Hi everyone

I sometimes have students tell me they dread coming to a yoga session, but that when they’re finished, they’re very glad they came. Apparently, the feeling at the end is enough to motivate them to come back. (Sometimes, just barely!) I know that I don't torture people, so what's going on here? Wellness takes work. Is it useful to have an expectation that everything we do, including the pursuit of wellness, should be pleasurable for the entire duration of that activity? I suspect if I myself clung to that hope, I'd stop all activities altogether. There are always bumps in the road; they're what make us resilient.

I’ve asked myself how I can help manage students' motivation; the best answer, I have found, is equanimity – taking a step back from the emotions associated with an activity, be they positive or negative, and just observing the sensations. Emotions are an unreliable benchmark - there one moment and gone the next. But as for my body: do my arms, legs, neck, and back feel good? If I'm exhausted, or even a little achy, is it possible that even that might feel good?

And then, more subtly, emotions aside, does my mind feel good? Do I have some clarity? Do my burdens feel like less of a big deal, even a little bit?

In other words, does my overall being feel better at the end a yoga session than when I arrived? The answer is usually YES. The work in a yoga session leads in a really simple way to that one, simple question. The answer - YES! – is the motivation, the reason to come back, and the thing to conjure if doubt starts to creep in as the next session approaches.

As the year unfolds, tune into your body and its sensations, and let the answer to that simple question – do I feel better now than before? – be your motivator.

Here's the Friday 9am drama club...er...yoga session. I admire their unwavering consistency and lighthearted acceptance of the ups and downs of yoga.