Balancing work, life, family and self-care. How to make time for your Yoga practice
Life can be a whirlwind of responsibilities. Between the demands of family, work and personal commitments, finding time for self-care (like your beloved Yoga practice!) can feel impossible.
You know the benefits of a regular Yoga practice, but how do you manage to fit it into a busy schedule?
You know you should be doing some Yoga every day, but feeling like you don’t have enough time is one of the biggest challenges people come across, when trying to juggle everything. Adding ANOTHER thing to your to-do list (like Yoga), can feel completely overwhelming.
But fear not, it IS possible to carve out some time for your Yoga practice, no matter how jam-packed your schedule might be. In this blog, we’ll have a look at some practical ways that you can make time for your practice and by the end, you’ll discover that self-care is an achievable goal, not just an Instagram dream!
“I don’t have 60 minutes free every day to practice Yoga”
First things first, your Yoga practice doesn’t need to take up loads of time. I want you to truly believe this! We often think that 60 minutes practice once a week, is better than a regular 10-15 minute practice, but if fitting a 60 minute practice in leaves you feeling stressed out and overwhelmed, surely that isn’t “better”? You need to change your mindset to believe that 10 minutes, regularly, is as worthy of being called a practice as 60 minutes is. The length of time you practice is irrelevant, consistency is key here.
If it helps, try to find a block of time that allows you to practice regularly. This might mean getting up 15 minutes earlier, or making your lunches in advance so that you can spend 15 minutes during your lunchbreak on your mat. Make the most of the time that you have and do what you can, when you can.
Look at when works best for you and your body and set some achievable goals that aren’t going to leave you feeling stressed out.
Just doing 10 minutes of Yoga can help you stay motivated and gives you a real sense of achievement. it also gives you permission for more space to come up – maybe at some point 10 minutes turns into 20 minutes, or maybe you’ll feel like a 60 minute class once a week doesn’t feel quite so daunting anymore.
If Yoga can become part of your routine, rather than a chore, it really does take the pressure off and it’s likely that you’ll actually enjoy the practice much more!
“I don’t have the time to practice self-care”
Unless you’re lucky enough to be on a Yoga Retreat, it’s unlikely that your daily life fits around your Yoga practice. That’s because your self-care is usually low-priority, at the bottom of the pile, the last thing on your to-do list after you’ve done everything for everyone else.
It’s likely that after a busy day working/looking after other others/life/social commitments you’re completely physically & mentally drained and Yoga just won’t cut it. In your busy life, it’s crucial to identify what truly matters to you and sometimes, this means saying no to commitments that don’t align with your priorities.
You need to recognise that your self-care (including your Yoga practice) is a necessity, not a luxury. Making yourself a priority, allows you to show up as the best version of yourself at home and at work.
Thinking of Yoga in ‘looser’ terms, might help make your practice easier to fit into you schedule. A Yoga practice doesn’t just mean spending 60 minutes doing physical poses on a mat, it can be practiced:
Taking conscious, deep breaths (anywhere!)
Sat at your desk being aware of your posture (no fancy equipment/loads of space needed!)
Drinking a cup of coffee mindfully aware of all the tastes, smells, sights, sounds
Standing on one leg whilst you brush your teeth
Sometimes, life really does get too busy – you’re feeling poorly or achey, work gets crazy or a family member gets ill and this the perfect time to take your Yoga practice off the mat! Remember, Yoga doesn’t need to be perfect – just focus on the bits that bring you the most benefit.
Yoga = self-care, so if you’re not making yourself a priority and you’re making excuses about something you enjoy and is good for you, then you’re basically telling yourself that you don’t deserve to be healthy & happy.
“I don’t have time to get to a Yoga class”
Pre-pandemic days, if you wanted to do some Yoga the chances are you had to drive somewhere to join a class. But live, online classes are part of most people’s routines now and offer on-the-go and on-demand sessions. These sessions vary in length and can be super specific, depending on what you need – something energising, more relaxing or focused on a certain area of the body.
Joining a Yoga community, either online or in-person is a great way to keep you motivated and in a routine. You’ll meet other like-minded people, who are also going through the same challenges as you!
Pre-booking classes, signing up to a Yoga membership or a Yoga challenge can help hold you accountable and motivated so that you make it to a class, on a regular basis. To keep things interesting, you could try different classes, different styles of Yoga or maybe even working on different poses.
Changing your mindset from “I go to Yoga because it makes me more flexible” to “IF I practice Yoga, then I’ll be really flexible” is a really empowering state of mind to have and can help make Yoga feel like less of a chore. It makes Yoga a part of your lifestyle, rather than just something that you feel like you have to fit in.
“I make myself a priority”
Fitting Yoga into your schedule alongside family, work & life commitments is indeed possible. It takes time to form new habits & change your mindset, but small, consistent & positive changes are what help these habits stick and lead you to a healthy & happy life.
Self-care is a gift to yourself, to help you become the best version of yourself at home and at work. Make a self-care a priority, create a schedule that you can easily stick to and truly believe that small practices can have a huge positive impact on your wellbeing.
If you want to join an online Yoga community, take a look at my online classes & monthly memberships on my website www.eatsleepyoga.net