Consistency: The Sweet Secret to Unlocking Your Yoga Practice... And So Much More!

I’ve said it before ( And I’ll say it another thousand times )... There’s simply no substitute for showing up If you’ve been practicing with me for a while, you already know this is one of the big truths I come back to again and again. Consistency isn’t flashy. It doesn’t post thirst traps on Instagram. It doesn’t shout from the rooftops or promise overnight transformations. But it’s the quiet, patient, humble force that actually changes everything.

We live in a culture that loves the quick fix,or consistently chooses to "do less". A hack for this, or a shortcut for that, twenty days to the perfect whatever.

Yoga, though, doesn’t really care about your timelines. It’s a lifelong practice. It rewards those who show up, roll out their mat, breathe, and move, even ( or maybe especially ) when they don’t feel like it.

Why Consistency Matters in Yoga and Beyond

Let’s start with the obvious: your body thrives on regular movement. The human form is beautifully adaptable. It changes and responds to the demands you place on it. Practice consistently, and you’ll see improvements in strength, flexibility, mobility, balance, and endurance. That’s the surface layer, and it’s plenty to keep you going.

But what’s more interesting to me is how your mind changes. How your capacity to "be comfortable in your discomfort" grows. How your breath becomes an old friend you can count on, not just in pigeon pose but when you’re stuck in traffic or feeling overwhelmed at work. How your perspective shifts, so that life’s little bumps don’t throw you completely off course.

When you practice consistently, you start to realize that it’s not about nailing the pose. It’s about how you meet yourself in the moment. Are you pushing? Are you fighting? Are you backing away because it’s tough or staying open to learning something new about yourself?

Consistency creates the conditions for these questions to arise, and for you to explore the answers gently, day by day.

Yoga is Not Seasonal

Here’s the gentle nudge, friends: yoga is not a summer fling. It’s not a winter self-care project or something you dust off in January to counteract the holiday cookies. Yoga is every season, every cycle, every breath. The benefits compound over time: physically, mentally, emotionally, even spiritually, when you stay steady.

I see this so clearly in students who practice year-round. Their bodies adapt. Their nervous systems find a baseline of calm. They’re less reactive, more centered, quicker to smile, slower to judge. They get sick less often, recover faster, sleep better, digest better. That’s not magic. That’s just the payoff of regular practice.

It doesn’t mean you have to hit your mat for 90 minutes every day ( Just Saturday & Sunday 10:00 at Stretch :). Consistency isn’t about rigid perfection. It’s about honoring your commitment to keep showing up, even if today that means ten minutes of breathwork on your living room floor or five sun salutations in your pajamas.

Through the seasons of life

It’s not just about weather seasons. Life itself has seasons. Times when you’re crushing it, riding high, feeling on top of the world. And times when you’re grieving, stressed, exhausted, or burned out. The temptation in those harder seasons is to drop the habits that actuallu support you like your yoga practice.

But that’s often when you need practice the most. When your mind is spinning with worries, when your body is tight with anxiety, when you feel like hiding under the covers forever... Those are invitations to return to your mat... To breathe, to move, to remember that you are still here, still alive, still capable of connecting to something deeper than the chaos.

Consistency builds resilience. It gives you a safe harbor to return to when life is stormy. Over time, you start to trust that you can handle more than you thought. You become more adaptable, less reactive. You learn to soften around discomfort, whether that’s holding Warrior II for five more breaths or sitting with a challenging conversation.

How to Stay Consistent ( without Beating Yourself Up )

I’ve been practicing yoga a long time. I’ve fallen off the wagon plenty of times, mostly recovering from surgeries.

The key is not to get stuck in guilt or perfectionism. Just come back. Again and again. Each moment is an opportunity to begin.

Some little ideas that help:

• Schedule it. Book your classes ahead, just like you would a meeting or a flight. Block the time and honor it.

• Keep it accessible. Have a mat unrolled at home or props nearby so it’s easy to drop into practice for even a few minutes.

• Pair it with something you already do. Maybe you take three deep breaths every time you start the car, or a few standing stretches while the coffee brews.

• Make it enjoyable. Light a candle, play your favorite playlist, practice in the sunshine. Fall in love with the ritual.

• Be kind to yourself. If you skip a day (or a week, or a month), just come back without judgment. Consistency over time matters more than perfection right now.

The deeper gifts

Ultimately, consistency in yoga is about deepening your relationship with yourself. It’s about learning to stay—through the awkward, the uncomfortable, the joyful, the boring. It’s about exploring the layers of who you are beyond your thoughts and stories.

When you stick with it, yoga becomes so much more than a workout. It’s a mirror, a sanctuary, a laboratory for growth. It helps you practice patience, humility, courage, compassion. Those qualities don’t just live on your mat. They follow you into traffic, into tough conversations, into the messy moments of being human.

So keep showing up. Especially when it’s hard. Especially when you’re tempted to drift. That’s when the practice does its most profound work.

Thank you for sharing your practice, gratitude to you for doing the work. Please try to respect and be kind to everybody out there. Namaste.