How Often Should You Practice?

Starting in my early teens, I began running as a path to losing weight and burning off excess energy. I started out running shorter distances, one or two miles, but I quickly became devoted to the feeling that came after I had crossed the three mile threshold: pain eased and breathing became a song in my head, the percussive slap of my shoes, the dance of sun or moon light on the pavement. I loved the zone, the quiet, deeply focused mind that the fourth mile helped me find and maintain. I loved it so much that I increased the numbers of days I was running until that long run became my daily process for burning off excess physical energy and destressing my noisy mind. I would sometimes try to take a day off, but I never could make it to bed unless I had found some time in the zone.

After running through three pregnancies, I had to face that spending six months of every year in physical therapy, taking pain medication to sleep, being unable to bend over to put on my own running shoes or pick up a toy without considering calling 911 as a tried to stand up again, all of it was unsustainable. But I so missed those hours in the zone that being unable to run had cost me, and I craved the peace the zone instilled. I needed something to help me calm my mind and work my body…Hello Bikram Yoga!

I took my first hot yoga class and I was hooked. I began by practicing a few days each week and stopped taking pain meds to sleep. I upped my practice to 4 days a week and said good-bye to back pain and chiropractors and physical therapists. I could put my on my own shoes, touch my toes, pick up a toy, ALL without back pain. The bonus? I could use the yoga to quiet my noisy mind, to find that quiet zone where my awareness and focus fell deeply inward and expanded outward in ways that made me feel grounded in my world and body. I had found a way to get into the zone without the punishment running inflicted. Insert happy dance!

For two years I practiced hot yoga for 90 minutes daily. A 60 day challenge stretched into nearly two years as I learned ways of carving out time for myself and my practice, and saw that I was a better parent and happier human as a result. But while I loved all of the benefits of frequent yoga, of feeling healthy and destressed, I started to develop some compulsion around practicing. I decided that I wanted to be able to take a day off without guilt, so I started practicing six, or even five times a week. My focus shifted to including my non-yoga life as part of my practice. I came to feel that the lessons of the yoga room applied everywhere in my life and led me to the conclusion that for me, all activities were yoga: I was always noticing my breath, settling my mind, grounding my body, searching for more self-awareness, striving to live more mindfully.

For my physical and mental health, I prefer to practice 4-6 times a week. I find my back starts to hurt if I practice fewer than 4 times, and my desire to live fully on and off the yoga mat is satisfied at a max of 6 times per week.

How often should you practice? That depends on your body, your stress levels, and your goals. If you are looking to ease physical and mental tension, a consistent practice of several times a week is going to help your mind remember how to quiet, how to quickly arrive in a more peaceful and grounded space…getting into the zone happens with more naturalness and ease. The body will remember its paths to ease and support as well. A consistent practice of a few times a week will prevent your body from quickly returning to unhealthful patterns and tightening in ways natural to it. You will maintain your mobility more fully and easily. If you rely on your practice to help stave off progressive illness or pain, a practice of at least 4 times a week is going to help you see the most and best results. If you travel frequently, or find you can not practice for a period of time, having a more regular practice will help your body remain fit and flexible during those times where you can’t get to your mat. If once a week is the most you can manage without stressing about your other obligations, commit to getting on your mat once a week and see how it goes. If you start to crave this time for yourself, if your body and mind indicate (as mine did) that they like this yoga thing and want more, try to carve out another hour or two and practice more.

How often should you practice? Yoga was designed to be a daily activity, like brushing your teeth or getting some sleep. Yoga clears the dust and grime that accumulates in our joints, it rebalances the muscles that fall into uneven effort, it restores lungs, heart, and other organs that struggle with the stress loads life piles on them, and it reminds us of who truly are by bringing clarity and peace to the mind, creating space for us to be find self-awareness, self-respect, self-love. Yoga can help you maintain mobility, lung capacity, a powerful immune system, and the focus of a concentrated mind. Stress happens hourly, every day. Yoga, practiced mindfully, helps us to empty the stress backpack and roll out the physical tension carrying it around all day has produced. If you can, practice daily to clear and restore your systems. If that goal produces stress, change the frequency of your practice but be consistent, create a rhythm you can maintain in order to get the most out of your time on the mat.