Ashtanga Yoga is a 6 day a week practice. Traditionally we get one rest day per week, plus moon days and days off during our cycle.

So how do we stay motivated to repeat the same physically demanding, mentally enduring, sometimes blissful yet other times frustrating practice, day in, day out? How do we drag our body out of the bed and on to the mat and will ourselves to repeat this sequence in whatever state our body and mind is in?

It’s hard, it’s really really hard.

I’ve personally gone through periods of time where I don’t know how I do it, or worse, I don’t even know why I do it. But guess what, I am still doing it and I never miss a day.. and thats where I normally leave it. If I am still doing it, even when I don’t know why, I figured there must be something pretty profound in it.

But thinking about what it is that actually drives me to continue, especially during times where I am lacking in energy, motivation or inspiration, I’ve realised that the main thing is that I couldn’t imagine not doing it. I couldn’t imagine not setting my alarm and not getting out of bed and doing yoga. I couldn’t imagine what I would do with my morning, how I would feel in my day and what my life and myself would be like without this practice. I can kind of guess I would feel anxious, maybe depressed, definitely lost and certainly uncomfortable and foggy in my body and mind.