Making Yoga a Habit: Lessons from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
In order to make our yoga practice sustainable, we need to make yoga a habit rather than a choice. In The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, author Charles Duhigg defines habits as the unthinking choices and invisible decisions that surround us every day. By better understanding the habit formation process, Duhigg believes we can act with more intention in our lives and make our goals more attainable.
Components of a Habit Loop
Habits are built on familiarity and repetition, which is why changing a habit can be difficult. Habits are like water:
“Water hollows out for itself a channel, which grows broader and deeper; and, after having ceased to flow, it resumes, when it flows again, the path traced by itself before” (William James, as quoted in The Power of Habit).
MIT researchers found that there are three main components of a habit loop: a cue, a routine, and a reward (Duhigg, 2012). The cue triggers the routine, which triggers the reward. For example: I wake up in the morning (a cue) and start making coffee (the routine) and enjoy the sensation of drinking a hot beverage and experiencing the energetic caffeine boost (the reward).
Steps to Create a Habit Loop
Identify the Routine
There are many routines that are necessary for our daily functioning, like drinking water for example. There are also many aspirational routines we might have, which are not essential but useful for our goals. Depending on one’s perspective, yoga might fit into the necessary or aspirational routine category depending on your perspective. Yoga is an example of a routine that we might want to pursue on a daily basis.
Identify the Reward
If we want to make yoga (the routine) a daily habit, we will need to identify the surrounding cue and reward. As Duhigg suggests, we must first experiment with the rewards to understand what motivates us. Does the physical exercise that yoga offers release serotonin that makes you feel happier? Does the mindful breathing help you clear your mind? Does the community aspect of going to your favorite yoga class (cough, cough… The Dancing Fern) leave you feeling socially fulfilled? You might experience all of these benefits; however, you’ll want to identify your most personally motivating reward from yoga.
Identify the Cue
When you have identified the reward that most motivates you, then you’ll want to identify the cue that will start your yoga routine. In the Hatha yoga tradition, practice before sunrise is customary— the cue of waking up leads directly into the yoga routine. Time-based cues are not the only cues you can rely on; however, they are useful because morning, afternoon, and evening happen daily. Your cue could be dropping your kids off at school, which leads you to practice yoga upon your return home, or taking your lunch break at work. In these scenarios, remember to note what your cue could be on the weekends.
Have a Plan
As described above, there are external circumstances and situations that might impact our ability to complete a habit. For example, maybe we have an early work conflict that interrupts our ability to practice yoga first thing in the morning. Figuring out an alternate way to complete your yoga practice that day is essential. Maybe it means you practice for a shorter period of time in the morning, or maybe it means you practice right before bed. To build momentum you need to maintain consistency. If you are missing the habit cues enough times during the week, consider changing your cue to a more feasible one.
You can also consider habit-stacking if you are struggling with motivation. Habit-stacking (having the reward of one habit serve as the cue for another) is a great strategy for overcoming resistance. For example, once I finish drinking my coffee (the reward of one habit), I might brush my teeth (another routine) and enjoy the clean sensation. This minty fresh taste (a reward) might serve as the cue for getting dressed for work (another routine), and so on. Many individuals with ADHD use habit-stacking to take advantage of the serotonin and dopamine release that some rewards provide and use that as motivation to achieve other habits that connect to their daily and long-term goals.
Benefits of Purposeful Habit Loops
Purposeful habits can help us overcome old habits that no longer serve us by shifting our desires and reducing unwanted distractions.
Once a habit is formed, the anticipation and sense of craving for the reward can overpower other enticing yet unwanted distractions like unhealthy food. For example, if I have a habit of waking up (cue) and eating a healthy breakfast (routine) that helps me feel energized for the rest of my morning (reward), I will be less inclined to eat sugary cereals (routine) because the short-term reward (glucose spike that releases serotonin) and resulting energy crash later in the day will seem less desirable. Over time, I will stop experiencing intense cravings for sugary cereal, reducing the unwanted distraction that might plague me in the morning. If I connect my healthy breakfast habit to other eating habits throughout the remainder of a day, I will also experience a reduction in overall sugar craving. This reduced craving will then reinforce the healthy eating habits that I have already established for myself.
Duhigg believes strongly that almost any behavior can be transformed if the cue and reward stay the same. This is referred to as the Golden Rule of Habit Change because of its power in convincing people to adopt new behaviors through familiarity. If we analyze the example above through this golden rule, we are replacing the routine of eating sugary cereal with eating oatmeal. In this instance, the cue stays the same (waking up) though the reward has changed (a sustained experience of energy vs. a short-term rush of energy). If we want to ensure the success of this routine change, we might consider adding honey or maple syrup to our oatmeal to experience some of the same reward (the short-term energy rush that sugar offers) and then slowly lessen the amount we use over time.
Developing consistent habits can also build momentum for other habits to form.
Duhigg describes studies from the past decade that examine the impacts of exercise on daily routines. “When people start habitually exercising, even as infrequently as once a week, they start changing other, unrelated patterns in their lives, often unknowingly. Typically, people who exercise start eating better and becoming more productive at work. They smoke less and show more patience with colleagues and family. They use their credit cards less frequently and say they feel less stressed… For many people, exercise is a keystone habit that triggers widespread change.” The positive results of one habit can spread into more positive results for other habits, ultimately leading us towards more life satisfaction. Keystone habits, like exercise, create “small wins” that “help other habits flourish by creating new structures… [and] establish cultures where change becomes contagious” (Duhigg). A daily yoga practice is a great example of a keystone habit because it encourages us to move our bodies in a healthy, sustainable way, to drink ample water and nourishing food to give us the hydration and nutritional energy to practice, and practice gratitude and mindfulness on and off the mat. The motivation of building and maintaining one keystone habit in our lives can be enough to start a positive chain reaction.
Understanding our ingrained habits might seem like an overwhelming process, though we all have what it takes, we just need to start from where we are. Similar to a yoga routine that requires starting with a gentle and small range of movement, we must start by focusing on a few small habits before making any significant habit changes in our lives.
“Change might not be fast and it isn't always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.” (Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit)
Our deepening awareness and respect for our psychology will help build a foundation for more significant habit change later on. Familiarity and repetition are the name of the game!
