My mom often uses the expression “the day just got away from me.” Although I don’t chase my day in hopes of catching it (it’s late in the evening and I’ve had a full day so my humor is a bit goofy right now), I do tend to use this expression. In fact, it’s often run through my mind these past two days where I’ve had a lot of unexpected things pop up and I now find myself with a few things hanging that I thought would be completed by now.

Have you ever (some of you may have days like this just about every day) had one of those days when all sorts of unexpected things pop up, preventing you from getting to the things you had planned? Although I sometimes find these days frustrating, often these days bring interesting, unexpected opportunities along with them (which has been the case for me these past few days). One unwelcome result of these types of days is that your yoga practice can get lost (or, if you’ve been raised by my mom, you’d say get away from you).

I talk with a lot of people that complain about this very thing. They lament the fact that they ran out of time and didn’t get to their yoga practice. Unfortunately, this can become a trend and you often find yourself going weeks in between a practice. Here are a few tips from little Ms. Practice Yoga Every Day or Bust (yes, that’s me):

• Every day commit to doing your yoga practice before you do anything else — yes, that goes for coffee drinking. Let’s face it — if you don’t get your yoga practice in before your day officially starts, you’re less likely to do it. I’m sure all of you non-morning people are moaning right now, but trust me — starting your day with yoga is THE best possible way to start your day. If you just can’t drag yourself out of bed early enough, still keep your commitment. Put your yoga practice at the top of your priority list and realize that you may have to give something else up in order to practice. Think about all of the other things that you make a priority. I bet some of those things don’t feel as good as your yoga makes you feel.
• Cut out time sucks — TV and email are the biggies. I keep my TV time to a minimum but I notice that when I do indulge in a bit of TV it can turn into a channel surfing time waste if I’m not careful. I give myself a limit and I stick with it. Frankly, there’s nothing on TV that’s better than what happens on my yoga mat. Take a good look at your TV time and ask yourself whether you’re watching out of habit or whether you truly enjoy what you’re watching (and that it’s adding something to your life). I rarely watch a TV program live. I DV-R everything so that I can cut out the commercials. That means less time in front of the TV and no wasting time watching advertisements for products that I neither need nor want. Email was my Achilles Heal for quite some time. I checked my email more times a day than was healthy, that’s for sure. It cut into my productivity and it wasted a heck of a lot of time. Now I only check my email 2-3 times per day. That way, I spend a certain chunk of time emptying my inbox rather than let it be a constant distraction. If you’re checking your email more often than a handful of times a day, turn off your email notifications and commit to only answering it a few times a day. You’ll be amazed at how much time you’ll add to your day if you do (plenty of time for, say, a yoga practice)!
• Pick the right location. For some folks, location gets in the way of their yoga practice. If your house is chaotic, then you might want to practice in a location outside of the house. If you go to a yoga studio but you feel like you have to drag yourself there, then perhaps you’d be better suited for a home practice. I’m a big fan of home practice. Now this is because I have the space and I have the type of environment that works for my practice. My nature is to practice on my own schedule, so I don’t need the impetus of leaving the house to stick with my practice. Figure out what you need and then let yourself have it. Once you do that, it’ll be easier to maintain your practice.
• Break up your practice. If time is a serious issue, then divide you practice up into smaller, more manageable chunks. Try practicing for 15-20 minutes in the morning and 15-20 minutes at night. If you have the time and the resources to practice in the middle of the day (lunch break), schedule in some time then.
• Ahimsa — be gentle and compassionate with yourself. Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a practice. If you start getting down on yourself every time you don’t practice, you’ll start a bad association. Not to mention the fact that it won’t feel too good. Everyone has his/her ebbs and flows when it comes to yoga. There might be periods when you practice every day and then times when you go weeks in between a practice. It happens. Life happens. Accept it and move on.

Years ago I took a yoga class in which the teacher said something like “Notice how you feel right now. You can feel this way every day — all you have to do is practice yoga. When there comes a time when you don’t feel like practicing, just remember this feeling right now. You can have it any time you want to.” For me, not practicing is “more painful” than getting myself to practice. What that teacher said stuck with me, I suppose, because whenever I find myself resisting my practice I remember how it makes me feel. And that’s why I’m Ms. Practice Yoga Every Day or Bust.

Namaste!