How Yoga Can Boost Your Motivation

When your life seems to repeat itself, the same routine over and over, it is hard to stay energized or motivated to deal with the tasks at hand. If you do not feel like getting out of bed and getting on with your day, how will you ever find your focus to engaging in exercise and especially one as helpful as an hour-long yoga session? However, waking up early and performing those yoga exercises is precisely what your mind and body need to stay motivated and get on with your day. Studies indicated that when practiced regularly, yoga can help reduce depression and anxiety. Naturally, it is not recommended to wait until you have become depressed before beginning. A daily regimen of yoga exercise can help inspire in you the motivation you need to face your day and keep depression and worry at bay. But how? Glad you asked.

Trains Your Body

Positions like shoulder stands or headstands require ongoing practice. As is typical with yoga, you are always being challenged to keep doing your best, and the positions can be mastered in a matter of months of regular practice. This constant, focused practice is a meaningful way to maintain your motivation in both your physical exercises and in life’s complex situations. As you push yourself with yoga, you will become fitter and stronger, and as that happens, there is a substantial strength-spinning process that pushes you further. As you achieve more, you will want to test yourself and do more. Besides, regular performance of yoga exercises helps you build discipline, a trait that reflects on every other activity with which you are involved. To accomplish great things, you have to begin small, put in the effort, and be consistent. In any aspect of your life, you are expected to make an effort and stick with it; this is one of the most important lessons the discipline of yoga teaches us.

Builds Your Mind

If you are involved in any form of regular exercise, you are bound to have a trained body. Cardio is a great way to train your body, just like yoga. However, yoga has an edge because it can also help you train your mind. And yoga wins again because it involves meditation and mindfulness. As you move your body in yoga exercises and become more trained with a particular move, do not think it is only your body that adapted; truth be told, it is your mind that has taken you there. Yoga is made up of two elements – Asanas (body movements) and mental exercises.

There are several meditations in yoga, but beginners are advised to practice ‘letting go,’ a technique whereby the mind is rid of its thoughts and brought to a new, relaxed state. Paying attention to your breath will help you empty your mind. At the end of each exercise, reinforce positive thoughts such as “I’m going to have a good day” or “I’m going to enjoy my family tonight.” Positive self-talk helps supercharge your subconscious with enough motivation to face your daily tasks.

Helps You Handle Your Emotions Better

If you ever practiced the headstand position, you have probably realized that it doesn’t offer room for extra thoughts. That is the case with many yoga positions: if you take your mind elsewhere, you will fall down. The more you practice yoga, the more your brain is trained to focus on the present moment. If you are suffering depression, mindfulness is a powerful weapon against it. Mindfulness helps us to identify the source of our worries and thus helps to let go of them. Sometimes, if we are worried about yesterday, it may ruin our today. Yoga and mindfulness help you appreciate the present and make the most of it.

Encourages Personal Growth

Yoga can teach you to understand how your actions affect your environment and yourself. The combination of asanas, breath, and thought control helps you reach into yourself and become the best version of you. The secret is simple; our lives are but a reflection of our minds. When your mind is in the right place, you can create the experience you want.

So if you are feeling a little down or worn-out – don’t just sit there. Get up and start practicing yoga today!