leg around her neck, she told us that yoga had basically saved her life. Incrementally, it had enriched her body, mind and soul. Since discovering yoga in her 50’s, it had alleviated chronic arthritis symptoms, helped her calm her mind and enabled her to face the world with an outlook of simple kindness.
Since that profound introduction, I have been a yoga enthusiast on and off for years, sometimes going to classes — including once to laughter yoga — and occasionally following online gurus at home. However, I had never been consistent with a yoga practice until the start of this year when I committed to doing 3 sun salutations each day.
I have missed a day here and there, especially when I was on vacation, but counting it up that means I have done at least 1,000 sun salutations in the past year!
Here are three revelations from 1,000 sun salutations …
1) Take Action
Anything in life starts with taking that first, small, imperfect step. There is no good time to start and you are not going to get any better until you do so you may as well take that ‘first bite of the elephant’.
On January 1st, I dug out my old yoga mat, threw it down on the floor and moved my body in what I dredged up from my memory was a sun salutation. Then I did it twice more and rolled up my yoga mat. Over time, I looked up sun salutations to make sure I was doing them in a mostly correct way and added a whispered ‘Namaste’ to end the routine but I didn’t deviate too much from there.
Here are 5 tips to help take action on a goal or healthy habit:
§ Start Small — originally, I had thought I would do 6 sun salutations per day but halved it to make sure I could keep up the commitment
§ Anchor It — the 3 sun salutations are one of the first things I do when I get up in morning and with my yoga mat right beside my bed, it is easy to anchor the habit into my day
§ Give Up Something — yes, I have to get out of bed 5 minutes earlier than I normally would but it is a tiny sacrifice to make
§ Use Your Calendar — usually I do the sun salutations first thing but if I have to race off, I have a calendar reminder set for 9pm to do them then
§ Add In Fun — sometimes I do the sun salutations with only birdsong or my kids chatter to accompany the movements and sometimes I listen to an audiobook, podcast or music
2) Create a Habit
When the world is banana-pants crazy, rituals, habits and routines help you feel in control. Finding ways to feel in control of your life helps you feel safer and is proven to be linked with more success, health and happiness.
Habits have so many benefits in addition to giving us a sense of control and predictability. People erroneously think habits deny freedom but they actually provide more freedom as they give us space to make other decisions and think creatively. If you install the routine in your life, if it is something you just do, the ingrained habit minimizes perfectionism and procrastination. Habits also eliminate the need for willpower and discipline. If it is part of your lifestyle, then you don’t need to push yourself to do it. It just happens.
I cannot influence the economy, the current geo-political climate or even what my kids eat for breakfast. Goodness, it is even quite difficult to sway how my body changes and weight shifts.
However, I CAN keep my word to myself about maintaining one tiny, healthy habit.
3) Lighten Up
In order to commit to a daily practice of 3 sun salutations I knew I had to enjoy it. As noted above, at times I added something to listen to but feeling good went further than that. I purposely created a mindset shift to lighten up.
First, I didn’t think about doing 1,000 sun salutations. Sometimes it is motivating to dream big, aim for the stars, go for that big, hairy, audacious goal (BHAG). But a goal does not have to be an end state, it can simply be a commitment to start and maintain a healthy habit. I found it easier to think in terms of 3 sun salutations each day.
Second, I didn’t try to master what I was doing. Any good yoga teacher will tell you that yoga is not about mastery but about practice. My breathing is all over the place and the half-plank position is still really hard. The only thing that matters is that I do it.
Third, a way to lighten up is to simply lower your expectations. I am not for an instant saying that you shouldn’t strive to be the best person you can be. What I am suggesting is to take action, go for it, proceed and not spend too much time dwelling on how it ‘should’ look like. Before I started, I thought I would add in more yoga moves or extend out the sun salutation sequence. Nope! This also means I don’t worry about whether I am performing the sun salutations exactly right and I don’t give myself a hard time for a missing a day here and there.
Namaste Revelation
Taking action, creating a habit and lightening up help me maintain a habit of 3 sun salutations per day and ultimately reach a goal of 1,000 sun salutations this year.
Sure, I am not that much better than when I started and whether I do the sun salutations or not makes no difference to anyone else in the world.
But I know it helps me in a myriad of ways.
My body is strengthened by the deep breathing a good stretch that accompanies sun salutations. Due to the consistency and routine of the practice my mind is awakened. Before I roll up my yoga mat, I closed off the sequence by saying ‘Namaste’ which loosely means ‘the light in me sees the light in you’. It wasn’t said to anyone or anything in particular but it is kind reminder of all that is good in the world. In this way my sun salutation practice also nourishes my soul.
