Questioner: Pranams Sadhguru. I get up at 6 am, hurry burry cooking. Get the children ready. Start by 8.30 am to the office. Back from the office by 6.30. Then freshening up the children, myself, prayer, cook food, homework, sleep. In this hectic schedule, where can I fit yoga in my life?
Sadhguru: Now, you get up at 6 O’clock. And whatever time you go to bed, you have a busy day. Where’s the time for yoga? You have time to eat, you have time to gossip, you have time to work, you have time to take care of everything. But you have no time to take care of yourself. That’s what you’re telling me.
Now this attitude is like you try to act like a martyr all the time. I have no time for myself. I’m giving myself totally to everybody. What is it that you are giving? Your agitations, irritations, your anxieties – passing it onto children, isn’t it? If you are really really concerned about your children – if you are truly concerned about your children – creating a joyful and loving atmosphere for their growth is most important. Not providing them shiny boots. Not providing them better clothes. Not providing them. video games. Not providing them something else is important. You creating an atmosphere of joy and love around them on a daily basis, moment to moment, is more important than all the nonsense that you are providing, isn’t it? Isn’t it so? Yes or no?
If you are truly concerned about your children – creating a joyful and loving atmosphere for their growth is most important
So what is your focus about life? If you’re able to manage your work and your children, everything – do it. If you’re unable to, do what you can do. Everybody can only do that much, isn’t it? You want to do everything in the world, you will definitely go insane. How much you can do, each individual has to decide. Somebody may be able to get up at 6 O’clock and do all these things joyfully. Somebody else is not able to do. Accordingly they have to adjust their life, isn’t it? Now you have gotten into all this, not because that’s what you want to do. You’re trying to be like somebody else – that’s your whole problem. You want to have what other people have. You don’t know whether you really need it or not.
With all this work, what you have earned, your children, your husband, your wife, whatever, you’re no more enjoying it. Then why do you need all this? All these things you created because you thought this is the source of your joy, isn’t it? But right now that has become the source of your anxiety and misery. Then you better look at the fundamentals of life once again, isn’t it? Isn’t it so? You got educated, you found a job, you married, you produced children – all this why? Because you thought this is going to be the source of your happiness and wellbeing, isn’t it so? But now that is taking your life. If it is so, you must look at it.
If your body and your mind is more energised and active, your sleep quota will naturally come down
One thing is – maybe if you’re incapable of handling it, maybe you have to scale it down. If you’re capable of enhancing your capabilities, you must do that. Now if you invest – let us say, even 30 minutes a day into your yoga, you will see you will gain immensely, even in terms of time. One… first thing that will happen is, your sleep quota will come down. Now if you’re sleeping for 8 hours a day, that means one-third of your life, you’re sleeping it off. Isn’t it? One-third of your life, you’re just sleeping it off. If your body and your mind is more energised and active, your sleep quota will naturally come down. So if you gain 3-4 hours a day, just in terms of wakefulness, that’s a huge thing, isn’t it?
Apart from that, if your body and mind was more organised, you will see – what I have found with people is, with simple process of yoga, within 6-8 weeks, a lot of them, their level of performance becomes such – what they were doing in 8 hours, they’re very easily able to do it in 3-4 hours. Simply because, if you observe yourself through the day – suppose we take a video of your whole day without you being aware of it. You will notice how much unnecessary movement, and unnecessary words, and unnecessary activities are happening in your life. You must do it one day. Please hire a video cameraman, and ask him to shoot you without you knowing about it. You will see, how many unnecessary things you are doing in a day.
Most of the time you are not busy, you are just preoccupied
If your mind became more organised, these unnecessary words, these unnecessary actions, these unnecessary things will disappear. Once they go away, you have a lot of time. You have 24 hours to live, you know. Now, we don’t have to make this into 26 hours, 24 hours are enough. We can do a lot in 24 hours. If we are organised and focused human beings, we can do plenty in 24 hours time. If you are disorganised and un-focused, you think there is no time. Most of the time you are not busy, you are just preoccupied, aren’t you? Isn’t it so? Isn’t it so? Just too much preoccupation in the mind.
So, whoever the lady – please invest this half an hour a day. Get up at 5.30, okay! And, you will see, suddenly the quality of your life will be very different. Don’t go on with this argument – I have no time. Make time and see – it will make a huge difference.
