With the holidays behind us and the rest of winter ahead, many people are re-assessing patterns and setting intentions for the new year. It is easy to get swept up in the spirit of change in January and then see your patterns fall off your schedule for the rest of the winter. One of our physical therapist/yoga instructors has a mindful and inspiring alternative to setting specific New Year’s resolutions. Join Grace Bedard DPT, CYT as she explores a new yearly tradition!

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I love the idea of setting an overarching theme rather than starting with specific goals. Last year I committed to automating and streamlining my life. After years of traveling, I wanted to settle in and have patterns that could repeat for years to come without much need for deliberation or extra brain power. I planned my yoga classes based on the month of the year. Classes could be repeatable the next year (with little tweaks every year of course). I set my bills to automatically go out where this option was available. I set the lights in my home on timers to support a regular pattern of sleeping and waking.

Overall, the theme was to establish the intention of feeling stable and supported by my environment. I think I accomplished that in 2019. For 2020, I would like to focus on using and following through with what I already know. This is something I find myself telling patients recently. Just because the simple thing is simple, and you know it already, doesn’t mean that it is easy to follow through with consistently.

I love learning new things and can get caught up in finding out as much as I can and consuming all the information available on a topic before taking any action. Sometimes this is helpful but most of the time I cheat myself out of the opportunity to actually master a thing in practice. I get stuck in the comfortable research phase.

Even if it is a little step, this year I want to take action with the expanse of knowledge and resources I have at my disposal. With that as an overarching theme, I plan to recommit to running, and refine my yoga sequences that are established with more layers of goodness from my extensive continued education. Rather than planning my actions all at once, I will simply remind myself of this theme as the months pass so that I can let my specific action be in keeping with this intention. In this way, I have found that I can accomplish a larger goal while remaining malleable and creative.

I wish you all a very fruitful year ahead with many lessons, texture and happiness. What themes can you think of for your 2020?    

Meet Grace Bedard DPT, CYT!

Grace graduated with her doctorate in Physical Therapy from Sage Graduate School in Troy NY. She has practiced yoga for 10 years and is a registered yoga teacher.