I was reminded recently how hard it can be to make mental space for yoga — a practice that strengthens your muscles by slowing down. Nothing could be more painful for some people, or maybe for all people on some days. When I’ve got a thousand things on the to-do list, which is usually, hanging out in downdog can be very difficult. One might say excruciating. You get still, and all those productivity-related “real life” thoughts run amok. When I feel this way, I start to understand people who think yoga is no way, no how, not for them.

It does get easier, but particularly for beginners, making the conditions ideal for refocusing can help immediately. Although I love the site Yoga Today, which provides fresh classes daily, I’m finding it hard to use anytime except the weekends. Why? My computer is no place to run a yoga class. It’s too close to my to-do list. My mail notifier bings every three minutes, calling me back to the world like a gong rung by Satan.

In order to get to the place where yoga makes sense to your busy, ambitious mind, you need to create mental space for it. Putting it on that vaunted to-do list is a start. But often this also means creating physical space. To do my yoga, I shut the computer down. I roll up the carpet and roll out my mat. I light a candle. I play music. Changing clothes helps too. Sometimes I switch rooms. Sometimes I go to a studio.

If you have children or housemates who demand your attention, you may have to leave the premises. It’s just not easy to turn your back on those you love, even temporarily, to do something so apparently nutty as “going inside” yourself.

But it’s worth doing, because going there will make you more available to them the rest of the time — calm, constant, and full of love. I know that sounds like a big promise from a four-letter word. Agreed. But believe me, it does help.