As the calendar rolls over to a new year, most of us are at least tempted to create a list of New Year’s resolutions. Year after year being in better shape usually tops most of our lists. Unfortunately, and especially in the U.S. weight loss and fitness have become interchangeable, and while we know body composition changes can be an important part of fitness, at Vibetality our primary focus is on helping the body feel better by building a strong healthy being. We believe that when you start to feel better, you'll begin to look healthier and naturally as a result of the new strength and muscle tissue you develop in the classes you'll begin to replace bad fat with healthier body tissue.
Perhaps we have already decided that 2015 will finally be the year that we will begin to eat healthier and exercise more often with the intent of creating a "better" us. Maybe part of our new year's resolution even includes a commitment to a daily Vibetality practice. Perhaps we have it all planned out, five days a week of a balanced schedule that includes equal amounts of FitVibe, YogaVibe, RenewVibe and of course full length Yoga classes as well. Unfortunately, if we’re at all like most Americans, by the time February comes around we’ll have already broken our resolutions and completely given up on all of our best laid plans. The good news is, we don't have to be like most Americans we can achieve our goals in 2015! Here are some simple tips to help us achieve the maximum results from our New Year's resolutions this year.
Resolutions themselves are really just an attempt to bring a change, or a newness, into our lives. As much as we may not want to admit it, changing human behavioral patterns isn't something that just happens overnight. Changing our behavior is a slow process, that requires effort and time. Here are 3 tips to help make those changes easier this year.
#1
When we "break" our New Year’s resolutions we often give up and say ”Oh well, maybe next year.” But why be so extreme? It’s nearly impossible to radically alter our behavioral patterns without having some slip-ups from time to time. So expect to have lapses, and put together a pre-planned policy for when and if we do slip up on our resolutions. As an example maybe ice-cream is our weakness and our resolution is to give up ice-cream and all its sugar in 2015, but then we have a really rough day at work and somehow end up downing a whole "Gotta Have It" size at Coldstone on our way home from the office. That doesn’t mean we should give up our goal of limiting ice-cream in 2015 and dive into another tub of Coldstone tomorrow. Instead of throwing our hands up with an "I can't do it" attitude have an action plan. Tomorrow instead of grabbing another ice-cream we can refocus our energy on breaking the ice-cream cycle and making better food decisions throughout the day. The path towards a healthier body is probably not going to be perfect. There will undoubtably be a few Frappuccinos and pizzas along the way, just allow that to be ok.
#2
When we experience an inevitable slip-up in our goals, maybe we miss a day of YogaVibe or down a whole pizza by ourselves, that is the time to try to consider how we would react if someone we cared about had done the same. If we knew one of our friends had committed to 6 days a week of Vibetality but missed a day of YogaVibe we wouldn't just tell our friend “Well, now you’ve blown it, you should just give up and try again next year” We need to become our own support team! If we slip up, acknowledge it and regroup for that next decision.
#3
The truth is, if we want to change something about ourselves the change ultimately is going to be dependent upon us. Creating personal change not only requires that we refocus on our goals after slip-ups but also that we have enough kindness and compassion towards ourselves to realize that change is a long process, and that there will be both ups and downs along the path. Our success is more often than not tied to our ability to resist the urge to judge our failures, than it is to our actual missteps along the way. Remember the parallel train-tracks and how if one track veers just a single degree from the other, miles down the road they end up in different locations. Be willing to admit that we will undoubtably have days when we go back to old habits, and in the beginning those days may outnumber the days when we act in the ‘new’ way. Instead of expecting miracles let's look at ourselves as an ever evolving process of self betterment.
It would be great if we could all simply just flip a switch and all of a sudden be perfect, but that isn't going to happen. The best way to make any change is to start small. Vibetality's 15 minute classes offer a great way for you to quickly fit physical movement into your day, but on the days when we simply just can’t make time for even 15 minutes to practice, don’t worry. We don't need to draw all of our attention to the fact we won't get to practice. Instead, the next time we do make it to class we can turn our energy to how good we feel after class. By allowing our habits to shift gradually and organically, we can make our goal of a regular Vibetality practice an enjoyable part of our day that we'll never want to miss, rather than letting it become a source of guilt that plagues us when we just can’t seem to make time to get on our mat.
The path to change can be very tricky. Even after we've have a great couple of days or weeks or even months or years with our new habits, its important to understand that there is no arriving at perfection. There is only constant practice mixed with intermittent successes and failures. Until we can accept the true nature of change, change will continue to elude us. So take your resolution and make it an evolution, one step, one moment, at a time.
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