How Big is Your 'But'?

By Kari Winfield • November 27th, 2012 • 5889 Views

Not that butt!

Let’s say, we’re stressed, and we know a yoga class would reduce the anxiety (history has shown), but we don’t have time. We’re starving and we know that a smoothie or a protein bar would fill the gap until the next meal, but we go for a sugary something instead. We’re exhausted and tense, but instead of taking a mellow hatha class we go for another power class. Our nerves are fried and our breath is shallow, but instead of pausing to meditate for five minutes (or even five breaths) we push on like the Energizer Bunny.

Why do we make those choices?

We want to lose weight, save money, reduce stress, create more freedom in our bodies and minds…but instead we eat on the fly, use the credit card again, have more coffee, take on another class, or don’t make the time to meditate.

But why?

Why is it so hard to do the things we know could be the game changers? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a "good angel" to hold our hand and lead us not into temptation? I wish!

Change is hard for so many reasons:

• Getting over the hump of "denying ourselves" to form the healthy new habit
• Expecting too much too soon
• FOMO (fear of missing out): If I do X I’ll be missing out on Y
• Inner perfectionist
• The size of our "but" – our habituation, or mental programs

We might even have resistance to dropping the resistance. What’s up with that? Then we go and compound the resistance with guilt and the vicious cycle tumbles on. With that said, we could consider that we aren’t always operating in the ideal decision-making environment. While we may be highly motivated to "do the right thing" the fear of failing can actually lead us to make a poor choice. High-stakes decisions cloud our judgment – especially if we’ve got a bank full of perceived fails and regrets. If we didn’t care about an outcome, such as being healthier overall, making the "right choices" would be easier. But we are highly invested (at least in theory) in our health and well-being, so making better choices have that much more stress associated with them. We take the easier route; the default route to chocolate, not doing yoga and saying yes again.

Often, making a better choice creates a domino effect which we just don’t have the time,...

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Location:  Vancouver, CA

Kari has been involved in the yoga industry for 12 years, as a student, teacher, studio manager, and teacher trainer. Wearing different hats in the industry has shown her the many ways that yoga can be...