A Fresh Start
‘Tis the season. Reflection, celebration, resolution—of course this is the time of year when people are apt to both make some of the most destructive decisions and some of the most audacious goals. This year, perhaps more than most, many of us are probably putting a little extra weight on the idea of a fresh start in 2021. And that’s great. Goals are great. Resolutions are great (even better when we stick to them). But we don’t need a New Year in order to have a fresh start. We can start fresh today. And tomorrow. And the day after that, and the day after that.
The realization that a fresh start is always yours is one of the beauties of a regular yoga practice. It doesn’t matter whether we are practicing the same postures, emphasizing the same breath work, repeating the same sequences, or even replaying the same exact class over and over again. The practice is always new. It may be comfortable; it may be familiar. But it is never exactly the same as it was yesterday.
And that’s exactly why there’s no need to wait. Maybe you have resolved to commit to (or re-commit to or invite someone else to share in) your yoga practice. Maybe you’ve made a resolution about something else entirely. The fact is that you can start today. And you can start again tomorrow. And you can start again with the rest of the world on Friday. And you may find that by giving yourself license to have a fresh start more than once a year—maybe 365 times a year or more—you’ve given yourself the space to build that larger pattern you were after, without hanging so much weight on the Resolution.
Don’t wait. Start now. Then start again tomorrow. And, if I’m lucky, I’ll see you at the starting point sometime soon.