Psychologist say that a new habit can be created within 21 days. With daily repetition and consistency, a new habit can be formed or broken (if it is a bad habit). If you are familiar with Pavlov’s dog, Pavlov was able to condition his dog to react after giving him a treat. This means that in order to create or break a new habit, we need to be rewarded or punished. Humans have two main emotions which are pain and pleasure.
A habit can be formed by using one of these emotions. They can be formed through continuous application and the will to succeed. If a habit is changed by pain, it can instantly occur but depends on the level of pain and the amount of suffering. If change is brought about through pain, it is because we have suffered for a long period of time and decided that change was necessary.
If changing a habit by pleasure, then we need to reward ourselves with pleasurable acts or items. This route takes the longest and it is said that it should take 21 days.
I decided to test the theory by doing yoga everyday for 21 days. Doing yoga is a good habit to learn since it can benefit your mind and body. To start I watched a daily yoga video on YouTube which lasted anywhere from 10 to 50 minutes a day.
The very first day I started with a 10 minute light yoga session. The next days intensified eventually building up to 45 minutes. I started doing a new video everyday to increase my level of yoga fitness. The first few days consisted of light stretching and light yoga movements. From day one, it was very challenging since I’ve only done yoga a couple of times and I knew that I was out of shape.
I go to the gym regularly but only for Zumba and weight training. Stretching is a not a priority and I know that I need to do it more often. As I got more into my workouts, I started to feel stiff and achy (pain). My body was being stretched and bent into positions that it was not use to. After every cat, cow and downward dog, it was being stretched into a more pliable, stretchy version of myself.
After 21 days, I can’t put my leg behind my head or stand on my head but I can appreciate my increased limber abilities (pleasure). This is why I decided to started the 21 day yoga challenge. Not only for the benefit of my body but for my mind as well.
In the end, this was not a daily habit that I picked up but I will definitely add it to my workout routines. I learned a new work and was able to workout at home with my workout buddy (Gizmo).
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