One of the most common struggles that we all have is trying to find the time to fit our daily yoga practice in! I can relate with you on this one 100%.
So I thought I would share some of my ways in which I make the time to take care of myself on a daily basis.
1. Start small
Start making small snippets of home practice time during your week.
Once this becomes normal and manageable you can slowly begin to add more time on your mat as weeks go by. Remember it takes 21 days to create a habit, so take your time and let the practice work its way into your daily routine.
2. Five Minutes is Enough
It is easy to fall into the way of thinking that unless you can dedicate 60 minutes to your practice you don’t have time. Shifting your perspective to knowing that 5 minutes is enough has changed everything about my practice! Anything you can do beyond 5 minutes is great, but starting with this smaller manageable chunk makes everything else just an added benefit!
3. Make the plan to practice the night ahead
Lay everything out that you might need – your mat, props, clothes, incense etc.
So that when you wake up or the moment arrives in your day when you have time you simply roll the mat out and begin 🙂 I used to do this when I was training for marathons and races too! Equally remember number 2 – be ok with the fact that the plan may have been 10/20/30/60 minutes of moving and actually it turns out to be 2 minutes of breathing (see point 5).
4. Your practice, your rules
Have no expectations, and make no judgments over what unfolds on your yoga mat. Keep an open mind. The amount of times I have rolled out my mat to start a vigorous power yoga class and found myself sitting in a yin yoga pose for 5 minutes instead and recognizing THAT was what I needed are huge. That is Yoga. Building awareness of what do I need right now.
5. Just sitting and breathing IS also yoga
Keeping the above in mind.
Yoga can be breathing, yoga can be meditation, yoga can be a walk with your dog, yoga can be watching a beautiful sunset, yoga can be 10 sun salutations and a 90 minute Power Vinyasa Flow. Let yourself tune inward and just be aware of what you need, moment to moment.
6. Get creative with the how and when
Maybe you are practising tree pose while you wash up, or Goddess Pose while you brush your teeth. My favourite is closing my eyes for a moment and just breathing while my daughter decides which toys we are going to play with in her “I can’t do anything unless mummy is attached to me” phase.
7. Want To Practise
Keep your mindset one of wanting to come to the practice, rather than guilt about how little time you can dedicate to your practice. It will feel like an obligation with any other mindset rather than a journey of self exploration.
8. It is ok to not practice everyday.
As a yoga teacher this was a big one for me…. cutting myself some ease when I didn’t make it to my mat everyday!