Many people use the excuse of not having enough time as a reason to not practice yoga. In fact, this is a common excuse to not do many of the things that make us feel happy and healthy. Things like taking a walk around the neighborhood with our kids, preparing a fresh home-cooked meal, cleaning out the clutter in the garage or closet or booking that well-deserved winter vacation get sloughed aside. If we continue telling ourselves the “no time” story, we begin to believe it with resolution and we continue a pattern of deprivation. That’s no fun.
Time slows (sometimes agonizingly) down in a yoga class. You know, when you’re right there in the heart of a posture, you think your quads are going to spontaneously combust and you want to hog tie your teacher and feed her bad kombucha (not that any of us have ever had these thoughts), she tells you to sink a little deeper and breath three more breaths. Every muscle screams in outrage and your mind scrambles for a way to cheat, but you don’t. Instead, you succumb to this wise woman’s time-proven guidance, shift your awareness to your breath and trust your body’s inherent strength. You breathe those three breaths as if they were your last and time moves like slow-dripping raw honey. Finally, when savasana is over and you glide blissfully out of the room shimmering in the sweat of your own efforts, you feel as if you’ve been on a luxurious journey. You feel renewed and satisfied, ready for whatever may come next.
An inverse phenomenon occurs when we actually take the time to do vitality-inducing things. Activities like yoga, mindful walking and healthy cooking calm us down, our breathing slows and our attention becomes more focused. Surprisingly, it can feel like we have more time because we’re appreciating the present moment.
This is the intention of living a mindful life. Yoga trains us for this every time we step onto our mats.
The world moves quickly. Do yoga. Have more time.