12/10/2021
How to practice yoga, off your mat!
Our physical practice, the asanas, are the tip of the iceberg when it comes to yoga. While these physical poses and shapes make us feel wonderful, get our blood moving, engage our muscles, and often tantalize our brain, they are not the only way yoga can improve your health and expand your world.
The overarching yoga philosophy is called ‘The 8-Limbed Path’. Here are a few ways you can incorporate the 8 limbs in your day-to-day life.
Injury Prevention:
The deep focus you develop on your mat enables you to develop the art of listening to each individual body part one at a time. Yoga teaches you the ability to isolate the senses one at a time to help better understand the limits of your body, thus preventing injuries or illness.
Clean Living:
Cleaning up your personal habits and eating healthy is where yoga begins. Yoga philosophy includes laughter, sleep, prayer, gratitude, and clean thoughts. The broad idea is to practice ‘Saucha’ or clean living. Over time this becomes the core of daily living.
Improve Decision-Making Skills:
Sitting in challenging yoga postures teaches us to accept discomfort and witness the demanding aspects of them without reacting. Take that one step further and try sitting in a comfortable seat where it is much easier to get distracted and want to get up. Focus on one specific thing. Resolve to stay no matter what arises while you try to simply be a witness to what comes to the surface. The more you practice this, the more you can pause to make beneficial, accurate, and thoughtful decisions under pressure.
Develop Meaningful Relationships:
Learning to be silent with yourself and listening to the tiniest physical and emotional sensations as they arise, can teach you to actively listen to others. This will go a long way to build relationships. Being aware of the words and body language around you, will enable you to respond with thought and respect, providing more appreciation to those in your life that are special to you.
Stress Prevention and Management:
Calming your mind and resetting your nervous system can be cultivated with breathing techniques or Pranayama. Take every opportunity during the day to engage the parasympathetic nervous system (which is the opposite of fight or flight) in a way such that it deeply relaxes you.
So, as much as it is highly recommended to get on your mat and practice asana, you might also want to consider taking your practice off the mat to reap even more benefits!
The 8-Limbed path is a direct road towards better living. You may find you already align with many of its values. Just remember, living well is not a check list. These are ideals to be worked on ALL the time. Each limb becomes quite personal to its practitioner. There is no right or wrong way to go about bringing it into your life.
