How
Often Should One Practice Yoga, My teacher's mantra is "More yoga!" I know that many of you
are so busy that more yoga is probably the last thing on your mind. We
all have so much to do and so much ahead of us that stopping, or even
slowing down, seems out of the picture. We chase after an
elusive to-do list that is growing longer all the time. Caught up in the
race, our attention focused ahead, we neglect to question whether the
race we are running, or the way we are running it, is worth the cost
of entry. Lilly Tomlin quipped that even if you win the rat race, you
are still a rat! The first line of the contemplation that I shared last week in class
was (quoting from my teacher Rama Berch’s book Yoga: Seeds of the
Soul): "Your job in life is to find and know your essence of
Greatness, and then to pour it into your life..." Yoga helps us remember that we are much more than a frantic rat. Yoga
reminds us of our real job and highest priority. When we get caught up
spinning on the treadmill, forging ahead but disconnected with our
essence, what are we pouring into our lives? What are we
accomplishing? More important, what are we losing, and what do those
we love lose as a result? How can we truly love when we are in a
spin? So to answer the original question, how often should we practice yoga,
I suggest practicing whenever possible. I know what some of you are thinking: "Oh sure! That is easier said
than done!" Honestly, I am thinking that, too! I know how difficult
it can be to put aside the tasks at hand. I also appreciate that
most of those many things you are doing are much more important than what
a rat does on a treadmill. You have jobs, families, homes, and so forth to
care for. These are certainly important, and they do require time.
There are only 24 hours in a day, and we have to sleep some! But remember that when you stop to practice yoga, you do not have to
practice a full hour and a half every time, as in a typical yoga class.
Even a few minutes will do! A
few minutes of practice is better than nothing, and every time you
practice, you are enriched. This past week or so has been March Madness,
when the college basketball teams (men’s and women’s) vie for the national
championship. This sport, as with just about every other sport I know of,
has breaks built into it (after each quarter, for example). In addition,
time outs can be called: whenever a team’s play starts to fall apart or
the momentum is lost, the team can call time out to regroup. The time out
only consists of a few seconds, a minute or so at most, but it can make
the difference between victory and defeat. In the same way, I recommend that you plan for regular breaks in your
day, and whenever you start spinning out of control, call time out! Just
do a few yoga postures, perhaps some Ujjayi breathing, and you will get a
handle on things again. Do not let the March Madness get to you, nor any
month’s madness!
and When Is the Best Time to
Practice?
© By Philip L. Milgrom, RYT, CYT
