SVA YOGA

NEW YEAR´S RESOLUTIONS

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 By Cecile Comino

 

New year´s resolutions normally come up as most people are making a pause or a recess from work, as in a long weekend, and when the shift of a new year inspires us to turn a new page in our lives. Desire for change and transformations get an impulse, even if it is only a momentary one...

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With no doubt this transition moment gives us the sensation of a new beginning and a new opportunity for us to reach certain goals. We visualize more easily everything that we want to acomplish, and depending on where we are in our life´s trajectory, we can include who we want to be in a behavioural way....maybe we want to improve our relationship with ourselves and with others...maybe we want to create new habits as we abandon attitudes  or vices that are damaging us.

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Therefore, I thought it would be interesting to share the ideas of a book that I read called THE POWER OF HABIT, by Charles Duhigg. Below I selected some interesting information from the book and I made some associations with the Yoga practice.

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The Power of Habit

 

Habit: s.m. Behaviour that someone has learnt and repeated frequently, without having to think how it is done.

Use, costume; way of living; constant behaviour or action: since he was a child he got the habit of reading in bed. Many actions of daily life are habits. Imagine how difficult it would be for someone to go down the street and have to think of each single necessary action to take a step. Habits differ from instinct wich is an innate bahavior, not learnt. 

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It comes from the Latin HABITUS, “condition, appearance, clothing, behavior”, past participle of HABERE, “to have, to hold, to possess”.

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By the XIV century it aquired the sense of “costumary practice”. 

 

Our life is composed by a set of habits that we routinely repeat. According to a Duke University´s research from 2006, 40% of our daily actions are not new decisions that we make but habits instead.

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Charles Duhigg wrote "The Power of Habit", a very interesting book that deeply analises the theme of habits. Neurological and Psycological justifications are part of this unmissable study for those who are interested in changing it´s habits, be it  by creating new and healthier ones, or be it by eliminating the habits that are not beneficial to us.

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Neurologically speaking our habits start with a simple and spontaneous action that can be repeated or not. In case it becomes repetitive our brain starts to recognize this action in a more and more automatic way until it becomes a habit, something that then can happen without us noticing it. It is like learning how to drive, for example. Our brain tends to make everything a routine in order to save energy. Imagine if we had to re-learn how to drive every day?

 

 

The habit process can be summarized in "trigger", "routine" and "premium". Through those three steps the construction of a habit was unveiled, and now with more understanding about it we can more easily manipulate it in our favour.

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Everytime that those three phases of the habit get repeated it creates a certain "craving" in the brain for the repetition of the action and for the consequent "rewardoda vez que as 3 fases do hábito se repetem elas vão criando no cérebro uma certa “fome” pela repetição da ação e pela consequente “recompensa”. It is at this stage that the habit is really rooted in our routine.

 

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The problem or the good news is that once the habit starts to get stronger, it leaves no space for our free will and starts to repeat itself automatically. If a habit is good this is a wonderful way for us to keep ourselves healthy and happy, but, if the habit is negative then we have the challenge to change it.

 

A habit is never going to disapear from our brain, all the circuits that recognize the trigger, routine and reward are automatically reactivated, once the circumstance fits the pattern...The brain does not know the difference between a good and a bad habit! Therefore it is up to each one of us to take responsability for our self-observation and self-study in order to reset our position or posture in life.

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It is interesting to note that the triggers can sometimes be obvious and visible but othertimes the might be subjective and almost invisible, like an incouscious influence. As examples we have: tv adds, a certain time of the day, specific places, the company of certain people, a sequence of thoughts or cetains emotions. All of wich can happen in a fraction of seconds, and if we are not in a state of vigilance they trigger the pattern of the habit automatically. The rewards can vary from physical sensations, like the pleasure of food or drugs to the emotional level, like the sensation of proud to be conquering something.

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A habit can be so profound that addicts our brain in a way that excludes the least comon sense. However, habits can be shaped as we begin to observe the process of trigger and reward until it is possible to change the routine.

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The repetition of an action followed by the reward sensation makes our brain addicted in a way that it associates the trigger to the reward, however, as the habit grows stronger the brain begins to antecipate the sensation of reward , ansd many times in an uncontrolled way, which can enslave us to our own senses. In case the desire is not fulfilled many reactions can be expected like anxiety, anger and depression. Now imagine this very cycle happening many times a day... it is like an emotional roller coaster, a life with no peace or presence. The brain is so hypnotized by what the trigger has aroused in it (the possibility of reward) that we become blind to any other option of action. Quite impreessive.

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According to Duhigg the habits can be ignored, modified or replaced. But only through the recognition of the true source or desire which propells the habit is how it becomes possible to manipulate it.

  

To create a new habit it is necessary to basically create a trigger and a reward. For example, to begin to practice a physical activity we should  basically decide for a trigger and a reward, like a certains moment of the day, for example, and a reward to which you get attached to like the feeling of acomplishment or the relaxation after having endorfins liberated in the body. When we start to look foward to the sensation of the reward then we will know that the habit is strongly incorporated, and the action becomes more automatic, effortless.

 

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The comand to a habit is the eagerness with which we crave the reward, because of that, in the case of good habits is important to keep our mind focused on the healthy prize that this beneficial action brings us. In case we have temptations luring us into giving up or getting distracted from the good habit, we should pay extra attention to the "hunger" for that gratification as it can keep us connected to the discipline of our new habit. Use it.

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The more we observe ourselves and the more we get to know how we function, the bigger are the chances of success. SWADHYAWA is a Yoga´concept that best associates with this process. To be able to make a detailed description of your own behavior, with no judgement, no fear. This is the only way that we can define a list of our bad habit's triggers, and create new ones based on our own experience. It is normally necessary to to make a deep exam of our thoughts, sensations and emotions, as if we were a scientist. It is also necessary to make experiments with different triggers,rewards and routines until we can feel a positive and healthy satisfaction for us. We should esperiment different actions that are alternatives to our habit and  feel the result. With time and patience we will bild a new routine that will bring us way more benefits. One of the book's suggestions id that we make  friends or that we become part of groups that are related to the goals we are reaching for, with people that are practicing the same habits and that are living the routine that we would like to have. The same applies to the bad habits, so we shold take a distance from people and situations that might provoke us to fall back into the bad conditioning. Social groups are therefore essential in the change of habits.

 

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A fundamental habit is a type of habit that ignite a chain reaction when transformed, modifying many other aspects and other habits in our life. Making regular exercise, for example, influences the way we eat, how we sleep and our productivity and state of humor...it makes us meet new people, change social groups and to create a new culture in our life with friends that feed this new life reference.

 

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Another important tool that we can use is to visualize ourselves in our new lifestyle , acting in our new pattern of behavior right before falling asleep and when we wake up. In bed, relaxed and with our eyes clsed we should imagine and feel the sensations of being practicing exactal what we want to change. We shold ideally do it every morning and every night. Another good tip is to start a journal about our process of transformation, to put into words what is happenning inside; this is a great way to get to know ourselves better and also to help control our attitudes...

 

 

According to Duhigg will power is like a muscle, and once we begin to move it gets stronger. As we modify our habits, other changes become more natural because the will power would be already more developed and active in our minds, even changing the way we think! We are no longer slaves of old impulses and we have learnt to detach ourlseves from temptations.

 

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To change our habits it is necessary to want it and to decide for the change. It is crucial to be aware of ourselves through sel-f-observation and self-study (journaling) - SWADYAWA - and to look for new paths that will make us feel happier and satisfied with ourselves. The way we eat, sleep and talk to our children, how we use our time, attention and money are all habits that can be  positively changed, as the most addiced alchoolic can become a sober person.

 

Sometimes people spend their whole life without being aware of themselves and their actions end up becoming an invisible process , and therefore impossible to be adjusted. To make a shift it suffices to get started and to persevere into the experimentation of the different alternatives until we can find our personal balance. Relapses are part of the process but it is interesting to observe those relapses and learn from them too. It helps to have a recovery plan for those occasions, and this is when we reinforce the importance of a personal journal! This is how we can associate certain situations and people to a certains reaction of ours or to a certain emotional state like the desire for compensation, for example. We must analise everything, but we should not be too hard on ourselves.

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Pandit Rajmani Tigunait from the Hymalayan Institute says that we all have good and bad habits, and that we should not critisize ourselves or punish ourselves as we fail. We should not "fight" against the bad habits but we should look to invest in our good qualities and virtues, and slowly and naturally we will end up abandoning the less wanted path. We should also define our best qualities and habits, appreciate them, as we feel good in maintaining our mind connected to them as much as possible. It is like  to stop giving attention to what we do not want any more.

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It is important to be conscious over our bad habits but we shall not condem ourselves because this would only turn our mind unstable and vulnerable to more negativity.

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Thoughts follow patterns that can make ourselves more prone to lack of determination , and therefore more prone to self-criticism and negativity. It is worth noticing that everything starts in the mind including the recognition of our need to change. As we decide for new attitudes the mind needs the most of support in order to sustain the break of vicious circles and set itself free.

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Meditation and breathing tecniques (pranayama) proposed by Yoga are an excelent way to go through the most resisting parts of this transformation phase. Both practices are directly associated to the calming of the nervous system, and are, therefore, of great value to those whoare looking for self- improvment. And, who knows... maybe those practices can become our enourmously healthy new habits

 

 

 Schematizing the info above we have:

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1 Identify the routine –  Notice what takes you to eht action that you want to eliminate, the emotional reason, and the reward.

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2 Experiment with different rewards - do something different from the usual, be inusual and spontaneous in order to find a new routine. Normally we would try a variety of options. Look for noticing the desire behind the action. If going through a though time you can write in a piece of paper the first three things that come to mind in order to control the anxiety, so later you can realize how the emotions and thoughts can unconsciously influence our choices.

 

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3 Isolate the trigger - try to take a distance from what provokes the bad habit or try to create a new trigger for a new reward. Give yourself alternatives in case it is not possible to take distance.

  

4 Have a plan B ( in the case of failure). Write about it and try to identify the reasons so next time your choice can be different.

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Good to notice that we do not need the new year to take attitudes  in our lifes. Every day and every moment are new opportunities for us to restart our movement of self-transformation! So as the new year's wave passes, amy we stay strong in our self-study and transformative discipline.

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