By now, we all know that practicing yoga is good for us. And that it has a profound impact on the physical body as well as our mental faculties. I write this post as a yoga studio business owner as well as a yoga student. Many students ask me how often should they practice yoga? Early on, I used to say as often as you can. But we all lead busy lives and can be easily distracted. So here are my 5 things to know that will help you practice yoga more often.
No magic number…
Yes! There is no magic number to practice yoga. Some people practice yoga 7 days a week while others can barely make it to the mat once a week. Ancient yogis used to practice yoga every day. But we do not live our lives like these ancient yogis who dedicated to their lives to the practice of yoga. So work on getting consistent first.
Depends on your lifestyle…
Look at your weekly calendar. How busy are your days? What stage of life are you in? Can you manage to squeeze in one hour or two of yoga every week? Consistently? Being realistic is very important. Sometimes, we have unrealistic expectations of ourselves. For example, a new mom will find it harder to make time for classes. But often, it may not be lack of time that prevents us from getting to a yoga class. But sometimes an excess of it or just bad time management.
Mix it up…
Yoga is a multi-faceted practice. Though in modern times, it has become largely a physical yoga practice. There are other aspects of this ancient practice. While you need to consider where you live, the quality of yoga classes and yoga teachers available to you. Remember that we need to maintain a holistic, well-rounded yoga practice. This includes doing strength and stability work, flexibility work as well as breath work and restorative work. Just doing one component alone is often not enough. You may have a personal preference that you naturally tend to lean towards when you get on the yoga mat. But know that we need a balance of all aspects.
Learn the benefit of every yoga pose…
Ideally, this should come from the yoga class you go to. Where the yoga teacher can explain to you the benefits of every yoga pose. If your yoga studio cannot do this, then find a better yoga studio or look online. There are plenty of yoga blogs and yoga books out there that can help you understand the technique and benefits of a yoga practice. Knowing how the yoga practice benefits the many layers of your being will help deepen your connection to the practice of yoga. This will help make it easier to get to yoga class consistently.
Yoga is a lifestyle…
Ancient yogis used to practice yoga every day. But we do not live like ancient yogis lived. Traditionally, yoga was meant to be a lifestyle. Meaning it was an effortless part of your daily routine. Just as we brush our teeth, take a shower, make our tea, doing yoga was an inseparable part of one’s life. It is only in the modern day that we have to go to a yoga class to do yoga. Besides, there is much more to yoga than yoga postures. One carried the philosophy of yoga into everyday life and tried to practice it while going about one’s everyday routine.
So remind yourself to get to yoga class more often, you know it is good for you. 🙂
