The Secret to Staying Consistent with Your Yoga Practice

A consistent yoga practice can sound nice in theory but often in reality we struggle to fit it in with the many demands on our day-to-day life. We’re often told that yoga isn’t a performance, it is a practice yet for many of us the real challenge isn’t whether we can do X or Y arm balance, or being able to touch our toes, it’s simply showing up consistently.

We know motivation ebbs and flows, our to-dos pile up and before we know it we haven’t set foot on our mat for a week or two. Here’s our advice if you are looking to build more consistency with your yoga practice.

Benefits of a Consistent Yoga Practice

We all know the benefits of yoga – greater strength and flexibility in the body, a calmer mind and reduced stress levels. Consistently showing up on your mat doesn’t require hours out of your day, 15-20minutes of practice every few days often yields more lasting results than practicing for longer periods once or twice every couple of months. Like watering a plant little and consistent is often better than floods of water ever now and again.

What does a consistent yoga practice actually look like?

You would be forgiven for imagining that a consistent yoga practice looks entirely like dragging yourself out of bed at 6am, groggily rolling out a yoga mat and making some warrior shapes on it. And while that works for some, remember it’s not the only way, we often forget that a yoga practice can be as simple as sitting on our sofa and taking 10 minutes to breathe deeply with intention. It might be attending a Wednesday evening class every week, for others it might be attending class online or watching back a video on demand.

A consistent yoga practice can look different for everyone.

Build yoga into your schedule

Consistency isn’t an all-or-nothing trap, it should be something that you can build into your schedule and comfortably maintain.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is waiting until they "feel like practising." Motivation is wonderfully inspiring, but it's not always reliable, habits, however, are.

Treat your yoga practice like an important appointment. Schedule it into your calendar, practice at the same time each week, start with shorter sessions and build your way to longer ones. You can also try linking yoga to an existing habit, such as after your morning coffee or before dinner.

The key is sustainable repetition.

Online or In Studio (benefits of both accountability)

There’s no one right way to practice. Joining a yoga class live online or in the studio can help you feel accountable and a teacher will be there to guide you through the entire practice and be able to support you in postures.

Practicing yoga via an on-demand library (like the Kali Collective Online Library) will give you the flexibility to practice whenever and wherever you choose. While you won’t have a teacher live with you to hold you accountable you’ll be able to choose days and times to practice that work best for you. This option is great if you have a fluid schedule or aren’t able to make regular class times.

Many students discover the ideal balance is a combination of studio classes and online practice. Weekly in-person classes provide community, inspiration and expert guidance, while online classes help maintain momentum between visits to the studio.

Consistency Begins with One Practice

There is no shortcut to a consistent yoga practice, the secret is simply returning to your mat, again and again even when you don’t always feel like it. Some practices will feel energising. Others will feel slow. Some weeks you'll manage several classes, while other weeks life will ask more of you.

Your yoga practice doesn't have to be perfect, it simply has to begin.

Are you ready to join us for your next class? Choose from in person or live online classes from our yoga schedule or join the Kali Collective Online Library.