Yoga Speak: Motivation

I have given my daughter an assignment.

And that is to send me photos of Buddhas from her travels in and around New York City.

I figure I need them for my blog, and they have become an item of interest for me, anyway. Hopefully, just knowing they are on their way will help motivate me to write.

My daughter understands this, as she happens to be a yogi, too.

But, like with all of us, sometimes, it can be hard to get up and go; to actually start the day. 

It might be raining. It might be too hot. There might be hiccups like not enough sleep, too many customer orders, or some daunting tasks.

Or, there could be just too much humidity like the other day when I received a photo of my daughter, a mass of curls atop her head with a text that simply said, Help!

When I called, laughing, she announced, It’s not funny! This is how I look! I can’t go outside!

Many of my mornings start by going to yoga, so I am easily motivated to start the day.

My son works ‘round the clock and ‘round the week and often runs on minimal sleep. On many days, his motivation is elusive, and on those mornings, he calls to help himself wake up.

On such calls, I mostly talk and threaten to sing my good morning song from Anchors Away with Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, while he makes some unintelligible sounds.

The pseudo conversation ends when I ask him, Are you vertical?

If the answer is affirmative, the call is over. 

If not, I start to sing.

Even if motivation is missing, I try to remember that it is worthwhile to start the day just to see what is in store.

It is like that with a yoga practice, too. In fact, my best practices show up on those rare occasions when my motivation is lacking.

I think back to raising my children and how often we would be doing something unexpected by the day’s end.

Like the time we wound up in New York City for the day, still in pajamas because we left so early on the spur of the moment.

Or, when we spent the afternoon in sleeping bags under the skylights watching an unexpected and gigantic late afternoon thunderstorm.

Or, when we did the same but on the driveway at four in the morning watching a meteor shower.

And on those days, I would exclaim, We didn’t know when we woke up that we’d be doing this!

Today, I send my kids this same message when they look to me for motivation as young adults.

Now, I tell them, Just see what the day brings.

And, that is often reason enough to get up and go. Especially when one’s motivation is still under the pillow.

I was in Lululemon the other day, and there was a sign behind the cash register that read, Have you woken up two days in a row uninspired? Change your life!

I think that is a tall order, although not a bad contemplation.

More manageable might be to just have some faith in the day and see what it brings, whether or not big life changes are in order.

For me, I hope it brings a photo of a Buddha from New York City.

Anne is a regular columnist at http://www.elephantjournal.com/author/anne-samit. A collection of her posts can be found at http://YogaSpeak.blogspot.com