In This Chapter

>- Making a schedule >- Sticking with it

>- Squeezing yoga into your busy day

>- Revitalizing with yoga throughout the day

Time, time, time ... never enough of it, and it just keeps on passing us by. During the course of our busy lives, it's easy to become overwhelmed by the demands on our time. Family, friends, work, school, home ... all require their share. The furnace needs to be repaired, the dishes are dirty, the kids need to be picked up from soccer practice or ballet or the baby-sitters. You can't neglect time with your spouse, you have to finish the inventory at work, the baby needs some serious cuddling . and has anyone walked the dog lately?

Or maybe you're a student. You have five papers due in the next month. Calculus has completely eluded you. Seven chemistry problems are due tomorrow, and you're also supposed to have finished War and Peace by last week. Your roommate won't turn down the music, the library is closed because of a flood, and it's just starting to thunder, so studying outside isn't an option. You hear a rumor that your history teacher is planning a pop quiz for tomorrow.

And we're suggesting you add some time for yoga?

Yep. And you'll be glad we suggested it, too. You do have time for yoga, even if it doesn't seem like you could possibly track down one spare second. All it takes is a little organization and some creative thinking.

Time to get organized! All great accomplishments start with some type of plan. An effective yoga practice has a plan involving two important aspects:

>- How often will you practice each week?

>- What will you do during the course of each practice?

The first question depends a lot on your schedule, your motivation, and your desire. Ideally, yoga should be practiced three to six times per week. If you take a class once a week, that counts as a practice. Then practice on your own using the routine you and your teacher have crafted for you. Or, if you are on your own, set up a specific schedule of yoga days. A regular schedule is the best way to reap yoga's benefits. Yes, even just once a week counts as a regular schedule (but you may soon find that once a week won't be enough, and you'll find more time, and more ...).

When planning your weekly yoga schedule, remember that even though yoga isn't harsh on your body, you should still give yourself at least one day every week to rest. Rest is crucial for yoga. The time spent in asanas (postures) is balanced by the time spent resting, and it is this rest time when the body heals and replenishes its resources. Or, rest every other day. Survey the following list of suggested yoga schedules, and choose one that fits your life, or modify one to suit you:

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: Yoga 20 minutes before work. Tuesday, Thursday, and the weekend: Rest. Monday through Friday: Yoga for 30 minutes right after work. Weekend: Rest.

Tuesday and Thursday: Yoga for 15 minutes first thing in the morning (energizing poses) and 15 minutes before bed (relaxing poses).

Weekend: Yoga for 30 minutes in the afternoon.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday: Rest.

Saturday and Sunday: Yoga for 60 minutes.

Monday through Friday: Rest.

Saturday: Yoga for 60 minutes.

Sunday through Friday: Rest.

Once you have a schedule, keep it in your head, write it down, post it on the refrigerator ... whatever it takes. Then follow your schedule! Remember tapas, the niyama about self-discipline? Here's a great chance to use it. You'll feel great about yourself if you faithfully stick to your yoga schedule.

Now what about the schedule for your routine itself? Your teacher can help you craft the perfect yoga practice for you, taking into consideration any special needs you have or problems you'd like yoga to address (bad knees, allergies, back pain, frazzled nerves). Or refer to Appendix A, "Yoga Sessions for the Time You Have," for various suggested routines after reading Chapter 12, "Crafting Your Personalized Yoga Practice," to more clearly define your own purpose.

Don't forget that every yoga practice should include the following:

>- A warm-up. It's important to get your muscles warm and activated before you start stretching them. Warm-ups help prevent injury and make a wonderful transition from daily life to yoga mode. A short walk in the fresh air makes a great warm-up, because it sends blood to all your muscles and gets those joints moving. (The quality of your walk is more important than the length; use the time to prepare your body and mind.) You can get a similar effect simply by massaging your legs, feet, arms, and hands. Work those muscles and joints to get them ready for action. If you're lucky enough to know a massage therapist, a professional massage before (or after!) yoga practice can be therapeutic. You might also try a warm shower or bath, or a heating pad on stiff areas, to warm your muscles before your workout.

>- A balanced set of poses. Postures that bend or twist to one side should be balanced with postures that bend or twist to the other side. Forward bends balance backbends. Right-side-up poses balance inverted poses. Poses that stretch and expand are balanced by poses that curl and contract. Energizing poses balance relaxing poses. You get the idea.

>- Every yoga workout should conclude with the final relaxation, or corpse posture. In this pose, mighty healing takes place . for your body and mind. Don't neglect this pose because you think you don't have time to just lie there. It's probably the most important of all the postures. (See Chapter 19, "Dead to

the World.")

>- Pranayama, or breathing exercises. Remember those breathing techniques from Chapter 7, "Can You Breathe?" After you practice your asanas, set aside a short time for the practice of a breathing technique or two. Replenish your body's prana, or life force!

>- Dhyana, or meditation. You might not be ready to include meditation in your workout. If that's the case, that's fine. Diligently practice your asanas and pranayama, and you may find that meditation soon becomes a more compelling prospect. Or, if you would like to try it but are short on time, you might consider meditating at a different time of day. Whenever you meditate (after your asanas and pranayama or during separate sessions), remember that meditation is part of yoga, too, and will have a direct benefit on your workout. (Your workout will have a direct benefit on your meditation efforts, as well.)

Wise Yogi Tells Us

If you're feeling depressed or even just a little blue, which should you do—meditation or postures? If you guessed postures, you're right! The action of the postures is designed to move impurities and negativity out of the body. Meditation, on the other hand, involves stillness and concentration. If you are filled with negative feelings, meditation could actually concentrate them and make you feel worse. Meditation is best practiced in a positive frame of mind.

Here's a rhyme to help you remember:

If you're down, move around. Feeling great? Meditate!

Sticking with It

To really get the most out of yoga, a commitment is in order. Although occasional yoga is better than no yoga, life changes and dramatic benefits will come more quickly and easily if you practice yoga regularly, whether that means a few times a week or a few times a day. Commitment-phobic, are you? Don't be! This is a relationship with yourself, so even though you might discover some surprises (what relationship doesn't have a few of those?), this commitment is well worth the effort you put into it.

A Yoga Minute

Whatever questions or issues seem personally relevant or important to you should be the subject of your journal entries. Keeping written track of your practice in this way will not only encourage you to practice regularly, but will also serve as a valuable and interesting record for the more advanced yogi you will be in the future. Someday it may be fun and enlightening to see how far you've come and what path you took.

Still, even for the most well-intentioned, cultivating a new habit can be difficult at first. If you're having trouble sticking to your yoga schedule, try the following strategies. One of them may be just the inspiration you need.

>- Let's make a deal. First yoga, then breakfast. No yoga, no food. Or first yoga, then a long, hot bubble bath. No yoga, no bath. Whatever deal you make with yourself, be firm. At first, breakfast, a bubble bath, or whatever your deal involves will seem like a reward, but before long, yoga will become its own reward and you won't need to make any more deals—unless they involve using your yoga practice as the reward! (If I clean the whole kitchen, then I get to practice yoga for 30 whole minutes!)

>- It's a family affair. Get your partner or kids involved! When you don't feel like practicing, someone else in the family probably will, and that can be enough of a motivation. (Who could deny a preschooler begging to "play" yoga?) Conversely, when your partner or kids are feeling less than motivated, you may be the one to encourage them. (See Chapter 25, "Yoga for the Whole Family.")

>- Associate yoga with another pleasurable activity, then always link them. To

use a previous example, every time you get up early to do yoga, you also get to relax with a cup of tea and watch the sunrise. Or whenever you do yoga, your family knows they can't bother you for an entire 30 minutes, or however long you can convince them to do without you. Maybe you can even work up to a whole, glorious hour! Yoga will mean peace, relaxation—time for you, and you alone.

>- Keep a yoga journal. Every day that you practice yoga, take a few moments in the morning or evening (or whenever you have time) to write down how long you practiced, what time of day it was, exactly what you did, and then, most

important, how you feel about it. Did you make progress today? Did you feel like you experienced a setback? How do you feel now? Are you still carrying the feeling of your practice, or is it gone? How is your stress level? Don't feel you have to address all or even any of these questions—they are just suggestions.

>- Put yoga on your to-do list. Put it right alongside all your other important daily duties, then check it off when you have finished. Subconsciously, you may not be giving yoga a high priority, and that's why it's so easy to forget or put off. Consciously placing yoga high on your list, equal to (if not higher than) such important tasks as getting the car fixed, turning in that report to your boss, or buying the groceries for your big dinner party, may be the motivation you need to accomplish your yoga practice every time it's scheduled.

Maybe another strategy will work better for you, but have a strategy! Commitments require a plan, but ideas without a plan rarely amount to anything. Take your yoga seriously, commit, exercise a little self-discipline, or simply allow yoga to be so fun and refreshing that you wouldn't possibly skip a workout! Soon you'll have no trouble making yoga a natural part of your life.

Yoga Bytes at Home, School, and Work

If you're an extremely busy person, as most of us seem to be these days, you may find it difficult to find time for yoga. Perhaps you think your day is so densely

packed with activity that yoga will never fit. Don't despair! The great thing about yoga is that you get big results even when you spend just a little time each day.

Three 10-minute (or even 5-minute or 3-minute) slots for postures, the first for warmups, the second for more strenuous postures, and the third for relaxation postures, are all you need to start practicing yoga, and you can spread them throughout the day if necessary. You may find that the increased energy you gain magically adds time to your day for even more practice!

You can even slip tiny little "yoga bytes" into your day to keep you focused and feeling great. Try squeezing in yoga during the following "free times" at home, school, and the office.

Yoga on the Home Front

Here are some yoga bytes to try at home:

>- Get up 10 minutes before the rest of the family to practice. Morning is a great time to practice the cat pose. Get down on your hands and knees, then arch your back up as high as you can while lowering your head. Imagine you are a cat stretching after a long nap. Then relax your back and bring your head up. Do this a few times, breathing with the movements. This exercise keeps your spine limber and gets you ready to pounce on the new day!

>- Practice right after your shower, before getting dressed. Try the lightning bolt pose to get your energy soaring. (See Chapter 13, "What Do You Stand For?")

>- Practice the mountain pose while waiting for the pasta to boil (see Chapter 13). Watch the bubbles slowly building and rising to the surface. What powerful forces are heat and energy! Reflect on how to choose to use the "bubbles" that inevitably build up inside you.

>- Practice while waiting for the laundry to dry. Stand behind a chair. Place your hands on the chair's back. Take a large step back. While continuing to hold onto the chair, straighten your arms out and bend forward. Now lift one leg straight out behind you. Balance. This pose strengthens the legs and stretches the spine.

>- Practice deep breathing while running your bath water. (See Chapter 7.)

>- Practice your regular yoga routine while the rest of the family is watching television. (Eventually they may decide what you are doing is more interesting and join you!)

>- Practice with the kids for a family-bonding yoga session. Kids usually love yoga, especially moving like different animals. Try the cat pose (described earlier in this list). Everyone purrrr like a cat! Then try the tree pose (see Chapter 13). Ask your kids what it's like to be a tree. Be a family of trees in different kinds of weather—a gentle breeze, a thrashing thunderstorm, a perfectly still day. Are

your trees sturdy and strong, or young and flexible? Does the wind barely stir them, lash them all around, or knock them right down?

>- Practice just before you go to sleep, but stick to relaxation postures such as the lotus pose (see Chapter 17, "Are You Sitting Down?"), the child's pose (see Chapter 18, "Take the Forward Path"), or shavasana, the corpse pose (see Chapter 19). Otherwise, you may be too energized for slumber.

School Days

Yoga bytes for the stressed-out student:

>- Are you nervous about a test you are taking? Breathe! Increase your exhalation so it's longer than your inhalation. Do this a few times. Come back to the test. This type of breathwork releases toxins from your body and centers your mind.

>- Feeling a lot of tension in your back? Sit up straight. Keep both knees and feet together and facing forward. Twist your upper body. Bring one arm around the back of your chair. Do not overtwist your neck. Look behind you. This movement improves circulation to the spine and brain. It also improves flexibility and eyesight.

>- As you walk across campus from class to class in the fresh air, take a moment to focus on your surroundings. Breathe the fresh air. Feel the sun on your face, the wind in your hair. Instead of worrying about the test you just took, the quiz you are about to take, or the paper due tomorrow, let all your worries go—just for a minute!—and live wholly in the moment.

Yoga Makes Work Less Work!

Here are a few yoga bytes you might like to try at the office if your situation permits:

>- Practice on your coffee break instead of drinking coffee. (Yoga is far more energizing, once you break that caffeine addiction!) Sit with your fingers wide apart on top of your knees. Inhale deeply. Open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue. Look up and exhale strongly. Repeat the process a few times (not in front of your boss!). This releases emotions, tensions in the face, and self-consciousness. It also helps to break a depression cycle.

>- Practice right before your lunch hour.

While sitting, as you take a long inhale, stretch one leg straight out in front of you and hold it up parallel to the floor. Pull your toes back toward your head. Hold for three counts. Lower your leg as you slowly exhale. Do each leg a few times. This improves your hip joints and strengthens your legs so your knees won't be as stiff when you stand.

>- At the end of a long work day, pause for a moment to get centered and refocus before you head home. Stand up and stretch your arms up over your head. Look up. Bend forward and touch the ground. Bend your knees if you need to. You have just connected the sun to the earth. After an accomplishment like that, you're ready to head home.

Yoga Renewal

Depending on what time of day you practice yoga, you can experience different kinds of renewal. We humans are deeply affected by the time of day. We all have a circadian (daily) rhythm, or physiological rhythms associated with the 24-hour clock. Have you noticed you have more energy in the morning, the late afternoon, or at night? Are you a "morning person" or a "night person"? Are you usually hungrier at a certain time of day, or sleepier, or happier, or more depressed? Probably, if you take the time to notice, you'll be able to determine how your feelings, emotions, and energies change throughout the day. So it only makes sense that morning yoga, afternoon yoga, and evening yoga will all be a little different. And remember, yoga is about rhythm and balance—of body, mind, and spirit. Our very lives move to the rhythm of our heartbeat and our breath.

Although each person's rhythms are different, people have a few similar tendencies. Keep these points in mind when deciding what time of day to practice yoga:

>- Early morning yoga tends to be slower. Do not rush into postures. Gently and steadily move through your workout.

>- Late-morning to midday yoga will probably be more intense. The body is awake now and ready to rock and roll (literally!). This is a perfect time for vinyasa, a way to practice yoga that involves a steady flow of yoga postures.

>- Afternoon yoga is centering. The body naturally takes a siesta in the mid-afternoon, so a more intense workout may help you get through this time.

If you end your workout with shavasana (the corpse pose), you'll be ready for the rest of your day.

>- Evening or late-night yoga is unwinding. Let the strain of a busy day float away. If your day was unusually stressful, an intense Hatha Yoga workout will help to release tensions before you go into a nice, long shavasana.

No matter when you practice, yoga will renew you. Yoga has many purposes—among them, to energize, heal, relax, realign, and inspire you. But all paths and purposes lead to renewal, or a new you, free from stress and preoccupation with the self.

The Least You Need to Know

>- Establish a plan that works for you—how often you will practice yoga and what you will do in each practice. It doesn't take much time!

When starting out, strategies such as getting the family involved or keeping a yoga journal can help you stick with your practice.

>- You can easily fit in short yoga practices throughout your day.

Yoga can help relieve tension at home, school, and work.

>- Your yoga workout will differ depending on when you practice.