Improving Your Yoga "Off the Mat
Physical postures (asana) become easier when we can move through them fluidly.
Bruce Lee famously said "Be like water".
But what does he mean by 'be like water'? An Eastern explanation would be to empty your mind and be neutral to the pose.
It neither assists or restricts to consider what you are doing.
In a Western sense, this means that you should be able to flow through your Yoga like you don't have a care in the world.
Your Yoga postures should be easy, relaxed and smooth.
An easy way to be this way is to practise "Yoga off the mat".
As well as practising your breathing exercises when you are standing in a cue at the shops or whilst washing the dishes in the kitchen, here are seven things you can do.
All of which, in a Western sense, qualify as Yoga.
If you do the same thing to the same muscle then it remembers what to do and more importantly, how far it can go.
We teach them what they can do.
Our mind sets the limits.
Yoga asana allows the muscle the freedom to stretch to a different length in a myriad of different directions.
Virtually all muscles have a restriction of set length and this is not a physical issue but a mental one.
Emotional restriction is what stops our muscles from loosening up.
Saying "I can't" is not only damaging to ourselves but it is pointless and fictional.
And as it is a fictional problem it is easy to resolve because any fictional solution will suffice.
You made up the problem so you can make up the solution.
Saying "no" and objecting to this reasoning is just another mental lock.
You locked it so now you can unlock it.
It is this freedom, this fluidity that keeps our muscles supple and our joints flexible.
A body that can move as you will it is a healthy body.
There is more to Yoga than attending a class once a week.
So move from doing Yoga occasionally to doing Yoga whenever and whenever you can.
Then move from doing Yoga to being Yoga.
Being is more important than doing.
Owari.
TheYogi You can read more like this at www.
theyogi.
co.
uk
Bruce Lee famously said "Be like water".
But what does he mean by 'be like water'? An Eastern explanation would be to empty your mind and be neutral to the pose.
It neither assists or restricts to consider what you are doing.
In a Western sense, this means that you should be able to flow through your Yoga like you don't have a care in the world.
Your Yoga postures should be easy, relaxed and smooth.
An easy way to be this way is to practise "Yoga off the mat".
As well as practising your breathing exercises when you are standing in a cue at the shops or whilst washing the dishes in the kitchen, here are seven things you can do.
All of which, in a Western sense, qualify as Yoga.
- Hug someone.
Today. - Realise that you have more control over your life than you thought.
- Scan your body.
Look to see which muscles are tight and find tension that can be released.
Think happy thoughts, eat well, go to the loo. - Dance and sing.
Put the radio on and just sing along with whatever is being played.
Groove a little too, as if no one is watching. - Smile.
And be happy. - Do something for someone else.
It's nice to be important but it's more important to be nice. - Find a flower, a vase and a quiet place.
Look at your flower for at least 4 minutes.
Realise just how beautiful it is.
How it is made, the colour, the smell...
How perfectly formed can one flower be? How lost in one flower can you become?
If you do the same thing to the same muscle then it remembers what to do and more importantly, how far it can go.
We teach them what they can do.
Our mind sets the limits.
Yoga asana allows the muscle the freedom to stretch to a different length in a myriad of different directions.
Virtually all muscles have a restriction of set length and this is not a physical issue but a mental one.
Emotional restriction is what stops our muscles from loosening up.
Saying "I can't" is not only damaging to ourselves but it is pointless and fictional.
And as it is a fictional problem it is easy to resolve because any fictional solution will suffice.
You made up the problem so you can make up the solution.
Saying "no" and objecting to this reasoning is just another mental lock.
You locked it so now you can unlock it.
It is this freedom, this fluidity that keeps our muscles supple and our joints flexible.
A body that can move as you will it is a healthy body.
There is more to Yoga than attending a class once a week.
So move from doing Yoga occasionally to doing Yoga whenever and whenever you can.
Then move from doing Yoga to being Yoga.
Being is more important than doing.
Owari.
TheYogi You can read more like this at www.
theyogi.
co.
uk
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