Heather - Day Five

Again, I found myself resisting a yoga practice today. The combination of the working so much of late, heat and a more recent habit of laziness had a big pull on my inclinations today. I intended to get up and take Lynne Begier's 9:30am class, but nixed that to lounge around with my boyfriend in the a.m. before teaching restorative. I knew I would have time to just do a good Ashstanga practice after working the desk and before leaving to go home. But by the end of my shift I felt tired. I decided to go home. When I got home I fought my instinct to make dinner and curl up with my book and set myself up with a dharma talk by Ajahn Brahm and a good, hour long Yin practice. Again, as before, I felt more awake and energized. I apparently made the right choice of practice. Yay me!!!

I actually listened to a talk with the title: self-discipline. I thought it was appropriate since I was so mentally resistant to pursuing the discipline I had set up for myself. Ajahn Brahm talked about how one should use positive self-reinforcement. For example, if you get up in the morning when your alarm goes off, reward yourself with an extra bit of breakfast or a pat on the back or something. He encourages this rather than what most of us do which is bemoan and mentally punish ourselves for hitting that snooze a couple of times rather than just getting up and sitting or making breakfast or reading the paper, etc, etc... He you are going to train yourself into the habits you want by rewarding them rather than just falling into the negativity inducing mental states that steal your energy and make developing good habits even harder.

So, I am eating chocolate chip cookies. While the yoga itself is a great reward, I decided that I am going to positively reward my choice to carry out my commitment to this 365 day challenge.

WishinG you happiness, metta, and cookies of your very own from a little dot in the universe called Boston,
Heather