A Vinyasa A Day

I have always struggled with practicing yoga at home or outside of a group setting. First it was a lack of knowledge and confidence, but now I’m facing other challenges to get and keep me on the mat. The biggest challenge many of us deal with for adding anything to our daily lives is of course time.

You only have time for the things that you make time for.

Since setting my goal of learning and building the strength to complete the Ashtanga Yoga practice, I have really struggled with making it to my mat or sticking with it until I have gone through each pose.

Then my knee started hurting from running a couple of weeks ago. It kept getting worse, and I knew it was time to start taking better care of myself. I knew that one of the best things I could do for myself was yoga.

This week I have done yoga the past 4 out of 5 days. (Whoohoo!) I did Ashtanga 2 times, but I have also been using Sun Salutations to warm and loosen me up before runs. When I do it before a run, my yoga sessions only last 15 minutes, sometimes less. But it has been enough to still feel the benefits and gain strength for the longer sessions.

Moral of the story: You don’t have to spend an hour a day on the mat to reap the benefits of a regular practice.

Sure, the more time you put into it the more you will get out of it. A longer session 2-3 times each week will easily continue to build your strength. Or, maybe only one long session if the majority of your time is already spoken for. Or more than once if you are working toward the more challenging moves.

A small amount of time dedicated on an almost-daily basis will definitely help you more than skipping days or weeks of sessions all together. Don’t for a second think that yoga requires an hour of your time each and every time you get on your mat!

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