How to make time for yoga?

Being a solopreneur, I end up working with (and for) myself most of the time towards growing my two businesses. While I do have a good amount of class interaction with my clients, it is almost always in the professional space. As a result, I find myself looking for other resources online to help me make the most of my little ventures. In the past couple of months, I have been investing a lot of my time on developing my own leadership skills, building clarity in my vision, getting more productive, and working on the intention behind the things I pursue. As a yoga instructor, and full-time yoga ambassador, I’ve began exploring more ways to ensure I make time for my own personal practice – or whatever it is that keeps me feeling joyful and healthy!

Until recently, I thought that I needed ‘more’ time. This is something I am sure many of you feel or have heard as well – that there is just not enough time. While we may live in the most progressive times where scheduling and time management has never been easier, we seem to still fall short. No fancy app, gadget, or watch seems to give us more time. But here’s the thing, we don’t experience a lack of time – we actually have enough time, all the time we’ll ever need! We just have gotten so used to mindlessly using ‘that’ phrase that we no longer put any thought behind it. If we could just think differently, putting ourselves in a position of control over our own lives, as opposed to lack of it, we will begin to see changes in our own choices. Suddenly, time will no longer be a limitation.

So, here 5 ways to help make time for doing yoga (or pretty much anything) on your own.

1. Schedule it – We have a calendar for everything else – meetings, kids activities, salon appointments, doctor visits etc. Why not block off an hour or two for yoga or any kind of exercise? Or even a simple walk, read a book, meditate, etc. Research shows that this will only make you more productive in everything else. If its on the calendar, it has to get done.
2. Hold yourself accountable – I have been guilty of not doing this for the longest time. Only recently I have begun to hold myself accountable for a lot of things I put down on the calendar, and to be honest it’s still work in progress. But with my efforts, I am getting better with each passing day. The only way you can be successful at something is if you make yourself accountable. Once its on the calendar, its has to get done with no excuses. Set a high standard for yourself. It is easier than you can imagine.
3. Find a yoga buddy – I recruited a buddy this past month and started attending a 6:30am class once a week. While it is challenging to wake up early because I work till 10pm every night at the studio, I go because I know my workout buddy has woken up and is waiting for me in class. This motivates both of us to keep going each week and as the weeks go by it seems to becoming easier to do so.
4. Break it down- For example, don’t look at the whole month of classes, focus on one day or week at a time. This won’t make things appear too demanding or pressing and there is a higher sense of achievement with smaller goals.
5. Remember the experience – When you enjoy something, try to remember the experience of it. Whether is it sipping a cup of tea, how you felt after a yoga class, the smell of fresh air after sunrise…just about anything that matters to you. Just try to hold onto to that feeling and make it a distinct memory. When you feel like skipping that scheduled appointment, this will be a powerful reminder to re-affirm your belief and sticking to it.

And remember you will never get more of what you need, until you give away what you have. So what are you willing to do to make things happen?