Why is commitment to health and well-being so difficult? My thoughts. By: Denise Orsulak

This card has been living on my phone cover as a reminder to be committed to what's important to me.

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"Commitment is an agreement or pledge to do something in the future."  When I looked up the meaning, it kind of made me pause.  
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In yoga, we tell you to focus on the present on the here and now.  So for a commitment to stand you have to look to the future and make a promise that you will do it.

I see priorities shifting in people's schedule all the time (myself included). Often we commit to something, we change our mind, try again, again something comes up.  I see this in some of my student's yoga practice as well.  There can always be something better to do, than what you have planned today. I guess that's the problem with the future and the difficulty with commitment.  

A pledge is a binding promise or agreement.  We will keep our pledges to others but will quickly break a pledge to ourselves.  Why do so many people break their commitment or pledge to take care of themselves?  As a wellness professional, I find this very heartbreaking because in the long run I know there will be pain and suffering that comes with that.

In general, we know what will help us to stay healthy and to be happy, but there is this pressure to do other things: work things, family things, house things, many things that interfere with our commitments to our health and well being. 

Don't you function better when you are healthy and happy?

We have yoga students and bodywork clients who are just rock solid with their commitment to show up at a class or make regular appointments to take care of their bodies. When I asked them what their driving force was, here are some replies:

"I know what it feels like to be in pain from and injury and never ever wanting to experience that again, so I put my workout and bodywork appointments in my calendar. It keep me focused on my health."-AW

"This is the one thing I do for myself and it always makes me feel better after I get a session.  I work so hard all the other time  of the week."-EY

"Life is no different for me than everyone else: I'm busy and over-committed between work, family, and a myriad of other responsibilities.  I make time for yoga and taking care of myself because it's some of the best time I spend all week and it gives me the energy I need to meet other commitments,  Yoga is an essential part of my life." -FA

"I'm a busy professional and father and experience a lot of stress and time demands.  Monthly Thai sessions are an oasis in an other wise crazy life.  The sessions help me to manage emotional stress, physical aches and pains, and generally a reset of my mind, body and spirit." -PM

Personally, when I turned 40, I committed to a monthly bodywork session.  It has helped me to manage so many things.  I look forward to my monthly sessions.  I always, always book my next session because if I do not, I won't necessarily have the open space in my schedule when I need some healing work.  I have been doing this for my yoga practice as well.  Scheduling a class with the same teacher each week has been a good practice for me.  Even though I can do yoga on my own at home.  Having someone guide me and to give me something else to think about during class has been invaluable.

Committing to health and well being makes the rest of your life run more smoothly.  Even though it's hard to keep those commitments to yourself, it's so worth it in the end.  You often do get the immediate results of this.  It might not even seem to be making a difference until you stop doing it.  And there will always to the temptation to stop because life happens.  BUT you can recommit at anytime.  So if you have let your well-being take a back seat, I urge you to recommit today.

Sign up and pay for a weekly yoga or meditation class now.  Stick with a day and a certain teacher. After 8 weeks, you might have a new healthy habit that fuels and energizes and focuses you enough to do all the other commitments you have. The practice might also make it clearer that some commitments that are not serving you need to go.

Get a monthly or bimonthly bodywork sessions when you stick with a specific body worker or massage therapist, they get to know your bodies quirks and can help you navigate your habits that might be causing you dysfunction, stress, or strain in your body.

If you are committed to a wellness practice, share your why below!  Perhaps you will inspire other to re-commit to their health and well-being too!

Love,

Denise