Use your personal people magnet to pick a practice buddy
There is a needle in there somewhere! They told you that you could find it without any problem. All you have to do is get all of that straw out of the way to discover where the needle is. How are you going to do that?
If you use one of the traits of a needle you will find it a lot faster. A needle is made of metal. If you use a large powerful magnet you will be able to quickly pull the magnet from among all of that straw.
Finding a good yoga practice buddy is much like looking for a needle in a haystack. However there are some traits that you can use to speed up your search for the right match.
What is a practice buddy
In an earlier article we covered in detail what a practice buddy is and why you would want one.
A practice buddy is someone you have made arrangements with to attend yoga classes together on a regular basis. This is not a casual “Let’s do yoga together sometime”. It is more of a “Let’s do yoga together three times a week on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, every week” arrangement that you have made.
There are several characteristics that you want to consider when you are picking a yoga buddy.
What to look for in a practice buddy
When searching for a yoga buddy there are several traits that you need to consider and evaluate in your potential practice buddy.
- Commitment
- Friendship
- Interests
- Punctuality
- Knowledge
- Consistency
First let’s examine commitment.
Commitment
Your practice buddy should have the same level of commitment as you. If you want to do yoga 4 times a week and they want to go to class twice a week at most then you are going to have a problem.
Friendship
You have to like the person that you are considering for a practice buddy. The more you like the person and the more they are compatible with you then the longer and the more satisfying your relationship will be. Check out their personality and interpersonal relationship traits before you commit to a long term practice buddy relationship.
Similar interests
You and your practice buddy should be interested in the same style of yoga, the same type of classes and the same teachers. Harmony in this area will increase the probability that you will get out to more classes.
Punctuality
Are you always late? Are they always early? Or are you both about the same as far as punctuality goes?
If it is going to irritate you that they are never ready when you arrive to pick them up, then you may want to consider someone else as a practice buddy.
Knowledge
Is your potential practice buddy more knowledgeable or less than you about yoga?
If your yoga buddy is more knowledgeable about yoga will this irritate you or please you? Would you prefer that you both have roughly the same amount of knowledge?
Consistency
You are striving to develop a regular yoga habit. Having the same level of commitment to come to yoga class three times a week, every week, week after week, as your yoga buddy will help.
Being aware of these traits will increase the strength of your magnet as you search for your practice buddy.
Finding a yoga practice buddy that is a good fit will really help you to develop a solid yoga practice that will bring you lots of benefits, but what if you can not find all of these traits in one person, what are you going to do?
Can you have more than one practice buddy?
If you can not find the perfect match for all of these traits in one person can you have more than one practice buddy?
There is both a benefit and a drawback to having more than one practice buddy.
The benefit is that if one of you can not make the practice tonight then you do have someone else that you can go with to yoga practice.
The drawback is that if you are not wanting to go to yoga practice tonight then you feel less like you are letting the others down because you know there is still two of them that can go to class together.
Summary
Searching for a needle in a haystack will be more successful if you take advantage of the traits of the needle and use a magnet.
Searching for a yoga practice buddy can be more successful if you look for a match in these traits: commitment, friendship, interests, punctuality, knowledge, and consistency.
Use these traits to help make your magnet stronger as you search the haystack of potential practice buddies to help you to find that needle of a perfect match among all of that straw.
Next steps
Find yourself a yoga practice buddy and you will find that your yoga practice will becoming more satisfying and will last longer.
