Trick Your Tapas by Setting Samskaras

Alt. Title: Develop Discipline by Hacking Your Habits

Tapas: Sanskrit for 'discipline' | Samskaras: Sanskrit for 'mental impressions left by all thoughts, actions and intents'

More often than expected, someone would tell me how disciplined I am with my yoga practice. Frankly, I find it surprising because I am the least disciplined person I've ever met. I'm not being modest when I respond with the truth: it's just a habit. It's just that the specifics of that habit have blossomed as time went on; the ritual to ingrain this habit has changed.


There's something about habits, we even have a saying, dubbing it the Force of Habit. It's a pretty strong force, too; think about how often you've done something, only to realize almost instantly that you were on autopilot, and the Force of Habit took over your actions. I like to think that the Force of Habit is neither inherently good nor bad, and just like the Jedis and Siths, it's the choices made that puts you on the path to good and/or bad [habits].

It only takes 21 days [3 weeks] to make or break a habit. To varying degrees, human beings are creatures of habit. There's good habits and bad habits, we all have them. The goal [ie: to seem disciplined] is to have more good habits than bad. So, for example's sake, if you'd like to start a daily ⎼that's the key here, daily⎼ yoga practice, here's how. 

First, think of your reason(s) to start, write it down if you have to. This will be the answer to the inevitable, "why bother?" that'll arise when you're not as motivated at day 5, 11, and 16. Remember, it'll only feel like 'work' for the first three weeks, it'll pass by quicker than you'd think. 

Second, start off simple. Pick one (beginners) pose you're interested in and, well, hate to sound like [and definitely not sponsored by] Nike, but, Just F*!#ing Do It! Easy peasy, one pose per day. Then, keep doing it for another 20 days, and before you know it, you'll find yourself wanting to either:

A) do more than just one pose a day, and add more poses, little by little, to your growing routine.
Or B) want to scrap it all, realizing this wasn't really all you thought it was cracked up to be, and just not for you.

Either way, you win. The win is obvious with outcome A, but with outcome B, you at least gave it a shot for a decent amount of time and came to a conclusion based on experience. So go on, give it a shot. Make it a habit. Or, at least, try.