Photo: Yoga Reaches Out.

By way of a confession, I fell off the meditation wagon around the holidays. Funny visual, isn’t it?  I picture an actual wagon pulled by reindeer, through a snowy scene, with a bunch of people quietly meditating in the back. Then, I literally fall off.  People just shrug and continue meditating, and I’m left to gather myself, on a cobblestone street, dusting off the reindeer dung.

OK, so the real story isn’t so dramatic.

But it’s a familiar one to many.  We’re on a roll with a healthy habit– meditating, going to yoga, or running, for example– until we miss a day. That day becomes a string of days, and soon, we’ve lost our mojo.  (Yes, even yoga teachers and people who are health buffs for a living lose mojo).

Mine came back at New Year’s.  (Also a familiar story– time of resolution and recommitment).  And I’ve meditated each week-day morning since.  This time, it was the easiest and most enjoyable climb back on the wagon I’ve ever had.  Not only did I regain momentum, but my meditation practice isn’t feeling like a chore, which it’s wont to do.  Instead, I look forward to it each morning, and it’s not hard to carve out the time.  Sounds crazy, right?  What made it so easy?

The answer is simple.  The only thing that matters is that I do it.  I don’t have to do 45-minutes at my Buddha School in Cambridge at dawn.  I don’t have to do 20-minutes or even 10-minutes.  I just have to do it.  7 minutes?  Wonderful.  5 minutes is all I have?  Fine.  Forgive me for being a little thick, but this was a revelation!  So, I told Boyfriend, who obviously doesn’t need yoga, when you hear how Zen his response was.

“Isn’t that the deal with anything?  Do SOMETHING… Not nothing.”

So, there you have it, friends.  If you’re losing healthy mojo for any reason under the polar vortex: do something; not nothing.  Recalibrate your expectations a little.  Do less, and see more of it, any of it, as progress in the right direction, from where you sit, back on the wagon.