Practice makes perfect? Not in yoga

My name is Daniela, and I'm a perfectionist.

If there were a Perfectionists Anonymous group, I would surely sign up.

Unfortunately, being a perfectionist doesn't make you perfect. And although perfectionism can help by pushing us to set high goals that make us better, it also can be harmful for some folks. Like me.

For example, I have struggled with the practicing part of my yoga practice. It's a challenge for me to remain consistent. I either get derailed by some shiny new activity (Ooh, CrossFit! Kickball! Salsa dancing!) or I'm frustrated when I'm getting ready to go to class because I don't have the energy or the focus I think I should.

In 1996, Penn State psychologist Robert B. Slaney created the "Almost Perfect" scale. It measured how people view relationships, anxiety, procrastination and standards and order. Everyone had high ratings in relationships and standards and order, but the maladaptive perfectionists also measured high for anxiety and procrastination.

I'm no stranger to the darker side of perfectionism. In school, I procrastinated on projects because I would fret so much about my grade. (Who pulls their first all-nighter in seventh grade? Yeah, this girl.) My perfectionism has cost me untold hours in worry and anxiety.

Yoga helps me cope with much of that fretting - until I stop practicing. Then all of the anxiety creeps back and makes me want to crawl in bed instead of working it out on my mat.

But I'm not the only one who struggles with this all-or-nothing mantra in my yoga practice and exercise routine.

"It makes it hard for people to stay motivated - they have to be perfect in their diet plan and/or exercise plan," behavioral psychologist Dean Anderson says. "When they inevitably aren't, they start getting down on themselves. They figure they're never going to do it," says Anderson, who writes for the weight-loss website SparkPeople.com under the pen name Coach Dean.

This kind of attitude can send you running from the studio and into the arms of your couch and a bag of potato chips. Yes, we've all been there.

When you don't perform, it's easy to get negative and judgmental about yourself, Anderson says. And that creates all kinds of problems in your relationships.

But hope isn't to be lost; there are a lot of "recovering perfectionists" out there.

I'm one of them.

If I'm not careful, those judgments can spiral out of control, taking my perspective down with them. A missed day of yoga or skipped workout quickly morphs into something reminiscent of Bridget Jones: "Is it really possible to gain five pounds overnight?"

Lately, I have learned to let the problem remain what it is and nothing more. Eating a cookie or skipping class is simply that - not an excuse to send myself over the edge.

That's what I have always loved about yoga. Sure, I geek out when I do something I couldn't before, like my first on-the-wall handstand a few weeks ago. But the emphasis for me has always been on the journey of the practice and the progress I have made to become a happier, more whole person.

Once you're able to do something new (like a handstand), there's always a slightly more complicated pose to work on (a one-handed handstand). And with more than 1,000 poses in yoga's repertoire, you won't ever be able to master them all. And that's OK. Because each time you practice, you gain a little more wisdom about yourself and the world.

"It's about the process of changing, not about each individual event," Anderson says. "The perfectionist is going to focus on the outcome, and if you don't get a perfect outcome your motivation will collapse.

"So all you have to focus on is improving your diet a little every day, or keep making progress; you don't need to be perfect."