Consistency over Creativity

Tapas in Action.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about consistency over creativity, because it’s becoming clearer that one is actually a gateway to the other.

You see, what I’ve noticed in myself is that I seem to thrive on changing timelines, the generator in me running on the whims of the energy I’m surrounded by at any point in time. Any mention of consistency, routine and I just can’t commit, or better yet, I do and forget and often feel inclined to change plans last minute because

And then, I think back to the beginning of my yoga asana days. The ashtanga practice, 90 minutes, a set sequence that held me so eloquently and steadily as I explored, changed and giving me an inner strength that I needed at that time, having moved to the other side of the world at 22 years old, in a place where I knew no one to restart a career and friendships and well everything… It was a practice, that even though it was only 3 times a week, that challenged me to stay the course, to show up when it was bloody hard and I was tired, a lot of the time I would have loved to walk out in the first 15minutes, but I was there and I persevered. It taught me a lot, a lot more than I was willing to acknowledge at the time. It taught me the meaning of Tapas, and Saucha and Santosha, it introduced me to Ishvara Pranidhana.

These morals written about in yoga philosophy that I was yet to explore and yet there I was having a lived and embodied experience of them that would set me up for the next 15+ year of my life (taking me to this day).

I was listening to a lecture a few years ago from a brilliant yoga teacher, Rose Baudin, and she spoke about the levels of concentration and commitment for people disappearing rapidly. As she explained it, the people who find a steady practice, be it meditation, pranayama, asana or anything else, are the ones who fare the best in their mental and physical health and also their vitality and longevity.

What’s becoming even more apparent to me is that although I think I thrive on creativity and changing plans and pace, my health and wellbeing seems to thrive when I am consistent in showing up to something, or for myself.

Whether that’s a consistent physical practice, a consistent waking time, a consistent routine week to week or even, what I miss the most since arriving to England, a consistent waking time pre-sunrise to sit and have my morning coffee in darkness and silence. It’s those moments of consistency, that daily rhythm, even if only short that have held me more thoroughly than any ongoing change and excitement could.

It’s also the reason why I’ve created a new online yoga space Twenty One - because I recognise that showing up for a 21 minute practice, daily for 21 days, would be both enlightening and challenging at the same time.

But I digress…

This last year I have loved that we were going overseas with our kids, for them to experience different places, seasons, languages, history and so much more, yet, I have felt utterly exhausted, had more sickness than in previous years and somehow the vitality I thought I had gained earlier in the year before we left has completely disappeared.