Cardio Burns Calories, Yoga Creates Time

Most of us hold the illusion that there is not enough time, and the recommendation to get 30 minutes of exercise five times a week just adds to our pressure. Yet I’m troubled when someone says they don’t want to add a yoga class to their week because it won’t burn enough calories to be counted as exercise.

I understand this perspective all too well. For years I would only attend a yoga class that could burn significant calories and increase my heart rate, just like if I had been to the gym. Even now I sometimes slip into this mentality, like last month when I missed my cardio workout and tried to replace it with a very vigorous heated yoga class – so vigorous and so hot that I left class with a blister on my palm.

For the most part, today I view my yoga time as entirely separate from my workout time. It’s an addition to my body movement for the week; it’s time for my nervous system to receive a well-deserved pause. And when I give myself that pause, it’s amazing how much MORE time seems to appear in my schedule because I'm able to focus more and work more efficiently.

It reminds me of this Zen proverb:

“You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day — unless you’re too busy. Then you should sit for an hour.”

I wonder what would happen if we viewed our yoga practice as wholly separate from what we call exercise. What if we could give ourselves permission to spend at least one hour a week on gentle yoga movements that are not designed to burn calories, but to create more space in our heart, mind, joints and even our calendar?

Perhaps our 2016 intentions would be more easily realized with the addition of gentle yoga?