Yoga Psychology: Changing Habits
By: Megna Paula
Tags: Self-awareness, Yoga, Habits, Change Your Life, Self Improvement

Yoga Psychology: Changing Habits

Flexing your free will by cultivating conscious awareness of your inner life

Learning to witness your habitual actions in mind and body allows you to see what was once unconscious. Learning to change these deep habits allows you to flex and tone your free will, increasing your personal empowerment to make decisions that are best suited to the present moment. It is a freedom from the weight of the past, creating a fresh ground for the Now to lead to a future in which you continue living fully, freely.

Daily yoga practice is where I can most clearly see my own habits

To elevate free will, we need intentional awareness of the causes and effects of our actions. Without this discernment, freedom becomes freewheeling, the empowerment to make choices weakened by a lack of purpose. Cultivating calm, clear vision as well as intuitive inner listening empowers you to use your strength of will to make decisions that create your highest-potential life.

Only when you deeply believe that you create your life do you have the power to change the circumstances of your life. With that faith, and clarity of vision, you will be able to see the conditions that create and sustain your habits. Once you notice a habit that no longer serves you well, you need to cultivate a patient and expansive mindset to consider:

— Why is this habit in me? What purpose did it serve, what need did it fulfill?

— Is that purpose still valuable? Do I still have that need?

If you still have the need, then the habit needs to be altered to not only continue fulfilling its purpose but also in a way that creates more positive effects in your future. Sometimes, a habit continues long after its original purpose has changed or completed itself. In these cases, you’ll realize that you have an outdated perspective that needs to change. Changing your perspective — realizing that past conditions are no longer current — breaks attachments to your old ways of thinking, which is a very liberating and energy-releasing experience.

Use that energy responsibly, to elevate the effects of your new way of being. Consider: what kind of space, time and energy do I want? And let that vision guide you.

Trusting your inner strength and resilience supports you as you make life changes

Being conscious in your home yoga practice is an ideal lens into the nature of your habits, how to identify them, to discern which you want to change, for what purpose, and how effective your efforts are. This work translates off the mat: most of our habits live within us, and transcend our external circumstances.

For example: you may notice that you always jump slightly to the right when you are doing Sun Salutations. Consider how long that habit has existed, what caused you to notice it, and how long you continue the habitual action before deciding to change. Do you wait for an injury to occur, responding to emergency, or do you act with foresight, changing an imbalanced action?

Ask what created the habit. Is your left side stronger, or do you have your gaze point off center, or does your pelvis tilt away from horizontal, or perhaps all of these things? Is it related to the way you carry yourself off the mat, habitually picking up heavy things with your left hand and strengthening your left shoulder over a lifetime of unconscious habit?

Changing the carriage of the body requires firm intention and an alert mind. The body receives change easily, and you will see how quickly a change in mental habit/perspective translates into a discernible change in your body’s actions. Practicing this level of awareness, vision, and focused work in your yoga practice will empower you to make changes in other areas of your life as well, supported by fact-based confidence and a strong, balanced, physique. You’ll see how your mind and body reflect one another, and you’ll have the daily time to step into yourself.