Stop waiting and wanting to practice - how women are finding the time

What if the thing standing between you and the life you actually want is smaller than you think?

Just practice. Consistent, devoted, real practice — woven into the actual fabric of your actual life.

In this episode of The Nourished Woman Podcast, yoga therapist and yoga teacher Keri Marino gets honest about what yoga practice actually looks like for real women — and what becomes possible when you stop making it optional and start making it a commitment.

Because here's what happens when a woman actually practices consistently —

The anxiety quietly decreases. The body starts to feel like somewhere worth living in. Pleasure becomes accessible. Play returns. Ease shows up in places that used to feel tight and reactive. You stop bracing for impact and start actually enjoying your life.

Not because everything got easier. Because you got more rooted.

We talk about the all-or-nothing thinking that keeps self-aware women stuck, when real women are actually fitting practice in and what works, what yoga actually is beyond active asana — and why that reframe makes everything more accessible, how to stop buying into the story that you don't have time and what to do instead and why leaning into your desire for practice matters as much as the logistics.

The honest truth? You have more time than you're telling yourself.

And 80% of the how — the structure, the curated practices, the ease of knowing exactly where to start — is already waiting for you inside The Nourished Woman Sanctuary.

This is your permission slip. And your practical roadmap.

Next steps ⬇️

Grab a free yoga practice to Come Home to Your Body

-> https://kerimarino.eo.page/comehome

Start a consistent daily yoga practice in Daily Devotion - 21 days of 10 minute yoga practices plus email support to keep you on track

-> https://thenourishedwoman.heymarvelous.com/product/92272/lessons

Help spread the word. If this episode resonated, share it with a friend and leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

Connect with Keri or learn more about her offerings at www.KeriMarino.com  and on instagram @the_nourished_woman

A gentle note: The Nourished Woman Podcast is educational and not a substitute for medical or mental health care. Please listen to your body and consult your provider when needed.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 1:45

If you are listening to this episode, I already know something really important about you. And it's that you are probably a woman who knows in your bones that you need something. You need a practice, you need an anchor, you need something that feels like it's just yours, that is really nourishing you physically and mentally and spiritually, and that has this ripple effect in your life. And yoga is that thing, right? Like somatic yoga, yoga practice in general, meditation, whatever it is, you know that that's that thing, that's that structure, that's that practice and system that's gonna do that for you. But when you look at your calendar, or when you look at the rhythm of your days, or you look at your kids, or that pile of things you need to do, it's really hard to figure out when it fits, or maybe you have a lot of space in your schedule, but you feel kind of like you're just you don't know how to fit it in, you don't know how to make time for it, you don't know how to consistently show up for it. And so you keep waiting for the right time, you keep waiting for the clarity, you keep waiting for things to slow down, or you keep waiting for you to get serious about it so you can actually follow through and do the thing that you know will have a positive impact on you. And so I just kind of want to speak to that, that like spectrum of where you might be in it, and also help you to understand what real women practicing yoga, like real yoga, looks like and help you to get some systems in place so that you can actually make the most out of your yoga practice and really benefit from it tremendously. And so the first thing that I want to address is all or nothing thinking. So a lot of us have been sold this myth that a yoga practice means that you have a mat and a block and an hour, and that you have a version of you that's got it all together, and you've been very intentional about carving out that time. A lot of people come to a home yoga practice from the mindset of it being this formal thing that we do that takes about an hour or longer. And you might compare yourself to other people and think that they have more time than you do, or that they have a different kind of life structure than you do. There's these reasons that you can't and someone else can, or that these ideals of what it should look like that's keeping you from embracing what's actually right in front of you. And so, what I want you to know that this is a myth and it's keeping you from actually enjoying your yoga practice. And yoga is actually something that you make a commitment to and that you do regularly. It's not an optional thing. Like if you're the kind of person that wants to, if obviously if you don't want to do yoga, don't do yoga. But if you're the kind of person that's like, gosh, this is what I want, this is a structure that I want to have in my life, this is something that gives me meaning, this is something that feels good to me, this feels aligned, then it's just not so damn optional. Like we make it too optional and we get in our heads and we create all this all or nothing thinking that actually blocks you from just getting out your yoga mat or sitting down for meditation or doing breath work when you can or playing with all the other ways that yoga can manifest besides a really formal practice. And so I want to talk about what it can look like for you to get all that stuff out of the way and really experience yoga and really practice it more often. Some of my clients really like to practice in the morning. And so it could be that you're doing a formal practice where you're rolling out your yoga mat and getting out your yoga gear and doing a 15 to 30 minute practice at home. But it could be that you're doing a little bit of breath work for a few minutes before you get out of bed, or while you're washing the dishes after you're after you've consumed breakfast, like you're doing a little bit of yoga then. And it could be something as simple as like driving in the car and being more mindful and at a stop sign putting a hand over your heart and really just tuning in. Those things are a yoga practice. It could be that you're driving somewhere to get something, you're running an errand, you're interacting with somebody, and you take a few breaths, maybe you're sitting in the dentist chair and you do pranayama or you do meditation. It could be all of these things, it could be any of these things. And the reality is, and I hear it from my clients literally every single day, these practices shift how you feel. So if you did that 15-minute yoga practice in the morning, how are you going to feel after? Are you going to feel calmer? Are you going to feel more relaxed? Are you going to see your kid get in the car at carpool after pickup when you're in the car line and actually be able to receive them, to look them in the eyes, and to feel loving and open and spacious when you have the moment to connect with them? It might, your yoga practice can sometimes be an evening practice. It could be after you get your kids to bed. I actually do my meditation every single day while I'm getting a kid to sleep. And so I am laying in bed, maybe I'm nursing my three-year-old, or maybe I'm laying in bed and I'm cuddling my older kids. And that's when I do my meditation. So I want you to know that there are literally windows all over your schedule and all over your life for you to be doing these practices. It is about stopping, making it optional, and deciding where your windows are and where you're going to do it. And break up with all these formal black and white ideals of what your yoga practice needs to be like. I find that so many women are missing the commitment to the practice and the clarity around the when and the how, and that that can get in the way for literally years and months. But being a part of something like the Nourished Woman Sanctuary, where it's structured, where you have bite-sized doable chunks, where you have a wide range of yoga medicine, the asana poses, the restorative, the breath work, the meditation, the strengthening, the philosophy, where you've got it all woven together, that eliminates, gosh, I don't know, 80% of the work for you because it's right there. It's easy for you to use and do it. And the other 20% is the commitment on your part that it's important and that it matters and that you know what it gives you, and leaning into your desires around that. This is important because it gives me this. This is important because it really moves me forward in this direction that I want to go. This is important because it has this massive ripple effect in every other area of my life. And anchoring into that vision, y'all, is really important. And I think it's actually one of the biggest differences between a woman who practices consistently and a woman who doesn't, is that you have a way to do it and you have the commitment to do it. And then you're willing to find where it fits into your life rather than just listening to those old stories about how it can't, or that you don't have time. Because let's face it, if you really want to do it, then is that helping you to think that way? I don't I don't think so. So another reframe is what yoga actually is. So if you're newer to yoga or you've only been exposed to yoga in a certain kind of like box, then you probably think that yoga is primarily movement. And obviously yoga can have a movement component. Inside the nourished woman sanctuary, there's a lot of moving your body that happens in there. But yoga is so much more than movement. It is a practice of being deeply present and connected to yourself. It is a sacred relationship with yourself, with your soul, and with the infinite God or goddess, whatever you want to call it, yoga is a form of self-study and self-connection. And so sometimes we have these ideas that if we're not moving, if we're not doing when we're practicing yoga, then it's not nearly as helpful or as useful for us. And sure, if you spend almost all of your time sitting in a desk or driving a vehicle or stationary, if you're not very movement-oriented naturally or not because of circumstance, obviously it's very good for you to do more active and dynamic yoga practices that move your body, but also slowing down and resting, like in restorative yoga, doing breath work and meditation, chanting practices where you're using your voice, where you're doing some energy medicine with the sound. These are all very valid and useful parts of a yoga practice, mudra work, the philosophy of yoga, literally the way that you live, the way that you think, the way that you move through your life, the way that you experience yourself in your life and your relationships, these are all yoga. It's having more compassion with yourself, it's being curious, it's telling the truth, speaking the truth, showing up truthfully and honestly in your life. It's so many different things. And I want you to know that because if you're thinking of your yoga practice in terms of mat and movement, there is such a buffet of possibilities out there. Attending to your nervous system is yoga, coming back to your body as yoga, choosing rest in a culture that glorifies depletion is radical and is yoga. And so I learned early on that yoga practice was something that I just frankly I fucking needed it because I needed to survive. I was struggling mightily with my body, with pain, with my mental health, and not tending to my body and self wasn't working. I wasn't going to be doing okay if I didn't do that. And so I know that I have a little bit of a different relationship. If you have the good fortune of not experiencing mental health struggles or a lot of body issues, then you might not see self-care through the same lens from then somebody who has, right? Somebody who knows, like this shit's non-negotiable. So if that's you, if you're like, I'm getting by just fine, just know that you're planting seeds here. This is important because it matters, because it makes a difference, because it's non-negotiable, because you've chosen and your highest self is like fully buying in that this is what you need. And that you're gonna get there because you know that this works for you and you see the vision of what it's doing for you. And you see that yoga is not just like this practice on your mat. It's a way of actually living. It's these bite-sized tools that you can use in any given moment, no matter where you are, no matter what you're doing. It's not just about poses, it's about accessing your innermost self and your highest self in its many different forms. If you haven't heard me say it yet, we're working with the four pillars of you here: your body, your mind, your spirit, and your life. We're working all those layers when we practice. So when you practice, what becomes possible is that anxiety begins to shift and soften because your relationship with yourself has changed. You stop outsourcing your sense of okayness to things outside of you. You stop looking outside of you to manage your worth. You stop looking in the mirror and feeling bad about who you are. You start loving yourself in a different way or at least being kinder to yourself. You'll begin to nervous, um, do some such work on your nervous system that your stress reactivity is much lower. You'll find that you're not getting nearly as stressed out about the things that you're experiencing. Maybe you're able to navigate it with more grace. Maybe you're able to navigate it with more clarity and ease, or maybe you're able to be like, that's literally not worth my energy, and I'm simply not going to get into it. Rest will stop feeling so hard. Slowing down will feel like something that you're better at. It will start to feel like something that's really nourishing, and you're able to sink into easily. And you're gonna find that you're gonna be a lot more present with yourself, with your kids, with your work, in your own skin. And to me, that presence is about presence and it's also about pleasure. It's about play, it's about enjoyment, it's about really living, like actually living fully awake and fully available to let good things in in your life. It's about coming home to yourself. Everything that I have just described here, the small moments that real women are practicing in, the philosophy, the nervous system tending, the way of coming home to yourself, this is exactly what I have created the nourished women's sanctuary for. Because I know that knowing these things and actually doing these things are two different things. And so if you're looking for that place to practice, if you're looking for that 80% of the workload decided for you, where do I practice? How long do I have? What kind of things am I going to focus on? I take care of all those things for you inside the Nourished Woman Sanctuary. I built it for women like you. I built it for self-aware women who know that you've got a little more growth and healing work left to do. You want to feel more in tune with your body, you want to feel more in touch with your soul, you want to feel more emotionally steady and skilled, but you feel like you don't have enough time. And you're longing for a practice and a way to be nourished that feels like it's just yours. And inside this sanctuary, I meet you right where you are. You don't need a ton of experience, you don't need a long amount of time, you don't need childcare to have to commute and drive somewhere and someone to watch your kids. And then also something that you get in there, if you are looking for a longer formal practice, twice a month you get to have a candlelight restorative yoga experience with me on Zoom. And these are literally the experience of moving just enough to settle your nervous system down and to help work anxiety levels down to a more easeful place. But it's also just an experience of relaxing deeply, of breathing slowly, of settling in, of feeling a loving, comfortable connection with your body and being around other women who are literally doing this work with you every single month that have the same desires and goals for themselves and understand where you're coming from. And what I think I don't know that I've described well, but I want to make sure is that these practices are designed to help you move in the direction that you want to go. They're not just yoga practices, they are supporting your becoming and your expansion. Every time you do them, you are taking a step forward to where you want to be. And the ripple effect of that is very good. And sometimes I wish I could just like bring you into my head and show you what's possible and find just the right words to help you see the difference that these things make. But I think on some level, you already know. And now it's about creating the container for you to actually do it, for you to really experience it, for you to get out of your own way and just start to benefit from all of these different practices and tools. I hope that we have eliminated some of the confusion and decision fatigue for you today. I hope that you have seen some real practical ideas of what my clients' practices actually look like and when they're fitting them in and when I'm fitting them into my life, and the mindset that it takes to actually soak in the benefits of these practices. Because I will be honest with you, there is such a thing as therapeutic dosing when it comes to yoga. And that once a month practice is not nearly as therapeutically beneficial for you as practicing three times a week for 15 minutes. And so just know that there's something about the consistency and the steadfast relationship and the devotion to the practice that is such a difference maker. And I know on some level that you're craving that because you're here, right? You're listening to this particular episode, you're wanting to get insight on it. If you want to have support from me, if you want to practice with me on a weekly basis in this bite-sized way, join us inside of the Nourished Woman Sanctuary. There is such a wellspring of different possibilities that are waiting for you right there. And I have a separate podcast and video that I've made about what it's actually like inside, if you would like more details. I'll see you soon, love.