“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
-Charles Darwin
Yoga and Change
I love coffee. I guess you could say it has been one thing I’ve been devoted to over the years. I’d had a number of alternative health care practitioners suggest that I should cut back or quit drinking coffee. They made other suggestions, too, such as cutting many things out of my diet, which I did very easily. But I held onto the coffee. It must have been my biggest comfort.
This summer I had a hope (maybe more of an intention? or desire?) of taking a break from coffee. I thought that if I picked a short time frame to take a break from coffee, it would be easy enough. But somehow I went the whole summer, each day justifying why I might just drop coffee tomorrow, or next week, or next month.
And then…at the beginning of last week I somehow found it in me to just go ahead and take a break. I told myself I’d do a week, and then decide how to go forward from there. I made it five days and generally I’ve felt better if anything else! I let myself have coffee on day six and seven, then this week I’ve let it go again. I still want coffee almost every day, but those five days have been a confirmation that maybe less or no coffee is best for me.
My fellow writer at Shut Up and Yoga, Jordan Reed, gave it up for 30 days and here’s her article on what that was like for her:). Maybe sometime I will give it up for a longer period of time like she did, but if you read her article, you’ll see that she was able to replace her coffee drinking with morning rituals like meditation and journaling — two things that I love but have a hard time incorporating into my day once the kids are awake!
Small Rituals
What does all this have to do with yoga? Stepping away from coffee has been a journey in making a small change that, in my mind, seemed big. After all, how much of my day is spent drinking a cup of coffee? Well, I should add that I’ve been drinking a cup of matcha instead every morning, so I still get some caffeine, but how different it feels! One small change can shift everything else just a little bit.
With yoga, it can be similar; slow and steady changes can be just as powerful as cathartic, long, luxurious yoga sessions. Coffee has been a wake-up ritual that I’ve treasured for years, so much that I didn’t always listen to my body when the coffee didn’t make me feel that good. So it brings me to this: how can we adjust our daily rituals when we realize that the current ones are not quite working anymore?
Just as in yoga practice when we adapt the postures we do according to how we feel on a given day, how do we change our routines and practices to adapt to how we are right now, in this moment? There’s nothing like motherhood that highlights how much change life brings: our bodies change, our priorities change, our kids change as they grow, and our lifestyles change. Our yoga is an extension of our lives as mothers.
True yoga is not following a set of prescribed practices and postures; it’s all about responding to our changing selves. That is why I didn’t want to say goodbye to coffee forever (hence why I had a cup on day six and seven, haha!). Even though I didn’t go the whole seven days, I still count the five days as proof that I can make and sustain changes. Does that mean I’m back to drinking coffee every day? No, not necessarily. This might sound silly, but it means that I can skip coffee for days on end and still be fine and functional. Matcha became my substitute, which was helpful because I was still getting some caffeine but also because dropping a habit is usually easier when replaced with another one!
Then I had an idea: what if a coffee break wasn’t a break to drink coffee, but a vacation from coffee? How could we use yoga to fill that gap?
Sadhana as a Coffee Break
I’ve mentioned my desire to take a break from coffee to many people, and you know what some said? “You need coffee! You have two small children!” But…I’ve always been a morning person and I’ve hardly ever ‘needed’ coffee to wake up. Honestly, it’s the general caffeine high that I love, a sort of euphoria that lifts me emotionally as well as physically. And when I first started drinking coffee in my early twenties, it fueled me through lots of fast-paced jobs that I worked during that time of my life.
Now, in my early forties, staying home with two young children, I often write about how much it helps to slow down in motherhood, to follow the pace and perception of small children, and restore my energy. That’s where my break from coffee comes in: I love coffee but it is sometimes hard to slow down when I drink it every day.
Years ago I wrote a piece about using yoga for those times when coffee throws you out of whack. You know, those times when you’ve had a little too much caffeine. Now, though, I’m learning through trial and error some different ways to use yoga when you really want a cup of joe, but are committed to not having it. The best way to start in my opinion is to get clear on why you drink coffee: for an energy boost? to sit down and relax? to wake up in the morning? as part of a social engagement?
This week, as I go through another cycle of drinking tea instead of coffee, I’ll reflect on this question, too. If you’re a coffee drinker, I hope you do as well and I’ll meet you back in part 2 of this article where we can explore some yogic methods of taking a break from coffee:)
Oh I’m definitely a coffee drinker- during pregnancies I went down to one coffee a day and have stayed there but it’s the ritual and the pause that I love. I have my coffee after all the morning routine is complete, everyone is in school and childcare and I’ve worked through my emails. I stop and make a good coffee. But I have actually been thinking: maybe I should stop and ...move? Go for a short walk? There are other rituals I could build in. So I guess there is a bit of caffeine addiction there too...!