3 Life Lessons From Yoga

I still remember the day around 3 years ago when I decided to do yoga for the first time. I had hit one of my life's lowest lows and everything I did to escape my reality had failed me. I guess if I decided to join a yoga studio things would have taken a different route. In my case, I decided to let Adriene Mishler from Yoga with Adriene be my guide and the privacy of my own bedroom be my studio. The conditions worked perfectly for me because it meant I wasn't competing with anyone and I had no one to please. I wasn't trying to get anywhere and prove something. My curiosity about the philosophy of yoga had already started rolling long before. I had picked up books on the human energy system prior to buying a yoga mat. My intention was to learn about me through yoga. And the fact that it was my solitary practice set the perfect atmosphere for such introspection. 

It wasn't long before yoga became a regular part of my life. There were many many misconceptions I had to alleviate along the way. When I self-reflected I soon realized that there weren't just misconceptions I had about yoga, it was misconceptions about life and I had been carrying them around as far back my conscious memory goes. With the diminishing of each misconception, I learnt something new about life and my own consciousness. I won't get too spiritually mystical sounding on this post, thus I had decided to make a list of these lessons along with how it helps me every day. I think yoga has a spiritual feminine expression and also a practical masculine expression. My goal with this post is to take the middle path where the essence and practicality of these lessons are both in a union. I hope these can help others question their own way of thinking and use these ideas in their mindful personal development journey. 

 If we postpone our presence for when the circumstances are perfect, we will never get there. In yoga, the hardest part is arriving on the mat, because it requires us to face our current internal weather and choose to sit still with it, even if we don't want to. This requires acceptance and I have written a whole blog post on this which I will link here. If you are sad, come with the sadness, if you are angry, come with the anger, if you are lonely come with the loneliness. Because the moment we acknowledge it, we arrive in the here and now.   

Practical Application

If you ever catch yourself in a downward spiral, an addictive behaviour you are feeding, whether it is binge-watching youtube videos or eating that 5th cookie you know you shouldn't, acknowledge, pause and stop. Don't beat yourself on why you did what you did. Just acknowledge it happened and restart in the present moment to redirect your course of action. It takes a while to get used to this. But every time you do it, the stronger your willpower gets. 

From the point of birth till our last moment of existence, we breathe. Most of our lives we breathe with little to no awareness. When awareness and breath are brought together by a conscious intention, we can alter our inner state by will. In yoga, breath and movement are merged in synchronicity, wherein meditation one does not physically move but brings their attention to their breath over and over again. That is why yoga is also called 'moving meditation'. As long as we are alive, the tool of breath is always available to us. During our worst moments, our best moments and every moment in between. Our breath is the thread that ties our external and internal reality. The air we breathe is ancient, breathed by our ancestors, all sentient beings and the lush green flora of our planet. Our inhales bathe our cells in oxygen, nourishing the furthest reaching corners of our being and our exhales nourish the vegetations that make Earth livable. This is pure scientific fact. To know this and to actually feel it and experience it when we breathe are two very different things. 

Practical Application

When you find yourself in a situation that is stressful, whether its stress from an outside circumstance, a mental state or a physical stress due to an illness, pay attention to the quality of your breath. You will realize that your breath is shallow and short, in fact, much of the time our breath is of this nature. When you notice this, take at least 3-5 deep and long conscious breaths. You can go one more layer deep by visualizing your cells bathing in oxygen-rich blood everytime you inhale. This provides instant relaxation of the mind and body. And the best part is, the only tool you need is your body. 

There is always an underlying intention behind our efforts. Sometimes it is conscious and most of the time it is an unconscious intention. In yoga, the body's rhythmic movement is initiated from one's centre. The body has an inconceivable amount of wisdom in its structure. For instance, observe the spinal column, all the nerves that branch out from this prominent vertebrae making it an energetic highway for our intention to travel through. First, we imagine doing something in our brain and that impulse is carried to our limbs through this pathway in the fraction of a second to initiate the same action. To slow down our mind and actually pay attention to this process gives us the ability to take a closer look at our intentions. Why we do what we do. When our intention is for our highest goods so is our action. When our intention is to uplift others, generosity flows through us. 

Practical Application

Create positive intentions in your self-care regimen, this can change what you do drastically. When the reason for your action changes, the action must also alter to fit the new reason. The intention is one of the most powerful tools of consciousness. Only intention alone can't achieve much, consistency in action must follow intent for any results. Journaling your intentions for a day can help tremendously by setting a tone for your waking hours. Ask yourself what are your intentions in your relationship with yourself, your relationship with others and your overall existence. Remember to listen to the subtle feelings of your heart's desire, not your the reasonings of your logical head. Use your logical mind later to help you create consistent action. 

There are many more concepts I have learnt from my yoga practice that I am still integrating into my life, but I believe these 3 would have to be the most helpful ones in my journey. I hope this can help you in some way too. If you have a yoga practice please do share your experience in the comment section so we can have a conversation and learn from one another. It's a common assumption that yoga is about how flexible you are and how many asanas can you nail. The poses are literally 10% of what yoga is. How you exist in those poses is far more important. If you are someone who is thinking of starting a yoga practice I highly highly recommend Yoga with Adriene. She has a universal tone of teaching yoga which allows almost everyone to follow through her videos. That's it for this post, until next time!

- With Loving Awareness