Many people come to me and say they do not have the time to practice yoga even though they know the benefits of a regular and disciplined practice. Here is an inquiry I had from Sam who was struggling to practice yoga. I shared my thoughts with her and I hope the advice will help you too.
Hi Jaina,
I wanted to ask for your advice on something I have been struggling with.
Recently I have been incredibly busy in my job which has bought a huge amount of stress. Also because I have been so busy I’m struggling to make the time to practice yoga! This in turn is also stressing me out because I can’t make the time to practice and I can see myself getting more inflexible, tight, tense and increasingly tired!
How can I manage my job as well as practice yoga?
Your advise would be greatly appreciated.
Sam
Hi Sam,
Thanks for your inquiry.
Firstly if you are not able to get to your yoga practice its ok. Putting pressure on yourself to practice yoga will only distance you further from actually practicing. Be patient with yourself and when the time is right your yoga practice will be there for you. Also even though you may not be able to get onto a mat you can start to implement yoga into your everyday life.
Many people say yoga is a way of life, its not just about practicing for an hour, once a week or even once a day. Although many benefits are reaped through a daily disciplined practice.
So how do you implement yoga into your everyday life? If at any point you feel stressed take a pause or take a break and focus on your breath. If you are feeling stressed your breath may have quickened therefore take a few moment to focus on the breath to allow it to settle. Better still if you can practice a breathing technique such as trinity breath (as taught in my classes) you will feel a great sense of calmness come over you. This calmness will give you the strength to then go back and tackle the stressful situation in a more peaceful and productive way. This is just one example of implementing yoga into your life.
Also take a moment to view what is of value to you. If yoga provides you with something valuable then perhaps you can reassess your time to fit it into your schedule. Just ten minutes a day can be a good way to slowly integrate yoga into your life. Your level of concentration is also vital to your session. If you practice an hour of yoga whilst constantly thinking about all the tasks you need to do in the rest of your day, your practice will be pointless. Therefore ten minutes of concentrated practice can have far better results than a full hour of mindless practice.
Alternatively speak to your company and ask them if they will allow corporate yoga lessons in the office/workplace. A well needed yoga class in your lunch break has been known to improve employee production levels. If this isn’t suitable research into finding a local yoga class close to your workplace which you can drop into before work, lunch time or after work.
Sacrifice is also a key part to practicing yoga. In some way you will have to give up some time or wake up a little earlier/ go to bed a bit later in order to practice. When you are ready to make that sacrifice many doors and opportunities to practice yoga will open for you.
Lastly, if you take a moment to look into the points I have mentioned above and you throw an intention out into the world that you ARE going to practice yoga then it will sooner or later manifest!
I wish you all the best in your yoga practice and if I can assist you further please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards,
Jaina x
