How to Create a Yoga Practice Habit with Matt Kowald
How can you form a yoga practice habit? Do you want to do more in your yoga practice but find it hard to form a routine around it? Perhaps you’ve formed an unwanted habit you’d like to remove. Matt Kowald, co-author and co-founder of Yogis Journal, joins Shannon to discuss what it takes to create and maintain a yoga practice habit.
Matt is a varsity wrestler originally from Australia who now lives in Canada. His athletic life sparked an interest into habits, routines and journaling, and he began his yoga practice in 2013. Matt is a personal trainer and yoga teacher who has studied exercise, sport and rehabilitation science, and is currently studying kinesiology at Brock University.
The Yogis Journal is a beautiful journal rooted in the 8 limbs, with the intention of helping people create meaningful rituals and habits around yoga. Matt and Shannon dive into the intricacies of what it takes to form and maintain routines and habits, particularly around your yoga practice. Matt also has some great insights about self-love, following through on goals, and the science behind it all.
If you have been wanting to add in a new habit, or if you help yoga students with their at-home yoga practice, this episode is full of incredible tips and tricks. Stay tuned to the end of the episode to find out about the amazing offer Matt has for listeners, and Shannon has a gift for three lucky listeners as well!
Key Takeaways:
[4:16] Shannon introduces her guest for this episode – Matt Kowald.
[6:01] Shannon shares her experiences using the Yogis Journal in her yoga practice.
[8:59] What got Matt interested in the work of helping people with their habits around yoga?
“If you want to make it a habit, consistency is important. Consistency over volume.” – Matt Kowald
[9:58] Matt is from Australia but moved to Canada. What brought him to Canada?
[10:59] What got Matt into yoga?
[11:32] How did Matt carve out the time for all his activities, university and designing the Yogis Journal?
[12:40] Coffee is a trigger for Matt to be more creative in the morning. How does that work?
[13:59] How can we build a habit of doing yoga daily? Matt explains the idea behind hot and cold triggers.
“A hot trigger is something that reminds you to do the behavior when you need to do it.” – Matt Kowald
[17:04] What is Matt’s suggestion for overcoming habits that have been formed that aren’t very positive?
[20:27] What are Matt’s thoughts on using a reward system as a motivator?
[21:51] The most important part is setting up a small step. Shannon and Matt discuss why even a small step in the right direction is a good thing.
[24:05] How can we cope with our perfectionist tendencies, or when we fall away from our daily practice?
[26:17] In terms of daily practice, how long does it take to form a habit?
“That’s what a habit is. It’s just a behavior that becomes automatic, and then we do that so that we can do other tasks, more complex.” – Matt Kowald
[29:07] What’s the best time of day to set up a habit?
[30:32] What is the best way to approach incorporating a yoga habit in our lives?
[32:11] Shannon and Matt talk through some of her own struggles with maintaining a daily yoga practice.
[34:32] What other tips has Matt learned through the years about forming habits?
[36:14] What is Matt’s advice to people who feel that they want to make all the changes, all at once?
[39:12] Everyone sets goals for the New Year, but hardly anyone follows through on them. How can we come back to starting our habits again?
[42:12] What motivated Matt to create the Yogis Journal?
[45:47] Matt explains how he uses his own Yogis Journal as a trigger for himself.
“The biggest thing is to come from a place of self-love.” – Matt Kowald
[47:45] What other advice does Matt have for yoga teachers struggling with their practice or helping others set up their own practice?
[49:30] Check out Yogis Journal at the website, and do email Matt if you have any questions.
[50:33] Share your thoughts about this episode, your struggles with your personal practice and any other key takeaways with Shannon.
[53:31] Shannon is giving away three Yogis Journals – find out how you can participate in this giveaway!
Links:
- Yogi’s Journal
- Yogis Journal on Instagram
- Email Matt Kowald
- Yogis Journal Team: Matt Kowald, Laura Jaypalan, Jess Taylor
- 6 Week Group Program for Yoga Teacher Entrepreneurs with Shannon Crow
- The Yoga Conference and Show, Toronto March 2019
- Mama Nurture Prenatal Yoga Teacher Training – (Training is no longer being offered by Shannon Crow because she has niched down)
- Yoga for Pelvic Health Teacher Training, November 2019
Gratitude to our Sponsor Schedulicity 
I really enjoyed Matts simple and selfloving ways to stay on track . I really needed this today. I love connected yoga podcasts. A reminder to really listen to what I am teaching.
So happy to hear you enjoyed Barbi, thank you for the kind words! Wishing you the best of luck with your practice 🙂 If you ever have any questions feel free to send me an email.
So happy to hear that Matt’s way of sharing this really resonated with you Barbi! Happy New Year!
Shannon, Again another timely subject on your podcast. Journaling is part of my new years resolution. My sister and I are doing a six week challenge starting the middle of January. I am looking forward to planning out my life and working my intentions instead of living by default. I would love a journal.
Yay! Journaling is such an incredible practice. Would love to know how the challenge goes. If you ever need an accountability partner or want to bounce ideas, feel free to email me.
Congratulations Vanessa – you have won a yogis journal! I will be sending you an email. I am so excited to hear about your 6-week challenge beginning in January.
Shannon, Thank you for inviting Matt to be on your podcast. I, like everyone else, struggle to make time for my own practice. One thing that gets in my way is the idea that I need to spend 30 – 60 minutes per day doing yoga. Thank you to Matt for giving me permission to set a minimum and max time. I will take the next week to reflect on my goals for 2019 and will use some of Matt’s suggestions to implement them.
Thanks for the kind words Linda. That’s incredible! Best of luck with it. If you have any questions or need an accountability buddy, feel free to email me.
Really enjoyed this episode, because I’ve had similar struggles. I have a notebook that is used as a journal for writing down all the stuff swirling around in my brain. Since Thanksgiving this year, I decided to make a list of the days left in 2018, and since then have documented my yoga practices. I started off by nurturing myself every day with Yin Yoga. From there, I branched off to doing whatever my body feels like doing on that particular day. In the past, I’ve done practices centering around what I plan on teaching my students that day, week, month. This time around, I’m nurturing myself. I’m finding I feel much less resistance to getting on my mat when I think of my practice as something nice I’m doing for myself. Since the end of November, I’ve missed some days, but I’m noticing much more consistency. And I no longer chastise myself if I don’t manage to fit in a practice.
That’s a great idea! Using a journal only for yoga practice can really help, I tried combining journals once but often found myself getting too distracted. Love how the shift of focus on your daily practice from what you are teaching, to what you feel like has helped your consistency.
I was inspired by Matt’s words to create an intention for the day.
Thank you 🙂 Another thing I have been doing recently is rewriting the intention on a whiteboard so I can see it again when I return home.
That is wonderful to hear Alicia. Also, congratulations because you have won a Yogis Journal. I will be sending you an email soon! Happy New Year!
I have SOOO many things that I want to do all the time and when I start to think of all of them, I go into overwhelm. I’m going to take Matt’s suggestion of making a list of all of them and decide what I really want to do and why – I’m really hoping that I can edit the list.
Also, I also struggle with a daily practice and will start to lay my mat out the night before and give myself an min and max time
I have the problem too. I’m happy to hear that advice resonated with you! If editing seems to overwhelming, just number them, and know that with time you’ll get to all of them. But focused energy on one (or a small few at a time) allows us to achieve more! (I’m guessing that’s why Dharana is one of the eight limbs 🙂 ). Yay! Let me know how it goes, and if you have any struggles with it feel free to message me, I’d love to help.
Thank you Shannon and Matt for this really terrific podcast. It spoke loudly to me and I ordered a journal right after listening. Would love to have another to share. For a couple of years I have been looking for the “right” journal to track my yoga journey. I just completed my 200 hour YTT, and have been writing in a free-form journal which was okay, but the format that Matt, Laura and Jess have created is exactly what I’ve been looking for. I was actually going to take on the project of designing something very much like this in the upcoming year, but I can shift to something else now because it’s already been done for me. Yay! This journal will help me stay on track daily and help with my morning routine, which is sporadic at times. I love the idea of keeping it by my bed so I can grab it first thing in the morning to help me slip into my day, my intentions and goals and then reflect at end of day as I wind down. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
I’m so happy it resonated with you! Hope your YTT was wonderful! I love that you like the format, I like free flow journaling as well, but often find that I forget to include certain points. Super excited to be able to get this journal to you 🙂 Let me know how it goes.
I really liked Matt’s use of the word ritual. It spoke to a deep part of me that wants to sit down on my mat and take care of myself. It evokes more than obligation like the word routine does, it evokes a much deeper sense of connection to self. Fantastic episode!
Thanks, Deanna. I love the word Ritual as well, it reminds me it’s a sacred practice for me.
Oh, I love this Deanna! Ritual is a powerful word and I love how you shared what it meant to you and how it compares to so many of the other words we often use.
Thank you so much for the episode. I’m pretty bad about starting a new habit, failing at a certain point and finding it very difficult to recommit. It usually relates to my personal practice- I’m a yoga teacher. I love the idea of the minimum and maximum time! It’s something that has started to creep in organically, but has been unstructured. It makes so much sense, since I feel really good if I even do a small amount of my goal activity! Thank you again for framing the concept in such a useful way!
I’m so happy you could relate! It is really difficult to recommit if you stop after a few days (that’s why I really like the “if then….. I will…..” statement). Yes even if I get just 30 seconds on the mat I feel the difference. It’s like it gives a chance for your body, mind, and soul to reconnect. Would love to know how your daily practice goes, and if you have any questions I’m one message away 🙂
It is great to hear that this podcast has inspired you to set a minimum and a maximum time for your yoga practice Anna. Keep me posted on how that goes. I am at day 59 of my daily yoga and loving how it is feeling every morning. It is still a maximum of 20 minutes, but I had started at 5 minutes!
I love how you gave the advice of giving yourself permission to have a minimum and maximum timeframe for a personal sadhana. I have a dedicated morning Ayurvedic and Yoga (not just asana) practice and I am happy with what I can accomplish each morning and I also have an evening ritual that feels doable for me each day and I look forward to this time with my Self. This podcast will be great for me to send to my students b/c they have shared time and time again how they feel like a 45-minute minimum is what they are aiming for, even though I’ve shared many times that that’s not always possible. I think hearing you AND Shannon on this podcast will really open up their awareness. Thank you.
I’m so happy that this podcast has been a useful tool for you to send to your students. Setting up a practice takes time and some days we might not be able to get in as much as we’d like. Sending you much gratitude for sharing the podcast and how you have set up your daily practices.
Thank you for sharing the podcast with your students Melissa! It has made such a difference in my habits to set that maximum. I am doing it with daily walks outside now. It isn’t easy. I want to walk longer, but I know that a daily habit is more powerful and I can build up the time once it is a habit.
Also, congratulations! You have won a Yogis Journal and I will be sending you an email soon with more information.
Hello Shannon,
I am just seeing this notification here. Thank you so much. Can’t wait.
Very helpful! I am going to try to remember the part about maximum practice time. I am still working towards having a daily practice and am trying to create a space for that. Great advice on making small changes over time to reach a goal. I am going to attempt to be in the mindset that maybe I could accomplish more, and more variety of tasks, if I think in 15 mind blocks instead of hour blocks. Thanks Shannon and Matt!
Hi Katy! How is it going with the daily practice? I find that once I get a good “streak” going – I am really motivated to keep going. Thanks for sharing your thoughts here!
Hi Shannon!
I missed yesterday actually. New years and was up late and all of that, but I was able to teach a few friends a short session during a New Years party. I will share my new page in your group!
So much love for this episode and I am so excited to take some of these tools into my own yoga practice… which has been lacking since my youngest was born.
The one that really resonated with me was the minimum and maximum time for your practice – giving myself permission to do a shorter practice. Thank you Matt and Shannon for your insight! Happy New Year!!
I hear you on balancing parenting and practice! You are such an inspiration. I see your IG posts and think — wow I was not anywhere near that organized when my babies were wee! How is it going with permission to do less of a practice?
It’s going well, surprisingly well! I have often been wrapped up in Yoga and Fitness because I have to, and wanting to lose the baby weight… so I have gone back to why I started my practice in the first place… because it felt good to move. This makes it so much easier to get to my mat then the idea that I need to work hard… if that makes sense… so excited to see what 2019 brings 🙂
I also love the minimum and maximum time. Especially lately I haven’t been able to get on my mat for as long as id like to in the mornings. It allows me to not put pressure on myself for not having practiced for as long as id like and treasure the moment I do spend there instead. Thank you for your kind words and Happy New Year to you as well!!
This is helpful… more than you know 🙂