Does Your New Year's Resolution Include Yoga?

Happy New Year to you all! 

Did your New Year's resolutions include more yoga?  Maybe you've decided to practice more at home.  Or maybe take more classes (or return to classes!).  Or maybe you're new to yoga and want to start.

I started yoga as part of a New Year's resolution a number of years ago (in 1993), as part of my plan to maintain good health.  It was a life-changing decision on my part!

While it's great to plan goals at any time of the year,  New Year's resolutions are special.  The beginning of a New Year is symbolic for our own new beginnings and fresh starts.

I think that the most effective way to follow through on a New Year's resolution (or a new goal at any time!) is to tell someone about it.   Not just to rattle off a laundry list of ideas that you  think you'd like to do for the coming year, but to hone in on one or two really important goals that you want to work toward.  Then go into detail how you plan to reach your goals.   If you'd rather not talk about your resolutions with someone else, then write down in great detail how you plan to keep your resolutions and work toward your goals.

Setting your intentions this way makes your goals more real in your own mind, and makes it easier to find ways to work toward your goals. 

We went through a lovely extended process on New Year's Eve with a couple of dear friends of ours, of sharing how our past year had gone for us, and what we hope to see in the coming year.  We each had our own turn to talk, first about 2010, then again for our plans for 2011.  This helped to validate our own desires and goals in a friendly, non-judgmental atmosphere.  I recommend the process to anyone!

Even though it is now past the offical beginning of the New Year, it is certainly not too late to make your own resolutions!   And plan to make "more yoga" as one of them!