I enjoy practicing yoga, but I admit that I go periods of time without taking a class.  Life gets busy.  Appointments come up.  My schedule changes.  A deadline looms.  Then, the "late afternoon, early evening" class goes by the wayside (those early morning classes simply have not made it onto my radar).  I always feel better after a yoga class and I know that if I practice regularly, my body, mind, and emotional state seem to be at an optimal level.  I think it has everything to do with the deliberate breathing during class, the "feeling into" muscles and areas of the body that otherwise don't get any attention during the day, and the required resting at the beginning and end of each class.  There is something "natural" about the practice.  I have noticed that when I go for a few days without this stretching, breathing, resting practice that I can become irritable, much like a child that misses his nap and meal time.  So, recently, I have made the commitment to myself that even if I can't make the twenty minute drive to class, followed by the ninety minute class, that I will make the time to stretch, breath, and rest in my home.  Twenty minutes of practice on my bedroom floor is better than no practice at all.  I may not work up the usual sweat or hold the poses for quite as long, but I am actively participating in the most important parts of the practice --- sustained stretching (challenging the mind and body to remain calm), deliberate breathing (inviting the old air to empty and oxygen rich breath to come in), and much deserved resting (something that receives too little attention in a "go, go" society).  As I am the one who decides my schedule, I must be the one with the discipline to do what is best for me.  My health and happiness depend upon it.