What can one hour do for you? Is 1 or 2 hours a week enough to get any benefits from yoga? What about once a month? Most of my classes are about an hour. There are 24 hours in each day, 168 in a week, so it seems like a small fraction of our lives right?
(Confession: I blush with embarrassment when I compare how many hours I practice yoga vs. watching TV, and I'm a teacher!)
I was discussing this with a lovely client I've been working with for many years. She says that her balance has improved tremendously, and that she really feels it in her body when she misses a session.
As I pondered our discussion, this is what I came up with, and what I believe can happen when you practice yoga, even for 1 hour:
* Awareness
Through mindful movement and breathing, we get in tune with our body, breathing, thoughts, and emotions. At times we discover imbalances, and other times we find our strengths.
* Repetition creates new habits
We repeat many poses and practice alignment and breathing in each class, and some of it becomes familiar, forming a new habit and way of moving. I've had students tell me they didn't realize they were holding their breath until they came to class.
* Take yoga into your life
With awareness, practice, and repetition, it can affect how we do things the rest of the day. Maybe we remember to breathe calmly when a stressful situation happens, or notice when our posture is collapsing.
* Empowerment
The real benefit of "practice" is learning to trust our own inner knowledge of how to be in our bodies, regardless of what anybody else is doing.
Whether you practice one hour a day, one hour a week, or once in a while, give some thought to whether yoga impacts your life.