Yoga is a practice that strengthens both your mind and body, which is why so many people of various ages, backgrounds and fitness levels see benefits—immediate and long-term. From building long, lean muscles to calming the mind during times of stress, yoga can be a powerful tool for overall health and healing.
Whether you’ve been practicing for days or years, like any activity, if you don’t challenge yourself to learn and grow, your practice can become stagnant. You can boost your yoga practice and see more mind-body results with these four tips, which include utilizing technology and avoiding making comparisons to others.
Harness the Power of Technology
There are hundreds of yoga apps out there that range from pictures of poses to full-length video classes. This can be a great way to boost your home practice and explore poses in between studio classes. You can also explore free videos on YouTube, too—there are thousands! You might need to upgrade your phone so you can run the apps properly. You’ll want your iPhone or Android to be able to play videos without worrying about your phone dying or not being able to download a video. Many of the new smartphones are high-performing models with extended battery life and quick-charging capabilities. Before purchasing, check to see if your provider offers mobile phone deals because many carriers offer their customers reduced-price phones when they trade in select models
Leave Your Comfort Zone
Some yoga poses can seem out of reach or even downright intimidating. Balancing on one leg, arching in a backbend, hovering your face inches above the ground—all might seem unattainable. However, if you work your way up to those poses, you can safely leave your comfort zone and experience something new. If you want to explore standing balancing poses, hold on to a wall and only let go when you are ready. If you’re working up to wheel pose, start with bridge or camel. For those practicing crow pose, place a block on the floor under your head to eliminate the fear of face-planting.
Set an Intention
Yoga is all about feeling connected—listening to your body, having compassion for yourself and others and understanding why your mind reacts the way it does to the world. In fact ,the very word yoga—its root yuj in Sanskrit—means to “yolk” or unite. That’s why setting an intention is such an important part of your practice, even if you are mostly focused on the physical aspects. What do you want to yolk to? What do you want to unite, inside and outside? Write your intentions down in the first person to make them your own, and set a timeline to help you stick to them.
Avoid comparing and judging
Your practice is not your neighbor’s practice. Our fast-paced Western culture is fixated on making comparisons and judgments—otherwise, how do we know we’re succeeding? But yoga is all about finding a different way of accepting the present moment just as it is. If you feel less because someone can do the full expression of a pose before you can, try to focus on appreciating where you are. Your mind and body get beat up enough—yoga is the perfect place to learn how to receive grace and foster contentment.
Yoga is about progress, not perfection. It’s a journey for you to experience your whole life—one that leads to healing and wholeness. It’s easy for any practice to become stagnant, and yoga is no different. When you feel the urge to reignite your relationship with yoga, try exploring one of these suggestions. Take them one at a time and be kind to yourself. Always remember, even when you are just breathing, you are practicing yoga.
Yours In Health,
Dr. Brain
