LATEST YOGA

The hashtag #YogaEveryDamnDay has garnered plenty of attention since its emergence a few years ago. Scroll through Twitter and Instagram and you’ll see post after post of ambitious yogis twisting themselves into Garudasana in the kitchen, Pashcimottanasana on a park bench. But in between a career, social life, family time, side hustles, and drinking enough water, is yoga every day actually possible?

We’re here to tell you ‘yes’—we can absolutely do yoga every damn day! It may just require some creative thinking, but doing so will expand your practice in ways you never imagined.

Go beyond asana.

When yoga teacher Rachel Brathen started the #YogaEveryDamnDay hashtag, she wanted to remind people to look beyond an intense asana practice. Often we get caught up in believing yoga to be a 90-minute work-out, but what about the other seven limbs of yoga beyond asana? If 90-minutes a day of a physical practice seems like an unattainable commitment (or, in many cases, it’s hard on your body), then there is plenty of other ways to practice yoga. For example, we could work with yoga’s yamas or niyamas. Perhaps we practice satya, honesty, or santosha, contentment, as we spend time at work, and with partners and family.

Instead of a daily asana practice, we could also choose to do 20 minutes of pranayama, or a 30-minute meditation? Perhaps today is more of a yoga nidra day? Thinking outside of the “asana box” puts us in touch with the essence of our yoga, relieves a bit of pressure, and puts us more in tune with what our body, mind, and spirit needs. 

Shorten your asana practice.

Who says an asana practice has to be 90 minutes or even an hour? Often we push ourselves as we want to see change fast, and then we berate ourselves or feel disheartened when we can’t meet our own unrealistic goals.

A 15 to 30-minute asana practice, or sun salutations every day may work best for your schedule, and yes, it totally counts—just be mindful of wanting to squeeze an hour’s worth of postures into that shorter period. Verse 11.46 of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras can be a helpful reminder in this case: sthira-sukham asanam. It calls on us to approach our practice with ease, steadiness and a kind of “effortless effort.”

The added bonus of a shorter practice is that it inevitably leaves us wanting more. Perhaps next time you’ll extend your practice by 15 minutes, or be more inclined to return to the mat the next day. 

Pick one to three asanas.

Working with just a handful of asanas a week probably should be on every yogi’s to-do list. Instead of a long vinyasa flow every day, how about interspersing your yoga routine by picking a few asanas to work with a week and spending a shortened practice getting to know them intimately?

Explore which warm-ups work best support those postures, or how the breath can be used to deepen into a particular asana. Playing with asana on this level of intimacy allows us to better understand the subtle energies of the posture. Take note and record the developments to use as motivation for later. What does the posture feel like in the body? Is there a sensation of energy moving? Does emotion arise? How do you feel after holding the posture for five minutes?

Selecting which postures to focus on can be a fun experiment. If you have an interview coming up and need some manipura chakra courage, you could work with the warriors for the week before. Or need a week of self-care? Then pick your favorite nurturing postures. There are 84 basic postures in yoga so there is plenty to keep us busy!

Get creative. 

Time running short because you’re spending some much needed time with your awesome partner? How about some partner yoga? If you have to work late and are exhausted, could you pick a seated posture to rest in while zoning out to TV later? What kind of postures can you get away without looking like a crazy fool while you wait in line at the checkout?

Or, is this the time to practice ahimsa? Ask your boss if you can use a conference room at lunchtime to meditate and take colleagues with you. Or share breathwork and savasana with your kids before bedtime.

If we want to do yoga every day, it’s absolutely damn possible, we might simply need to get a little creative. And above all, remember we’re doing this because we love yoga—enjoy the ride!

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Helen Avery is a contributing writer for Wanderlust. She is also a journalist, writer, yoga teacher, minister, and full-time dog walker of Millie, residing in Brooklyn, New York. You can find out more about her on her website, Life as Love.

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