“Distractions arise from habitual thought patterns when practice is intermittent.” - Patañjali, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
In others words, small disciplines created with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time. Specifically, yoga aims to help us focus our mind and thoughts toward good actions. We can work towards these goals by practicing regularly.
What would that even look like? Create and write down a realistic meditation and yoga practice that you can successfully practice consistently. Invite a friend to join you to help you be accountable or share your practice plan with your yoga instructor. Maybe this looks like 5 minutes of meditation each day and 3 days of asana practice per week. Honor what works for you now and slowly grow your practice over time.
In Practice
Asana Try to practice using a drishti ( a focused gaze) to help your mind concentrate of the present physical challenge. Often we use ourselves, such as the ‘third eye’ or our thumb as a drishti. It can also be an object or fixed point in our practice space like a state as well as a direction.
Meditation Most of us find meditation challenging. Simply sit in silence and breathe. Start small. Try completing 3-5 minutes each day as a good way to establish a consistent pattern. Also, write down a sentence or two each day to describe each practice. While one meditation session can be powerful, the real power in meditation comes when you implement it every day. In just a month of consistent practice, you can find yourself building a completely new relationship with your mind and emotions.
Mantras
§ Consistency is more important than perfection.
§ Nevertheless, I persist.
§ I take consistent steps toward my goals.
* Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is a collection of Sanskrit principles on the theory and practice of yoga These were compiled in the early centuries CE, by the sage Patanjali in India who synthesized and organized knowledge about yoga from much older traditions. Most contemporary yoga traditions hold the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali to be one of the foundational texts of classical Yoga philosophy.