Try Consistency, Get in a Routine

One of my favorite things about teaching is helping people to create routine, primarily because routine is something that I need in order to feel my best, however, it is not something that I gravitate toward naturally. I tend to take a different route daily. I wish I could do the laundry just once, or take a shower and that would be that - done. Sometimes routine can feel so boring! But maintenance requires consistency, and believe me, there’s no one that is more resistant to it than myself. It's taken me a long time to understand that it is this consistency that allows my body to fall into place and feel safe. If you think about it, anything that grows responds to routine: plants require a certain amount of light and water on a regular basis, children need routines for sleeping and eating, and pets need consistent walks, water, and mealtimes. My body and my fitness routine is the one thing that I come back to consistently. Through my father's passing, my breakups, my house burning down (yup), losing jobs, even my greatest celebrations like my DVD launch party... I always come back to exercise to stabilize myself.

If we simply show up on a daily basis and practice, the body has a way of organizing itself and actually falls into place naturally. I encourage you this month to create a routine for yourself, whatever that is. We are what we do consistently. It's not the one piece of cake that we have which makes us gain weight, it's what we put into our bodies daily that really counts. So what if you have a cookie! Wake up the next morning, have a glass of warm water with lemon, meditate, take a walk, practice your yoga and have a healthy breakfast... and then get back on the loving yourself train!


On the same note, try creating your own set of rituals and watch how quickly your body responds. I actually read somewhere that they did a study of octogenarians. The one thing that they had in common was not that they lived pristine lives, but they had regular habits that they followed the same time in the same way each day. It’s about consistency and moderation. 


I can't say that I can follow a routine for my entire life, but for this week, certainly I can create my own routine and experiment with how the results feel. Then, even if I don't always follow it, I know what it feels like, and I know what works.


My routine this week:
7:00 a.m. - wake
7:30 - meditate
8:00 - walk, or some form of cardiovascular exercise
9:00 - breakfast
10:00 - yoga with clients
1:30 - lunch
2:30 - sauna 
3:30 - clients
5:00 - writing
7:00 - dinner
8:00 - relax (not in front of computer), read or recreate

Follow me on Twitter and Facebook for some detoxifying poses this week to add to your routine.