Practice is not defined by time

For years I had tried to create space for a daily yoga practice in my life.  I marked out hours on my schedule, kept a mat on the floor, talked myself into poses, and sometimes even managed to practice several days running. Still even those on some level fell short. It wasn’t until I had worked a fourteen hour day and was berating myself for not immediately moving to my mat that I finally understood that my thought patterns were holding me back. At some point I had conditioned myself to believe that a daily practice was only if an hour or more had passed. 

 

That night my perspective on what a daily practice was shifted drastically and I took in with a little more than a breath that practice is not defined by time; practice simply means practice.  Through that shift in my mindset finding space in my life to practice came easy and at some point, although I always move to my mat with a particular intention, fitting it in is now merely a habit.  

 

In hindsight it seems so simple. Yet it took me years to find my way to that understanding. More than ten have passed since that moment, and I am grateful each day as I take time to find my breath and connect to my deeper self.