A few months ago, I began practicing yoga as both a physical
and mental builder/stress-reliever. It
amazes me how closely the activities of the body correlate with those of the
mind. Both can be trained and what you feed them will determine their everyday
function.
Now I’m not the type to randomly wake up one morning, throw
on some leggings, snap into a tree pose or half-moon, and call myself a yogi
just for the sake of likes from the pseudo-hippie community on Instagram. For a
while I had read about its benefits and admired the strength of those who had
been doing it for years. But I never considered actually getting into it
myself. I underestimated the power of meditation.. of breathing.. of pushing
through.. of SILENCE. Yoga allows you to quiet that internal conversation and
focus solely on accomplishing a goal. Goals may consist of holding a difficult
pose for five full breaths, finally touching your head with your toe in the
King Pigeon, stretching your legs at a wider angle, enduring pain, becoming
less anxious about the stresses in your life, etc. No matter the goal, your
session leaves you feeling balanced, powerful, invincible, and most importantly
ENERGETIC. Positive energy will exude from your mind and body and it will show
in your interactions with others.
As stated earlier, mental training is just as important as
physical training. Your body can be conditioned to build strength and
resilience for better functioning. The same applies to your mind. The more you
utilize certain areas of your brain (i.e. emotion, logic, creativity) in
healthy ways, the more conditioned it will be to do so on its own, with less
direct conscious work from you. Consistently feed yourself positive thoughts
and eventually, your subconscious will be consumed with so much positivity that
you’ll develop a lower tolerance for negativity. Yoga is most certainly a
vehicle for this type of mental training.
I’d like to still consider myself new to the practice.
Honestly, right now I’m not too concerned with learning a lot of the concrete
material like the names of the poses, meanings of the various hand signs, etc.
I’m just focusing on the basics and strengthening myself for the next level.
Progress is key. I’m hoping you join me in the journey.
Namaste.
