Like most adults I know, it’s been feeling harder and harder to find time for the things I want to do when work and family responsibilities are so good at interfering. How can I read more? Write more? Create more? Be outside more? Last week, when chatting with a friend, our conversation steered toward yoga & working out in the midst of parenthood and general life craziness: how to actually dedicate time to a regular yoga practice. And this got me thinking. Over the past decade(ish), I’ve learned some simple ways to make yoga a habit, and I’ll share here what’s worked for me.
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
1) Start Small: Be Present
The physical practice of yoga, or asana, is one aspect of yoga. There are others. To summarize a few of these, slowing down and paying attention to what’s happening around you is all part of the practice. This means that as you go through day-to-day moments, you try consciously to notice how certain things make you feel in your brain and in your body. Rather than escape the mundane, you’re present for it – you recognize and experience it for whatever it is.
This notion of ‘presence’ lends itself well to a physical yoga practice, too – i.e. being in your body, feeling what you feel, and moving through whatever shows up.
2) Hold onto a Beginner’s Mindset
If you’re newer to yoga, great! Pretend you’re three or four and in your very first gymnastics or dance class. Worry not about what something looks like, and instead, pay attention to the attempts, to the new-ness, to how it feels.
Overall? Enjoy yourself. Try different classes and teachers. Try weird-sounding (and looking) poses. Fall out of shapes. Lose your balance. All of this is, in fact, the practice of yoga. And the sooner you embrace the messiness of it all, the quicker something like yoga can become a habit.
Moreover: regardless of how long you’ve been practicing yoga, there’s always something new to learn as a practitioner. This could be related to the season of life you’re in, any big personal changes, injuries, practicing through pregnancy or resuming a practice postpartum, etc. The practice becomes learning what works for you and your body within that life season.
3) Worry Less about the Total Amount of Time: Just Get Something In
I used to practice in a heated yoga studio four to five (sometimes six) times each week. Classes were 75 to 90 minutes long. Clearly, I’d learned that I really enjoyed consistent yoga practices, and I made them part of my routine.
If I still held onto the expectation of practicing for that long and that many days per week in a studio outside of my home?? I’d never practice anymore. As I share in the little blurb of my YouTube channel, practices now happen most often in my living room whenever I have a few minutes. Or Bluey is on. Oftentimes there is no yoga mat.
It’s not been easy to leave behind sky-high expectations of what a practice should look like. But I’m a mom of one (almost two). I work full-time. There are a bagillion competing priorities. So if I can use whatever time I do have to move my body in ways that feel good, then I’ve accomplished a lot.
Here are some examples of under 20-minute practices when…eleven minutes is all the time I’ve got.
4) Building a Yoga Habit: Pick a Spot
To make yoga a habit, it is helpful to have a dedicated yoga “spot.” Or “spots.” Above, I note that I usually roll out my mat right behind our couch (see below). If Penelope (daughter) is home, this mat placement allows me to attend to her (M A N Y) four-year-old requests. If my partner is home and he, instead, can aid with requests, my second spot is in our home office with the door closed.
To enable consistency, it helps me not to have to think in the moment about where my mat will go (or if there’s no time for a mat, where I’ll stand/be).
5) Building a Yoga Habit: Pick a Time
It also really helps me if I know around when I’m going to practice during the day. For me, this is the mornings. My current schedule (working from home four out of five days each week) allows me to practice after P heads to daycare and before my work day officially begins. Again, I don’t have to think about it. I just know that if it’s a typical work-from-home day, that is my time to practice.
Will this shift again? Yep! When baby boy joins us in August, this will change, and I’m preparing myself for it. Some days, I know I’ll be too tired. Other days, I’ll need to fit something in while he’s sleeping. Or while we’re on a walk. Or when he wants to “play.” The schedule will ebb and flow, and I’m prepared to find a new time(s).
6) Yoga Shouldn’t Be Stressful
Lastly: making yoga a habit shouldn’t be stressful! You will miss days. You will have had a plan to practice, and it just doesn’t happen. Be kind to yourself – it’s okay. Try again the next day. And be sure to build in rest days of no physical practice.
Yoga Practices & Short Workouts for When You’re Low on Time
What do you think? If you’re trying to make yoga a habit, what’s working for you?
And what’s not? Comment below – let’s help each other out!
