The New Years Resolution

In my business, teaching yoga, it’s all about the New Years resolution. Everyone calls me wanting to get in shape, lose weight, and feel better. Some people get a jump on it and call in the middle of December. Every year this happens, and I try to do my best to help people help themselves into better health, and I watch as most of them disappear after a few classes. I watch some people give up about 20 minutes into class, when they realize that yoga actually has an exercise component! They start to sweat and breathe heavily and get this look on their face that says, “What the hell was I thinking?” Others get on an exercise binge and go crazy coming to class, and then they just “flame out” as we say in the business. The quiet meditative aspect of yoga will sometimes cause people who are really struggling emotionally or spiritually to totally freak out at the end of class. Just quieting the mind long enough for the unhappiness to surface is upsetting, and they would rather go back to being really busy and not dealing with whatever is going on. Every year there are 3 or 4 people who show up at my studio in January with a resolution to take better care of themselves, and they actually make it and are still around the next year.

So why do some people manage to keep their resolution and finally take better care of themselves, and some people just fall back into their old habits? I have no idea! One thing I’ve learned, though, is that it has nothing to do with me. All I can do is help them to see that they are in charge, and they can choose to help themselves. I can hand them the seed, but they have to plant it and nurture it.

Here are some observations I’ve collected watching people change their lifestyle. Most of them are completely obvious and easier to write or say than to actually do.

1. Go slowly exercising! Set a goal for yourself that is reasonable. That way, you can feel good about yourself. If you haven’t been exercising at all, set a goal to exercise 30 minutes twice a week for the 1st quarter of 2009. Then give yourself credit for meeting that and add on for the 2nd quarter. If you’ve been exercising some, just add one more class on. Going crazy, trying to radically change your lifestyle all at once, almost never works.

2. Go slowly dieting! Again, set a goal for your intake that is small and reasonable. Reducing sodas, chips, and sweets is a good first goal for 2009. Don’t worry about everything else you are eating. Just try to reduce – not deny – the junk you are eating that isn’t healthy.

3. Try your best to focus on how you feel on the inside, rather than on what you look like on the outside. Focusing too much on weight loss just gets the mind in an obsessive state, and brings on negative thoughts and feelings about the body. If you set some reasonable goals for exercising and eating healthier, then you’ll feel better on the inside, and over time you’ll begin to shape up on the outside too.

Exercising is the #1 way to get yourself and your mind out of slump. Here is a great New Years Resolution: I’m going to be happier in 2009!

I found this link to an old Jack Lalanne clip from the 1950s. Jack is the grand daddy of the fitness world. He was one of the first to make a workout TV show about taking care of yourself. This little speech from the 50s is still just as applicable today as it was then, maybe more so. Preach on Jack. I just looked on his site, and found that he is 94 years old and still works out 2 hours a day!