A practice buddy will help you reach your New Year’s resolution of getting more flexible.
It has been a couple of months since the New Year’s resolution rush of people at the yoga studio. Every year it is much the same. A lot of new people join the studio.
They have a goal. They have lots of enthusiasm. They are coming several times a week.
But gradually over time the frequency drops off and then they start to disappear. That is all but a special few.
The only ones that are still here are the ones that have developed the habit to come regularly and consistently for the long haul. For many of these people they had help developing the habit of coming consistently. They found a practice buddy to share their yoga practice with.
They picked not just any old practice buddy they picked someone with the right attributes.
Share the same goal
Your chances of succeeding with your new yoga activity are much better if you and your practice buddy have the same goals in mind. If they are interested in meditation and you are interested in working hard and sweating a lot you are less likely to have a lasting relationship then if you both are interested in getting more flexible.
Share the same approach
Having the same goal definitely helps. It will also be a benefit to your long term relationship if you have similar ideas about how you are going to get to that goal. You and your practice buddy will have a longer relationship if you both thing that taking a mixture of vigorous yoga classes and yin yoga classes will get you to your goal of increasing your flexibility.
Sharing the same goal and the same approach is a good start, but you also need to have the same level of desire to get to that goal.
Share the same passion and drive
They are interested in coming to yoga class once a week and you are committed to coming 3 times a week. This is a combination that is not going to work. You both need to be willing to commit to the same level. How often during the week are you going to do your yoga practice.
Even if you find a practice buddy that is going to come to class as often as you, there is another point to consider before you commit to a long term relationship.
Share the same level of commitment
So you have both committed to coming 3 times a week. You have also discovered that you can both make it to the same classes on the same nights during the week. This is great, but how dependable are you both going to be.
Once you make the commitment you and your practice buddy need to follow through. You need to make it to class on the nights that you promised to week after week. You need to be dependable.
You and your practice buddy need to know that each of you will always be there and that you can depend on each other. When crises come up you need to know that yoga has a high priority in your lives and that it will be picked over other events most of the time.
Now that you have a practice buddy that has the same goals, the same passion and is dependable you are off to a good start. There are a couple of more traits that will make your relationship even stronger.
Share suggestions and opinions
Being able to discuss your practice after it is over will help both of you to keep going. A good practice buddy team will be able to help each other to understand a new yoga pose if you talk about your challenges and success between classes.
Your practice buddy will probably have a different view on how to work through the pose and sharing these different insights will help both of you to move forward with your practice.
Being able to share suggestions with each other is good, but there is an important aspect to this sharing. You need to be honest with each other.
Share Honestly
When you and your practice buddy are discussing your progress, you need honest and critical feedback. You need to hear where you suck in a pose and where you are excelling. Always being told that you doing really good in a pose when you know in your heart you suck is not helping you to move forward.
You need a practice buddy that is willing to support you in your yoga practice by being honest with you. There is nothing wrong with supporting each other and encouraging each other to stick with it and work harder on those challenging poses. But this enthusiasm needs to be balanced with honest feedback and critical recommendations on how you can improve.
This of course flows both ways. You need to be honest and critical with your practice buddy as well. If you are both able to do this with each other you will have a strong relationship that will last a long time.
There is one more element that you can add to the practice buddy relationship that will bring some zest and sparkle to it.
Share some friendly competition
We are not talking about keeping score or bragging about how well you are doing in a particular pose. Rather we are talking about setting some intermediate goals that you share and comparing your progress along the way. Observing your progress and your partners progress towards the goal and developing some friendly rivalry about who will get there first.
Adding this ingredient to your relationship will keep your partnership alive and fresh for a long time. It will also encourage each of you to get out to every yoga practice so you can improve that little bit more in a particular pose and keep up with or perhaps just a bit ahead of your practice buddy.
Summary
To keep going with your yoga practice after the New Year’s enthusiasm has worn off you need a practice buddy. Not just any old practice buddy will do. You need to pick the right practice buddy. Consider the attributes that we discussed above when you are looking for a practice buddy and you will have a great and long lasting relationship.
Both you are your practice buddy will benefit from the relationship.
Next Step
Find a practice buddy and get started on reaching your goal, whatever that goal may be.
