“I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” – Mark Twain.
Even though on the outside Yoga may look to be about the fancy poses and the way “assisting” someone in a pose may appear to be helping them go further – this is not the case in the way we offer Mindfulness & Yoga Teacher Training .
Here is just one example : Being supported in backbends in Yoga can lengthen the psoas muscle to provide release. A fascial sheath runs from the pelvic floor along the front of the lumbar spine up to the diaphragm muscle. If our psoas is tight from things like a lot of sitting or stress, because it shares the fascia of the diaphragm it can effect our breathing and vice versa. Our backbends in Yoga are such a great source of release. So is Roll n Release methods.
Why is this important ?
So the Yoga on the mat …..helps the “Yoga off the mat” which helps us live our life better
When we have tension in the body or the mind (they will effect each other) and both will effect the breath quality. This in turn effects our levels of concentration, contentment, energy levels along with how we tend to respond or react to things in our daily life.
By learning specific sequencing of poses , breath work (pranayama practices) and Mudras for Mindfulness we can begin to see the interconnections between what we do with our body & mind and that we have agency to help shift our energy & attention to help us overcome many challenges that we may go through as part of being human.
Yoga although you may develop strength, fitness, flexibility physically it is the mental health benefits within the Yoga that really stand out as the most beneficial for our health wellbeing and happiness. After all the definition of Yoga is “to yoke” which is referring to ‘harnessing’ the mind. The Yogis have passed down so many gifts throughout their time to help us become less reactive to what goes on in the mind and come to terms with ‘life’ as it is. This is a never-ending journey , and so worth it when it comes to living life fully as you intend rather than being tossed about by the things we cannot control.
There are elements we can control like how we move our body, how we govern the breath , where we direct our eye gaze and strengthening the aspect of our attention that can witness something without over-identifying with it. Everyone human gets caught up and stuck in their likes and dis-likes / wants and I don’t wants. Because of the nature of the minds negativity bias we are hard wired to protect and defend first. Sometimes this maybe appropriate however most of the time it causes us and the people around us unnecessary stress, tension or mind made suffering.
For example the next time you are rehearsing a conversation that potentially gets you anxious , disappointed, further stressed out – check in and notice what that “rehearsal” is doing to your breathing. That would be a good time to deliberately come back to your mind, choose where you want it to go in order to help rather than hinder your breath flow. You may also like to spend some time on your Yoga mat in particular back bends and twists can offer you both the freeing up of tension, uplifting your energy but also finding your centre – which is “here now” rather than wasting your precious time in life on “mind rehersal” which as the saying goes from Mark Twain :
“I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.” – Mark Twain.
And as the other saying goes – life is to short to worry – BUT
Reality is as humans we do – so that’s why we need ways to help us live our life more than we worry about it.
That is one of the ways Yoga & Mindfulness has helped and continues to help me day in day out and it is why I love teaching , or training others to become Yoga & Mindfulness Teachers.
Namaste
Tammy
If you would like to learn more about our Yoga & Mindfulness Teacher Training programs and in particular
the links between Mind Body & Emotions
Learn more here about our
Yoga of The Subtle Body Teacher Training – click here
Mindfulness Teacher Training – click here
Full Yoga & Mindfulness Certification – click here
Or contact 0439418571 to arrange a free overview Q&A session