The following things may seem problematic in a yoga class. When we come to understand them a little differently, we realize how beneficial the experience of the following elements can be:
-intense heat (hot yoga)
-sweat dripping
-holding postures for an extended period of time
-discomfort or difficulty in general
-distracting music
-teachers voice we don’t like
-a fowl smell
-the list goes on…pretty much anything that is not going exactly the way you thought or find frustrating in a yoga class….perhaps look at it as an opportunity to learn from.
These elements aid us in understanding ourselves and returning us to balance, playing a certain role. This role, one of the essential concepts of yoga practice –awakening to our fullest potential, benefit us by challenging our mind. To combat this challenge we must engage the breath fully, the breath triggers a relaxing response to the body and we inherently become more focused and able to control how our mind perceives and how we act. It enables us the control we need over the mind when faced with difficulty, stress, etc.
We must engage fully with the breath to learn from these challenges, we are practicing how to control our mind when faced with difficulty, using our breath. When a stressful situation presents itself, remember to breath. Perhaps take a few seconds to take a couple deep breaths, and then return to the situation. (Eventually you may not even perceive the situation as stressful at all – because you know you can handle anything!) Practicing yoga we activate what is already inside us, not searching for something outside ourselves, but knowing we have everything we need already within.
Essential elements such as these allow us to practice these feats of difficulty, so that when we step off our mat and into the world, we are more fully awake, aware, present, connected and better able to deal with anything the external world throw as us. In yoga, we are becoming strong internally, creating a strong “container” of mind and body, so that when faced with difficulty we are that much better prepared – have perhaps experienced a similar frustration in our yoga practice, and we are able to draw on that experience to better handle the situation from a place of balance, neutrality and familiarity.
Through yoga we also become more mindful of ourselves, better able to recognize when we start to re-act, instead of the preferred; our choice to act from a place we are fully in control of.
LEARN CONTROL OF THE BREATH TO MASTER THE MIND AND INSTILL A SENSE OF CONTROL AND CALM OVER YOUR LIFE.
Restorative yoga, in my opinion is the exception to this as it is is intended for immediate relaxation and rejuvenation, and adding other elements of difficulty may be counter productive to its purpose.
