About 3 months ago, I added daily yoga to my routine to help clear my mind. I was surprised by how quickly I noticed an improvement! You can read about all the benefits I found by clicking here: Declutter your Mind with Yoga.
Practicing yoga has challenged and improved my mind and body so I’m thankful I found a way to successfully add it to my daily routine.
Below are 5 tips that I feel helped me to add yoga to my routine. I hope they help you too.
Set a goal for how often and how long you want to practice.
Think about your schedule and how you handle new routines before setting your goal. You also need to consider how much you know about yoga. Committing to a lot of time when you don’t know any poses wouldn’t make much sense. 2 days a week for at least 5 minutes may be a good starting place or perhaps 5 days a week for at least 30 minutes. Be realistic. I set my goal for 7 days a week for at least 15 minutes a day.
Find a way to track your progress.
I have other daily goals that I track in my planner, so it made the most sense for me to add a yoga section there. You may choose to keep a notebook or a calendar that you can check off near your mat or in an office area that you utilize daily. The important thing is that it is accessible and somewhere you won’t forget about it.
Find a time of day that works for you but be adaptable.
I started out practicing my 15 minutes of yoga in the evening right after I put my kids to sleep. After practicing daily for a few weeks, I started noticing that I was getting urges to practice at different times of the day. As much as possible, I sneak away for 15 lovely minutes whenever the urges strike.
Keep your mat visual.
When I first set my goal, I put my yoga right in the middle of my bedroom floor so I saw it as soon as I woke up and right before I went to bed. It was a visual reminder for me. After I developed a routine, I moved my yoga mat to a quiet corner in my office space.
Add variety
Join a class periodically so you can experience guided instruction. There are options in-person or virtual (live or recorded) so you can pick whatever works best for you.
I take an hour class at least once a week.
Through the classes:
- I have learned when to inhale and exhale.
- I have discovered how to flow from pose to pose.
- I have learned a variety of new poses.
All of this has helped me tremendously when I practice on my own.
If you are trying to add yoga to your routine, I hope you have found these tips helpful.
Integration tips like these are sWEsOMe! Thank you for this beautiful perspective!
This is what I teach in a 4-week, small group, transformational program called, Integrated Spiral. (IntegratedSpiral.com)
That sounds neat. Thanks for sharing the web address!
You are so clever! I schedule my yoga sessions on my electronic planner, AND I have a hard-copy exercise calendar that lives on my kitchen counter. Each day I do my work-out (including yoga!), I get a big smiley face on the exercise calendar! Silly, I know, but it makes me feel good! 🌞
I love that you give yourself a smiley face! I have a goal tracker where I check off the number of glasses of water I drink, record the amount of time I spend doing yoga, and color a smiley face when I write down my happiness highlight. It makes me feel good too.😀
Wow, what a great way to keep yourself on track! 🌞