Making Time For Yoga

As a yoga teacher, when I start to move into the space of teaching I always take a moment and honor the students for making time for their practice, either verbally or silently.  I know it’s not always easy to get to class!  Sometimes we allow our busy lives – with the commitments we make and the responsibilities we take on – keep us from our yoga.  We also tend to put the needs of others ahead of our own and so we don’t practice as often as we would like to, and may feel guilty or selfish when we do.

So how do yogis make time for their practice?

It seems that I’m often lamenting to myself (or others) that I wish I had more time in my day.  Because I’ve noticed this I’ve started to pay more attention to this idea of “time” and more importantly how I spend the time that I do have.  Ever ask yourself what time is, really?  I think it’s largely a construct that we’ve created to help us make sense of our experience.  And it’s a label that makes it easier to for us to communicate with others.  We measure time by light and dark, by the biorhythms of our bodies, and by the movement of the earth around it’s axis and around the sun.  But beyond all of those things, I am starting to ask myself how I experience time.  Stopping at any given moment in my day and giving attention to how I am spending my time.  I think it’s interesting that we use the term “spending” to describe what we do with our time. The word spending implies that we are giving something in exchange for something else…

So what am I getting for my time?

What are you getting for yours?

We all know the experience of time flying by, or alternatively creeping by, and for the most part understand that it’s not time that has sped up or slowed down, but it’s experience of the moment.  I suspect that we all have the ability to slow time down by simply becoming more present, and giving our experience our full attention.  Yoga creates an opportunity for us to slow down and move with precision and care, becoming aware of every breath we take and every sensation we experience as our bodies move through space.

Yoga doesn’t take our time away it gives us time to move and breathe, to nurture not only our bodies but our hearts, minds and souls.  The time we spend on the mat leaves us with a clear mind and a calm spirit, and an opportunity to take that with us and share it with the world.

Namaste,

Kat