In a perfect world we’d all have two hours every morning to unroll our yoga mats and do our asana practice (followed by another half hour of seated meditation). In the real world, however, we have jobs, families, pets, school, and other obligations that make two hours a day seem like an impossible dream for many of us.
I don’t know about you, but my life is pretty busy–and it’s about to get a lot busier in the coming weeks. That means I have to make the most of every precious moment I have on my mat. Here are a few ways I try to get more out of every pose on those occasions when I only have a few minutes to squeeze in an asana practice.
1. Hold it. I’m a vinyasa kind of girl, so when my teachers tell me to hold a pose, I often think obscenities and glare at them when they turn their backs to me. I may not like it, but I know it’s good for me. So when I only have a few minutes to squeeze in a quick practice, I hold standing poses. When you hold a pose for long enough for it to feel a bit uncomfortable, you’re building muscle strength. But you’re also building strength of mind by showing yourself that you’re stronger than you think you are, which can be an invaluable gift! Resist the urge to pull at your top, brush the hair out of your face, or take sip of water–fidgeting takes your body and mind out of the pose.
2. Breathe into the area of sensation. Breathing is a huge part of every yoga asana. With every inhale imagine that you’re creating spaciousness in your body, and go just a little deeper with every exhale.
3. Pay attention. When you let your mind wander during a yoga pose, you’re putting yourself at risk for injuries. You also start to lose the quality of the pose and compromise its ability to work deeply in your body.
4. Relax. Scan your body. Are you holding tension anywhere in your body that’s not necessary? Your jaw? Your eyes? Your tongue? Your shoulders? Try to relax anything that doesn’t have to be tense in order to support you.
5. Change it up. If you practice how you’ve always practiced, you’ll get the same results you’ve always gotten. That’s not always a bad thing… But if you want to see real transformation happen, making little adjustments to the way you practice will make a huge difference. Little changes like lengthening your tailbone toward the floor, lifting your chest toward the sky, or firming your leg muscles and lifting your kneecaps can work a whole new set of muscles and help you get closer to a more challenging variation. Ask for your teachers help if you’re not sure what little adjustment you should work on.
Erica Rodefer is a writer and yoga enthusiast in Charleston, SC. Visit her blog, Spoiledyogi.com, follow her on Twitter, or like her on Facebook.
Erica Rodefer
I love this because it speaks the truth! But one question…what exactly does that mean to “lift your kneecaps”?
Laura,
I think it just means to firm your thighs! I think they say “lift the kneecaps” in the Iyengar tradition–can someone clarify this?
Erica
Hi Laura! It’s something that you will hear again and again in Bikram yoga. To lift your kneecaps or lock your knee is the same thing. Basically, when you are standing, gently straighten your legs all the way, then try to flex your Quads-bloop!-your kneecap looks like it lifts up. Try this in front of a mirror with shorts on. This can REALLY help to stabilize your standing poses and build strong muscles around your knee. But be careful! While it may be uncomfortable at first, it should not be painful!! You don’t want to force it into hyper-extension.
True! With all the thousands of things we have to do every day (including tying shoe-laces :-P ) there is less and less time for Yoga practice in the morning!
But then your question is right: how to make the most out of the little time for Yoga? And is it really necessary to “make the most” out of it, aren’t we already trying to do this with just everything in our lives?
Personally I don’t like deep breathing, I go for the opposite. It helps me “slow down time” and arrive in the present moment so much faster.
Namaste!
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Hey,
Nice post and thanks for the tips!
I love these tips and will start putting them to practice today. It´s important to me to get the very most out of every second of my yoga practice. My life is indeed busy; and only getting more and more AND more busy everyday. Which is why I try, on a weekly basis, to (re)prioritize my to-do items. It´s interesting to see how easily we can stress and waste valuable time not accomplishing our goals. Reprioritizing regularly is a good way to get the most of everything you want to do.
The problem comes when people try to match that goal up with finding
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