“Yoga is designed to revolutionize your life; anything less is just exercise.” – Uma
Many students come to yoga wanting to lose weight, develop strength and flexibility, even recover from physical ailment or injury. Once they experience that sense of bodily bliss and emotional calm that yoga can bring, they’re often “hooked” and become practitioners intent on mastering handstand or becoming flexible enough to put their feet behind their heads.
As challenging and fun as mastering advanced poses can be, such a practice is still only a gateway into true yoga, which is beyond the body and dedicated to mastering the mind. As Patanjali tells us, yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. Yoga is a state of union with the Self and the Divine that can occur when we cease to identify with our bodies, our emotions, and our thoughts.
The physical postures, asanas, certainly do help us live more comfortably in our bodies. They help us stay strong, balanced, and flexible, which means that we can accomplish with more ease and comfort the daily tasks we ask our bodies to undertake. Beyond that, though, the physical postures help ready the body for long periods of time in seated meditation, where we turn our attention more deeply inward and become observers of the mind.
Even as we practice asana, then, the goal of a disciplined and dedicated yogi is to quiet the senses, turn inward, and become observers of bodily sensation, the depth of breath, the quality of the mind. Instead of anticipating the next pose—rushing through Chaturanga (low push-up) and straining into Upward Dog in an effort to reach the “rest” that Downward Dog can bring—can we slow down, fully inhabit the present moment? That might mean feeling the arms’ fatigue in challenging Chaturanga; that might mean attuning to the sensation of pushing the sternum upward and forward in Up-Dog, and feeling the stretch through the backs of the legs in Down-Dog. More importantly, that would mean slowing down the breath—maybe to 3 or 5-second inhalations and exhalations—and matching movement with breath. Most importantly, that would mean watching the quality of the mind—which can often be gauged through the depth and quality of the breath—throughout the practice: Oh, I’m feeling impatience that the instructor hasn’t called the next pose yet. Oh, I’m wishing I were as flexible/strong/advanced/etc. as the lithe girl next to me. Oh, my mind is off, reliving that argument I had with my friend, instead paying attention to what I’m doing here in yoga class.
Yes, we all have moments of mind-traveling off the mat during practice; the key is to become aware of when that happens and to calmly, with self-acceptance, bring awareness back to the here and now. Practicing this on the mat is a form of meditation, and meditation can revolutionize your life. Anything less is just exercise.
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