Welcome.

So first, deep breath in through your nose -

fill up allllll the way,

notice your heart space expand and lift, hold here for a moment

and deep breath out, sigh it out,

let your shoulders lighten, and fall away from your ears.

If you felt something shift, do that  a few more times.

See, don’t you already feel a little better?

Instead of scrolling, you’re here and reading through this. Your 10-minute breath of fresh air this morning.

Profoundly committed, but not allowing that commitment to become a burden.

What commitment looks like for each person is different. I often speak to how important it is, and how fundamentally life altering it is, to make your practice a habit.

Habits and routines are powerful - I've seen this in my own life. When I commit to a daily practice of 10 minutes a day of meditation as well as my physical practice on the mat, and come to my journal in the mornings for Morning Pages - I feel infinitely better. It's obvious to me that doing those things consistently and committing to them (I sometimes even have a checklist that I tick off - it helps me feel a small sense of accomplishment) changes things. And though the commitment part is hard for so many different reasons:

• Life ebbs and flows (back to that topic…) and sometimes we're caught in an absolute whirlwind. When it rains, it pours
• We get busy
• Something we didn't anticipate comes up
• Our minds play games with us
• We come up with a million reasons why we could or should be doing something else (very clearly resistance - but masked as legitimate and rational excuses)
• We tell ourselves we don't "need" it that day

And…we do what we can to maintain our commitment rather than easily submitting and caving because we know the power of consistent practice. Of doing something on a daily basis that we know serves us, and noticing how it impacts us so we continue to double down. It feels incredible to commit to something for OURSELVES (not for work, or for life, or for family commitments) that wakes us up and helps us see with more clarity.

Eventually, establishing a habit allows you to make something that matters to you part of your routine. Like brushing your teeth. It becomes a habitual daily practice.

And the paradox with commitment is that it can easily become a source of stress rather than strength. The routine initially designed to serve me starts to own me.

For some time (too long a time), when I couldn't prioritize my daily asana practice at the studio it became a huge source of stress. I'd tell myself I couldn't feel good in my mind or body. I'd pre-emptively convince myself I needed it and without it I wouldn't be able to operate at my full potential. I'd get pre-stressed—a  strange anticipatory anxiety about not nailing the routine. It would throw my whole day off.

I see this all the time. We become so tied to the habit we established that it starts to own us.

Our habits and commitment shouldn't become a source of stress.

When your routine becomes too rigid, when you come to rely on it too much, it becomes a source of stress rather than strength.

Because life is life, and things happen.

Coming up with a few different 'levels' of your practice may help. It has served me.

A Level: Your ideal daily practice, if everything goes according to plan

B Level: Your baseline routine, doable on an average day

C Level: Your bare-bones practice, when all hell breaks loose

And whether you do Level A or Level C, you can still feel good. Realizing that gives you immense freedom.

The reason why I expand the meaning of 'practice' is because it is so much more than the time spent on your mat. It is a daily commitment to consistently coming back to the things that you know serve you - and doing that in all its forms - so that you live your life in an intentional way. You become more attune to what's around you, you start to notice your default thought patterns, and become more conscious and awake. You start to realize that there's a different way to do things. That can look so many ways, and whilst it can be physical asana practice on the mat, it doesn't need to be. A long walk outside, an hour spent with just yourself at a space that allows you to be with yourself. Journaling. Reading. Ceramics. Arts and crafts. Dancing. Expanding what your practice can look like to you, and allowing it to look different as life changes around us, is hugely valuable. Certain phases, certain times in your life, demand different types of self-inquiry and work. So 'practice' can encompass many things,  it can shape shift.

A full asana practice daily may be what serves you. I very often remind people that if you can commit to a full asana practice in the studio on a regular basis, that is an incredible gift to yourself. And though, it may also be an unrealistic commitment given all else that's going on in your life so it ends up becoming a one-off rather than a habit. As a result, you feel like you're falling short. You get down on yourself. It has far-reaching unintended consequences.

In that case, carving out 15 minutes every morning to start your day on your mat - even in a messy, undefined practice, will be more valuable for you. It's a commitment you can stick to, and one that becomes a habit. It's easier to commit to than scrambling to find a far longer window of time that you rarely can carve out, maybe end up doing once a week, and therefore falling short.

James Clear reminds us that to make a new habit stick, you need to make it obvious, attractive, and easy to do. This involves optimizing your environment and creating a positive association with the habit. So my last invitation is - when you do your daily habit (whether it's Level A or Level C) take note of how it helped you shift - how you felt, what it brought up so you can draw out the positive associations with it.

Your routine should serve your life, not own it. Remember that.

P.S. In case you need this reminder: it’s going to be a great day, and a great week.

We often get in the way of ourselves. Notice when that happens, and how you can lean into the habits you know serve you, lift you up, and help you see  with more perspective.  

Donald Judd and his masterpieces, some in NY and some in Marfa, Texas. The most magical place on earth - dive into his work and world spend some time with the themes he speaks to.

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2 ParaSol playlists to share with you this week - as I’ve said before my general approach to chooon building for classes is a playlist you’ll ease into, then groove to, and finally wind down with. Enjoy.

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You are the sky, everything else is just the weather. Pema Chodron