This is the time of year where many of us set goals for new habits, achievements or patterns we want to create in our life. 

To set an intent for something new you want to bring into your life, a positive behavior you want to adopt or a habit you want to break, our suggestion is this:  

Pick one specific thing you want to work on (i.e. a yoga or mediation practice, leaving work every day at a certain time, going for a walk every day) and commit to doing it every day for the next 40 days. 

Yogic science teaches that it takes 40 days to create or change a habit.  A 40-day commitment to change can provide the shift needed to develop a healthy habit or to drop a destructive habit.  In yogic terms a “Sadhana” is a daily personal practice.  It is something you do every day.  It is a practice of connecting to your intention in a focused and conscious way.  A good way to get into the Sadhana habit is to start with a 40-day practice.

40 days shows up in many different traditions as the length of time it takes to engrain a new pattern.  In the Christian tradition, Lent is 40 days.  Military boot camp is 42 days!  There are several approaches to a 40-day practice. 
You could go to a class, you could set your practice for the same time every day, or you could just say that sometime during each day you will do your Sadhana – that which you have committed to.  Doing your Sadhana over 40 days will magnify that intent & simultaneously remove the blocks that are standing in the way of it.

Of course you may miss a day, however if you do it can cause a slippery-slope effect in the mind.  If you miss one day, you'll be very likely to miss two and then more.  Part of the effect of completing the 40 days without missing a day is that it builds confidence.  It becomes a building block for other things you set your mind to do.

The 40-day practice creates the experience of discipline, of commitment to personal growth, and helps you make the changes that you desire in your life.  Pick something simple – and something you really want.  And start counting the days…