On December 25, 2013, I began what has now become a decade of doing downward-facing dog (or other poses) for 30 minutes every day. Before that there had been a three-week challenge my sister-in-law roped me into. Initially starting on December 4, those few weeks were interrupted by two days when I was too out of it from a medical thing. I began again (a key in establishing any habit), and I discovered a four-week Yoga Journal program called “Boost Your Willpower.” When that ended, I kept going. Another month, then a season, half a year, a year… and I have not stopped since. (Yesterday marked 3,652 days, if you’re counting.)

It helped that I had several prior experiences with yoga in college and after, and I did a work trade while living at a yoga center for a summer, but that had ended 15 years prior. A streak of a common activity like yoga seems–and truly is–trivial and insigificant when considering the somber news of the day. World peace seems further from humanity’s grasp than ever. But we each can work on our own personal peace. No one really cares about this streak except me (and sometimes not very much), and no one is more surprised I’ve done it than me. But since you’re here, I do have some thoughts.

Despite my inclination not to write about what is essentially an internal practice, and to not feed the ego, I do feel that it’s important to blog about my yogaversary (even if it did happen to fall on Christmas). That’s because maybe it will inspire someone, particularly bicyclists, to take up doing asanas to improve their recovery time. Last year, my ninth, I didn’t post anything. Partially that may have been because for my eighth year, I wrote a detailed examination of what goes into my yoga practice, what I get out of it, and such. I won’t rehash all of that, but a full decade of doing yoga on the daily is worthy of some navel gazing. (Hey, stop looking at my belly! I’m up here, where my eyes are! OK, good.)

Why 30 minutes? I read that around half an hour of yoga would help improve one’s health in multiple ways, from brain chemistry to heart rate, mood, and, of course, flexibility and strength. Also, it seemed and is doable. Quantity is important to generate enough benefits.

Quality is key, too. For some time, I’ve been aware of the fact that I’ve let the challenging aspect of my practice slip and slide a bit. I can and do get easily get distracted due to being too tired or busy. A “serious” yogi or yogini would judge my practice as insufficiently challenging, but those yoga nazis can go… I’m mean, may all beings be happy, and Namaste. Or, as Frank Costanza loudly proclaimed on a Seinfeld episode, “Serenity now!

I used to attend classes, but I save time and money by doing my own thang at home. I do gentle poses, mostly on the floor: knee-to chest, supine twists, happy baby, pigeon, head-to(ward) knee, child’s pose, etc. I often do it at night, which works for me because after a bike ride, it helps me recover from my bicycling. If I did it earlier in the day, it could be more vigorous, but then I’d be going to bed with tighter legs. As with any spiritual practice, seeking the middle way makes sense. Maybe two 15-minute sessions, alterating morning and evening, or something else. Or maybe it’s just fine the way it is. Also, most January’s of late, I participate in Austin’s own Yoga With Adriene month-long New Year’s class on YouTube. I

I started using Insight Meditation Timer until 2015 and only started noting my sessions in Strava last year. To be transparent, my streak of #DontBreakTheChain has not been verified by the Guinness Book of World Records, nor will it be. I may have selected Yoga on my Garmin watch but didn’t push start until after midnight a few times, too That’s okay. I know without a doubt for myself that I’m doing yoga with extremely disciplined daily regularity (and it would be a weird thing to brag and lie about). The tracking is just a way to keep me on task. But it’s not about records, it’s about the practice.

The thing about how yoga feels is that it’s not easy to describe, so it’s best experienced. When breath, body, and brain are synchronized, it is a good feeling. That’s plenty of motivation for most Western gym-goers or yoga class attenders who don’t need or want to buy into the Hindu religious trappings. Depending on who you ask, that’s a good thing or a bad thing. Some yoga is not really yoga, but always be your own teacher; don’t do a pose if it hurts. It speaks to yoga’s lasting power that it’s been around for over 5,000 years, so there must be something valuable about it.

When it came time for my 3,652nd session (some days I did do two half sessions, but you get the point), I found myself without any feeling that it was really not much different or special from any other day. That is a benefit of making something a daily habit that is so ingrained that to not do it is unfathomable. So, like Adriene says, we just show up on the mat and bring our whole self to it.

A yoga mat has special, strong, and possibly magical, powers–like a powerful mirror. Whatever is going on might get tabled in your mind, but it is still with you. And that’s okay. You notice the thoughts, work with them in moving meditation, and put your body through the paces of poses that stretch you but don’t cause pain. You breathe, feel the energy moving and changing in your charkras and throughout. Mostly, you pay deep attention.

At the end of this session, I silently thanked all my teachers over the years, those I could remember by name, and in general those I couldn’t. Then, the lineage of historical teachers going back 5,000 years. I also noticed a general feeling of gratitude. I thanked myself for walking this path but also the non-self, the universe. Other esoteric thoughts came to me, sometimes colors, or a feeling of subtle energies that yoke–the root word of yoga–me to that universe. I bowed, not in subservience, but out of respect, symbolically lowering the head below the heart.

Barring injury, unconsciousness, being unavoidably detained, or death, tomorrow will be day 3,653. I will step onto the mat and feel my breath coming into my body and flowing out. And I will move my self in all its imperfect perfection, generating perhaps a little bit of the personal peace that the world could sure use a lot more of these days. If you do yoga already, consider continuing. If you don’t, consider starting. It’s not for every body, but almost everybody can get some benefit from it, even if it’s just the pranayama breathing. But it only works if you do the work.

Namaste, y’all.

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