Often times people want steady results with only sporadic practice. It shouldn't surprise me, as I've been seeing this from the front lines for years, and yet it does. I realize that speed, efficiency and shortcuts are valued in our society. Regardless, not wanting to hear the truth doesn't make it any less true -- doing something every now and again isn't going to get you the constant (lasting) results that you're looking for.
I am certainly not a paragon of consistancy. I, too, have whined "Do I really need to do this every day?" I have wanted daily practice-like results with only sporadic practice. I can tell you this -- it doesn't work. Yes, I'm speaking from personal experience here. Practicing yoga once or twice a week (no, it doesn't matter if it's for 90 minutes) does not offer the same benefits as practicing 6 or 7 days per week. Same goes for meditation. Heck, you could probably apply this to just about anything. Being a part-time mate isn't going to net you a loving and happy relationship. And the list goes on and on.
These past few years I've dedicated myself to a particular spiritual practice on a daily basis. At first it felt odd, as I was hesitant to add another daily to-do to my day. Luckily, I pushed past the resistance and now I can say -- WHOA, what a difference practicing each day makes. It's one of those simple but not easy things -- it's a simple concept doing a little each day but it's not necessarily easy to do. People are busy. Time is tight. There are a lot of things/people fighting for our attention each day.
When I have a client who complains about lack of "results" or not enough time to get on their yoga mat more than once or twice per week, I always ask them to think about what's important to them and then take a close look at whether or not how their spending their time reflects that. If someone tells me that his/her health is important but then doesn't take any time during the week to exercise or eat right then I do the infamous eyebrow raise, which is code for "Hmmmmm...doubtful...something seems a little amiss here."
I'll take this opportunity to offer up a little Dalai Lama wisdom that is somewhat related to this idea (even if it wasn't, it's some darned good wisdom):
I can always tell when I'm not using my time as wisely as I could, as I'll feel a disconnect between how I'm living and how I want to live. Trust me on this one -- it doesn't feel good. I've even gone so far as to stick Post-Its on my desk to remind me to do those daily practices that prove transformational (and trump the TV, email, and any other time waster I get attracted to). Yep, sometimes I need a gentle reminder...or I need to have it blatantly in my face.
If you need a little help staying on track with a daily practice -- and I'm not just talking about yoga here -- check out DailyFeats.com. The idea behind the site is that small but significant actions can result in a big change. Ahhhh, this must be why I give my clients 20-minute yoga practices to be done every day. I digress. DailyFeats is a great way to keep you on track and offer up inspiration.
Simply visit DailyFeats.com (you can also download an app for your Smartphone) and register for free. Then you get to pick from all kinds of awesome daily practices such as yoga (come on -- you KNEW I'd be excited about this one), mindfulness, and gratutide (there are many others that I'm not mentioning here, so check out the Web site). Each time you take action, you earn virtual rewards that you can use towards real-life goodies.
If you sign up between now and October 28th, you can get 50 bonus points by using the code getstarted50. Click here to sign up.
Despite the title of this post, I like to think of it as the "daily grand" as opposed to the "daily grind." Here's to a little bit of daily action adding up to big bliss, transformation, and joy!
Namaste!
