It was light out already, but I still felt heavy, and the effort to move brought a lump to my throat. I had woken up again at 4 am unable to sleep, and now I was paying for it. Actually, I was sleepless because of that extra cup of coffee. How do you kick the habit when you LOOOVE coffee? Do I resist self-care?
If you’re like me you’ve had problems starting and sticking with new habits that you know will improve your health, giving you more freedom to enjoy life. Your pain started with stress- either physical or mental and you ignored it. Instead of magically going away, it keeps creeping back, in fact, it gets worse, until you are in the place you are in today.
Self-care is not my priority- I ignored my stress too- that’s why I loved the euphoric buzz of a dark roast late in the afternoon. It gave me that burst of energy to finish my working day.
Here’s what happens when we ignore stress and pain- we drink that extra coffee and don’t sleep well- causing anxiety, depression, even a bad back – the list goes on because of the cause and effect of our actions. Probably, a doctor or therapist has examined you and given you exercises to do (or sleep hygeine practice!) Why do we fail to do them?
One of the problems I had, and I see in my students, is resistance. We want to make good habits, but the goal seems so momentous, and life constantly gets in the way- and in my case, coffee was readily available as a quick fix. We miss one trip to the gym, or blow the diet, drink that coffee at 3 PM and give up, saying it’s impossible.
The pain comes and goes, you know you should do something different but you don’t unless you are in pain (and then it’s even harder).
There’s lots of reasons, but all of them dial down to having the energy, time, or resources. You know that it’s important, your freedom and joy begins with your health, right? You know then that some belief or old pattern is keeping you stuck. Dial that down and it’s as simple as this: we have the weight of not believing in ourselves.
Thar’s why it’s also hard to stick to mental habits, like affirmations and positive thinking. Because we resist changing our thoughts too!
In my story, the pain was strong enough that I had to do something- and luckily, I had yoga. This is a whole-body approach.
Physically it strengthens the spine and keeps it mobile. It tones your ‘relaxation response-ability‘, which helps us relax in our downtime, and be active and alert when it’s time for doing. What I really needed was a time to sit still in the afternoon and rest. I had to shift the reward to something different.- a soothing tea did the trick.
Before my patterns and beliefs changed, yoga built a foundation of peace in my being to support me.
You know Self-care is wealth, and freedom!, and you know you got to the place you’re in now by putting off making a change. It will only get worse if you don’t take some action.
Our bodies, that are walking miracles of perfection in design, require maintenance and proper nutrition. Energy and time will be freed up for you to live the life fully when you are as healthy as you can be. You’ll not just be healthier, but now you have attention for the better things in life, to be more alert and available to Joy.
Yoga Practice is the best foundation of your health because it works on many levels. It gives me the emotional calm to make better choices late in the day when I’m tired. Plus the tools do something different and replace the old habit.
Here’s how you can get started on now.
Join Full Body Yoga Stretch– Online: only $125 for 6 classes- Plus you have access to our beginner library of instructional videos for one full year!
Frances Adamson is a certified Yoga Therapist, and an art and intuition coach in Durham Area Ontario.
Serving Oshawa, Whitby, Bowmanville, and Clarington.
20 Kingswood Drive, Courtice
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