How to fit yoga into a busy schedule
"I'm just so busy!"
When someone suggests you try yoga to unwind and de-stress, you might find yourself saying something like this. And when you're trying to juggle a family, your career and a whole host of other things, it's easy to feel too overwhelmed to consider adding yet another thing to your to-do list.
But this mentality is causing you more harm than good. We chat to W1LL founder Jacinta McDonell about why no matter how busy you are, you should always make time for yourself, and how you can fit yoga into your busy schedule.
1. Change your mentality
Taking time to practise yoga – ironically – will actually give you more time. Yoga is a practice that enables you to switch off from modern life and all its distractions and spend valuable time with the most important thing in your life: yourself.
"We get ourselves so wound up that we can forget to prioritise ourselves," says Jacinta. "We just have this in-built dialogue that says 'I can't sit still because I won't be doing A B or C', but that's actually counterintuitive."
"If I get too caught up in work and my yoga practice slips, it affects what I'm trying to achieve, which is being productive at work. Then I don't have clarity of thought, and I get stressed. It's actually a spiral effect."
2. Make yourself a priority
Yoga is a practice that yields results when it's practised regularly, so schedule in some time each week that you can devote to it. This could be in the evenings after the kids have gone to bed, in the mornings before work, or on Sundays when you feel more relaxed.
"It's the consistency of practice that yoga lends itself well to, which is where a studio practice on the weekend can be a really amazing start," Jacinta says. "There's not a right or a wrong way to start yoga, it's really just about starting and making it part of your weekly routine."
3. Start small
You don't need to spend an hour every single day practising to reap the benefits of yoga. If you don't have time to get to a yoga class, or you're travelling, do an online class at home or in your hotel room.
"When I have a really early start, I get up 20 minutes earlier, I roll out my mat in my pyjamas and just do a 22 minute practice," Jacinta says. "Roll out a bed, roll out a mat – you don't need training gear."
At W1LL, we understand that everyone leads busy lives, so we designed online classes of different lengths so that you can find something to fit in with your day – no matter how busy you are! Sign up to a free seven day trial to experience our online classes for yourself.
