3 Ways to Make Time for Yoga If You Are Super Busy

With today’s rat-race society, it’s incredibly easy to feel overwhelmed with all the tasks of the day. Trying to fit everything you have to do into your schedule is hard enough, and that doesn’t even take into account the things that you want to do. I get it. I get super overwhelmed too, but I know that I only have one life to live and so I have to take a step back from the rat-race and focus on what my priorities are.

1. Reflect on what your priorities are

If you feel like everything you do is necessary, then you need to re-prioritize your life. Spend some time really thinking about what is important to you. When you’re older, how do you want to look back and view your life? You probably don’t want to say that you were too busy doing a million tasks (that didn’t even matter in the grand scheme of things), and so you didn’t enjoy your time with _____. Take a few quiet moments and write out a list of things that are really very important to you. Personally, I like to journal about this occasionally because it really helps me work through what I consider important. When I say "important", I'm talking about the big things. The things or people that you would do anything to be able to spend time with. The things that give your life purpose. The reasons you get out of bed in the morning.

For me, my priorities (in no particular order) are family, caring for the environment, and my physical, spiritual, and mental health. I can’t enjoy time with family and friends if I am sick or anxious and stressed. I can’t act in eco-conscious ways if I’m that way either. Because of this, I make my physical, spiritual, and mental health a priority. With yoga, I can work on all three of those things at the same time.

Think about what’s important to you and start saying no to the stuff that isn’t. That “fluff” needs to go, and it will make room for more things that you enjoy. If yoga isn’t one of your priorities, then that’s fine too. No matter what, your life should consist mostly of things you enjoy. It shouldn't be full of things you do just because you feel like you have to. If you make your mental and physical health a priority, you can find time to do yoga. You can’t pour from an empty cup. Yoga is something that has given me so many health benefits, so I make time for it. If you want to experience those benefits too, then you need to make time for it also.

2. Schedule it into your day

Here’s some more tough love: we all have the same 24 hours in a day. If thousands of people can make time for yoga, you can too. How you choose to use those 24 hours is completely up to you. In order to feel the benefits of yoga, you only need to devote a minimum of 5-10 minutes at a time! You certainly do not need to be spending an hour a day doing it. If you could, that would be amazing, but I definitely don’t! It doesn’t need to be every day, although that would maximize the benefits.

In order to schedule it into your day, physically write it out in a planner or an app on your phone. I prefer planners that have each hour written out so that I can visualize where I have free time. If you work and you have a consistent schedule, put your work hours into your planner first (and include your commute in it too!). Block out any time you need to take care of your family or cook meals. Write in appointments. Once everything concrete is written down for the week, see where there are gaps in your day. Where is there an empty space that you can schedule yoga in? Maybe it's twice a week for 20 minutes, and that is fantastic! Write it down in your planner and make it just as important of a commitment as your work or other appointments.

Don't have empty gaps in your planner? To fit 10 minutes of yoga a day into your schedule, try waking up 10 minutes earlier in the morning and go to bed 10 minutes earlier every night. If you try to set your alarm 30 minutes earlier in the morning, it may seem too hard to get out of bed. Try to do just 10 minutes for a while and eventually you can work your way up to increasing the amount of time if you’d like to.

3. Set a time limit for being on your phone

Have you ever checked to see how much phone screen time you have on a daily basis? It's kind of scary. Most smartphones now have a setting that you can view this information. They even break it down and tell you how much time you use on specific apps! I try and look at this to see how much time of my day is wasted scrolling on social media. By seeing the amount of time, I can realize that that time is better spent doing something else. Even though it only feels like a few minutes at a time, it really adds up fast! Maybe you, like me, need to spend a little less time scrolling on social media, binge watching tv, or web browsing so that you can make space in your day for yoga. The average American spends 5.4 hours a day on their smartphone! Think about all the fun things you could be doing with 5.4 hours instead. This time could include yoga! With some phones, you can actually set it up so that you only spend a certain number of minutes on your phone, or on certain apps, a day. If your phone doesn't have that setting, you can use some of these top free apps: BreakFree, ScreenTime, OurPact, Moment. In addition to having more free time, you'll also reduce your stress and anxiety by reducing the amount of time you are staring at your phone and comparing yourself to others.

If your mental, physical, and spiritual health is a priority and you don’t make time for yoga, then you’ve just made excuses. I’ve made excuses too. I used to do that all the time and I still do it occasionally. You need to make a promise to yourself that you are going to do it and then commit to that promise. I do yoga first thing in the morning so that I can’t use excuses later in the day to not do it. If you are a very busy person, try scheduling yoga into your morning routine so that you cannot find reasons not to do it.