Are you struggling to maintain a regular yoga or meditation practice? Are you feeling the struggle to stick with it, challenge in maintaining consistency, or motivation to do it at all?
If so, you might want to try habit stacking.
Stacking habits is a great way to introduce new behaviors - like a yoga and meditation practice.
It's basically about building new habits by connecting them to habits you already have. You do this by figuring out a strong habit you already have each day and STACK a new behavior right on top of it.
Your brain has already established the deep pattern of the first habit, which makes the new behavior easier to maintain leading to a greater chance of maintaining that habit according to research by S.J Scott (2014) , J. Clear (2018).
Group some small habits in a chain, for example, if you wake up and brush your teeth, add a 10 minute meditation practice immediately after. That way meditation becomes part of your morning routine.
Or, do you read your book before bed? After reading, do some deep relaxation in savasana on your bed right after. This way you are linking a familiar habit and a new one to get the new habit established.
This is great for those of us who want to establish yoga as a way of life but are having a hard time getting regular with practice. It's also helpful to those of us who struggle with motivation.
It's also important to note that a yoga practice is more about consistency over content, especially at first. Let go of the idea that your asana or meditation practice has to be perfect, or very long or have a specific set of movements. Work with your teacher if you need help deciding which practices to do.
Habit stacking is all about repetition using easy habits you already do without thinking. Linking something new to something established makes it easier to stick with the new behavior. The more you do it, the more likely a habit will stick! So, have the new behavior link up to something you ALWAYS do, for a better chance at success!