9 ways to fit your yoga practice into a really busy schedule
Do you find that you are always planning to do your yoga practice and instead find yourself constantly putting it off, skipping it or procrastinating to do it because other things keep coming up, and we convince ourselves that we don’t have the time? This post is for YOU!!
Your yoga practice is really important, and we need to maintain it to continue to receive the amazing benefits it provides, otherwise life can very easily take over and other things become a higher priority than our own self care. I am a famous procrastinator and completely understand how hard it can be to keep up a yoga practice - and if I can do it, YOU CAN DO IT TOO! I’ve made a list of 9 things that have helped me to maintain my yoga practice over the course of 11 years. Truth be told, it hasn’t been easy - but these have all worked for me!! Follow these tips and see which ones work for you:
1. You can do yogic breathing anywhere
This was a big AHA moment for me, and has certainly helped me in times where I was unable to practice yoga on my mat. Yogic breathing techniques (any conscious diaphragmatic breathing) will help you find your centre and help you to feel calm when you are stressed, nervous or anxious. I backpacked the world in my 20s, and encountered many times when I had no space to myself. I stayed in crowded hostels with no floor space in the shared bedrooms and no privacy in the shared living environment. Travelling by yourself can be nerve wracking and scary sometimes and when I felt those types of feelings comes up, I was desperate to practice yoga to remain calm and relaxed within all the strange situations I found myself in while exploring the unknown. I turned to my breathing practice in these instances. There were some nights spent sleeping on buses for a day, and my breathing practice came in especially powerful here (when I was unable to move my body, being bound to a seat!) My favourites are Ujjayi breath (the same one we use while practicing physical yoga) and Sama Vritti (same action breath) as no one around can tell what you’re doing. The breath also warmed me when I was stuck on air-conditioned buses for ages freezing my butt off! Deep breathing anywhere, anytime - yes this is still a yoga practice and has so many benefits!
2. You can shorten your practice - 10 minutes?
Do 10 sun salutations and have a short rest. We all have those days when we really, seriously do not have any time to practice yoga or do anything else for ourself. I’m willing to bet you do have 10 minutes SOMEWHERE though!?! Get on your mat and just do you sun salutations - 5 A and 5 B. Sun salutations are great because they connect your movement with your breath instantly, and you are moving and stretching your whole body. They are quick and really effective. This isn’t something you would want to do everyday, but it is something you can do when you don’t have time for a full practice. If you have 20 or 30 minutes, you can do a mini version of your whole practice, skip some postures and do the main postures that help to open and stabilise your body. This is a great recipe to follow if you’re unsure where to start: sun salutations, a couple standing postures, a balance, a lunge, a plank, a couple floor postures, bridge pose followed by a twist laying on the floor finished with happy baby. Try not to do anything too crazy though - no deep backbends or shoulder stand in a short practice (unless you are super comfortable in these postures, they aren’t needed and can cause injury if your body isn’t really warmed up) I have sun salutation tutorials in the “Resources Area” here on my website, and some shorter practice videos here and on YouTube to follow.
3. Look at your schedule for the week ahead on Sunday, and put your yoga practice in your calendar
Block these off as ‘unavailable’, especially if you have other people scheduling meetings for you on a shared calendar. Be honest with how much time you have to do your practice, and remember - it can be a short one if you actually don’t have time. If you place unrealistic expectations on yourself and know you are going to be busy you may very easily skip the practice in lieu of work/life demands (example: thinking you must do a 60-90 minute practice with all your usual postures or nothing at all…vs 10-20 minutes of movement, you build the latter up in your head less so it feels more do-able on those crazy busy days!!). If you’ve schedule your practices in beforehand, you won’t have to think too much about what your day is like and when the time comes, no excuses - go do your practice. On Monday - where works best in your day? Morning, lunch, evening? How long? And repeat this for each day of your week. Space out your practices evenly and try to only schedule as many as you will be able to stick to (2-4?), considering your work load around your practice and how tired/energetic you will feel, and also based around your meals and rest times/days (eat after yoga and remember that rest is also important)
4. Don’t be hard on yourself when you miss a practice, we all do!
When we miss a practice, we may have the feeling of ‘failure’, beat ourselves up over it, and then start practice infrequently or eventually quit practicing altogether. Lots of things may run through your mind if you find you are struggling to fit your yoga practice into your life (I just don’t have time….I wish I could do it like so-and-so, their life is more organised than mine, they have it easier….I’m too tired after work/family commitments, I’d rather watch my tv programme..….etc…) These thought patterns are distracting negative self-talk and if they are running through your mind constantly, ,then they will become your reality. Try reframing the way you think about your practice - giving yourself internal motivation/positive self talk can do wonders in changing our actions and habits (if I do my yoga practice I know I’ll feel great after, I’ll be more present and calm and focused.)… Yoga teaches us to observe, accept, and move forward, with the understanding that we can change and adapt over time, with enough patience and commitment. This applies to our way of thinking too! Yoga is not something that’s all-or-nothing, so we really have to be reminding ourselves of this fact when it comes to missing our practice. We are human, and we are able to decide our actions - don’t allow little ‘failures’ to completely bring you down!
5. A lot of time can be spent procrastinating or not really doing anything useful - can you use this time for your practice instead?
Scrolling social apps, watching tv, overthinking about what to do if x-y-z happens - can you utilise this time to instead practice yoga. It will be easier to do if you’ve pre-scheduled it (as mentioned before) and created the mindset that it is completely non-negotiable. I have spent countless hours thinking about doing yoga, telling myself I’ll ‘do it later’, looking at my phone, start doing some admin/life work that could be done later, or start watching Netflix….and then all of a sudden it’s too late and my practice doesn’t happen. Find those moments of time that could be better spent on YOU - making you feel better holistically!
6. Clearly remember the benefits of your practice
Think of how you feel after Savasana (rest). That feeling will motivate you to fit your practice in, especially when you feel yourself becoming scattered, stressed and anxious. Yoga will bring you back to balance and make you feel great again, but you just HAVE to do it!
7. If you have a family to take care of and feed/look after each evening batch tasks (especially meal prep)
Can you save yourself some time by preparing batched meals and freeze some for a few evenings a week? Use that extra time you would have been preparing meals on the ‘frozen dinner nights’ to do you yoga practice! It’s possible! Batching tasks/workload is actually a great tactic for reducing the feeling of ‘busy-ness’ outside of meal prep too - what else can you get done in one go, fo say a week, or even a month??! Any admin tasks that seem to take ages doing? Think of all the extra time you could save!
8. Observe your behaviour around your practice closely & find out what works best for you
The better you understand your tendencies towards certain tasks, the more you can think about alternative ways to fit them into your life that work best for YOU (not just applicable to yoga!) If you find that an evening practice always gets set aside for other busy work, can you practice in the morning instead so it’s ‘out of the way’? Can you get up an hour earlier to practice in the morning? Also pay attention to if you prefer going to a class for motivation, or practicing at home to save travel time (but still practice!!). Sometimes you will be motivated to make sure you go to yoga if you’ve prepaid and booked for your classes, or have a membership somewhere. I noticed when I first started out practicing yoga, I really needed the other practitioners around me and the teachers motivation to carry me through the class! Now it’s opposite - I prefer to practice at home because the last thing I need is another commute out of the house in busy, polluted London! You decide what works for you, and only you will know that - experiment! We also now have the option of attending so many classes online with all your favourite teachers, live or prerecorded! One good thing to come out of 2020!
9. You can practice mindfulness at any time of the day
Observe your posture as you stand, sit, walk, ride your bike, do household chores, the list is endless! Even washing your hands can be a practice in mindfulness and trying to stay present - notice what the water and soap feel like as opposed to thinking about your to-do list or literally anything else aside from washing your hands! Pay close attention to the tasks you are doing when you are doing them, no matter how simple or complex they may be. Mindfulness in small tasks builds up over time to making you more mindful of your thoughts and actions towards yourself and others (and THAT is yoga in action!)