The Key to Motivation: Burning Those Thoughts Away
Mindfulness Talk:
For me, winter hiking creates more heat than summer hiking. I don’t mean sweaty heat. I mean the type of heat that yoga describes as tapas. It’s the kind of heat that soothes our mental health. The quiet stillness of winter hiking makes me notice every sound, including my own footsteps. The cloth around my face emphasizes the feel of my own breath. And my inner self-talk slows down.
So what does this have to do with motivation?
Just like physical habits (biting nails…) we all have mental habits that we do automatically. When we are cut off at an intersection, mess up during a conversation, notice someone looking at us, deciding if we should eat a donut or not… we have mental thoughts that narrate the moment. Often those thoughts come and go at such a break-neck speed that we don’t even realize it. But like little pin pricks, they certainly make their mark on our whole self. We get a zing of guilt or anxiety or defeat. It’s these little pin pricks that are the true thieves of our motivation!
Motivation isn’t some inner source of fire that some people have and others lack. The fire isn’t for pulling up your boot-straps and getting yourself to the gym. The fire (the tapas) is for healing! Tapas routines help us notice the pin pricks. Tapas heat melts and smooths them out, healing our whole self. Tapas heat can even make that spot a little tougher to prick open the next time.
Julie Smith, author of “Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before”, says that motivation is not what you feel when you are walking into the gym, it’s what you feel when you are walking out of the gym. Yes! Motivation comes after tapas heat is built and burns away the inner self-talk. The gym can work, but there are many types of tapas heat-building routines:
your yoga classes (especially the slow ones)
daily walks outside
5 minutes of daily prayer/meditation
10 minutes of daily mindful breathing or savasana
weekly therapy.
That lack of motivation you are feeling isn’t something that is lacking in you! Do a tapas builder and burn that thought away!
Until next time,
Laura
Meditation:
Finding Present Meditation: Make a fire, light a candle or find a campfire video online. Look at the fire and breathe. With each inhale, feel the heat enter your body. With each exhale, enjoy the heat.
Continue with this meditation, or begin the mindfulness meditation.
Mindfulness Meditation: Imagine that fire beginning to burn inside of you, in the belly. It’s warm and cozy and controlled. Just enjoy the warmth. A thought or feeling or image might arise. Notice it for a while, and then nudge it into the fire. It’s not needed anymore. It’s meant to be burned away. Enjoy the warm feeling of watching it disappear. Go back to noticing the warm, controlled fire in your belly.
Continue with your belly-fire meditation. More thoughts or feelings or images may arise and take their turn to be burned away. Each time, return to noticing the warm, controlled fire in your belly.
Closing Routine: When you are ready, rub your fingers and take three cleansing breaths. Notice how you are lighter now, less burdened. Ready.
Want more?
What if motivation isn’t what we think it is? - Yoga Trail Talks
“Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?” by Julie Smith
