Why Does the Time of Day Matter?
To get the most benefit from your yoga practice, it’s good to be aware of the best times of the day to practice. The purpose of yoga is to evolve. Whether you’re intention for development is physical, mental, spiritual (or all the above), we are all working to progress. And outside factors in our environment have an impact on us. It’s good to know what those factors are so you can take advantage of them.
Ideal Yoga Time
Generally speaking, the best time time to practice yoga is at the transition between day and night, at sunrise or sunset. During these times, the day is transitioning, and the energies are shifting with it. Also, depending on where you are located, the temperature is typically more moderate, and there is less heat/friction in the environment. But it’s at these transition points in the day that you can align your body and energy with the changes happening in the environment, so that you can move with it. Kind of like catching the momentum of the wave when you’re surfing; you use the momentum from the solar system to advance your yoga practice.
Timing with Purpose
If you want to go into more detail, experienced yogis can teach you that there are points throughout the day to practice yoga for specific intentions. For spiritual progress, the time of day is before sunrise, at the Brahma Muhurta, which is the last quarter of the night. This would be between 3:30 a.m. until sunrise. In practicing yoga at this time, you will begin to sync your system with the rhythm of the planet, which will eventually help you to transcend past the physical nature. If you are mostly interested in progressing your physical yoga practice, than the sandhya kalas (the transitions in the day to night/night to day) are the best time to practice.
Don’t Miss Out
Of course, practicing yoga at any time of the day is always better than not practicing yoga at all. As long as you are present with what your doing, and listening to your body, yoga is never a bad thing at any time of the day. So if you’re not a morning person, and it’s a struggle to find time in the evening, don’t be discouraged. By all means, practice yoga when you can. But if you eventually feel like to want to make greater strides and a little dig deeper, you’ll know some adjustments you can make to help along your way.
Leave a Reply