Strong Body, Calm Mind: Yoga is More than Poses
While yoga is most known, at least here in the West, as poses that you do on a yoga mat, yoga is so much more than just poses. Asana, which is poses on the mat, is just one of 8 limbs that make up the full yoga practice. I did an 11 essay series about the first two limbs here, and those essays got transformed into my book Living Yoga: One Yoga Teacher’s Journey to Surrender.
This post is about how yoga teaches you acceptance, presence, and self-kindness. Acceptance of the moment you’re in, acceptance of your body just as it is, and acceptance of yourself, just as you are. The yoga poses act as a conduit for deeper connection with yourself and the goings on in your mind. Once you understand yourself, you eventually find peace.
Inner growth takes time, which is why yoga is a practice, not a perfect, or a magic bullet. Returning to your mat over and over helps you build the foundation you need to let go of your racing mind, your perfectionism, your anxiety, and your self-judgment. In their place your discover stillness, peace, and calm.
Asana: poses on the mat
I love to move my body, and yoga asana allows me to do just that. Connecting my breath to my movements already puts me in a calmer state. Anytime you control your breathing, it will affect your body. In fact the fourth limb of yoga, Pranayama, is about controlling your breath in a variety of ways.
Breath is Life. Are You Breathing Correctly?
When practicing Ujjayi Pranayama/Victorious or Ocean-Sounding Breath and connecting those breaths to your yoga poses, the breath becomes an audible focus for your practice. You learn to be in the moment, without your mind racing this way and that. When you hold a yoga pose, your focus is on what you’re doing. If you are in Tree pose, chances are you’re not thinking about your to-do list or the thing you said in 3rd grade over which you still ruminate. You’re doing your best trying not to fall over.
Practicing physical poses on the mat gives you what your body needs to navigate your life: stairs, lifting laundry baskets or grand kids, getting in and out of a car, on and off a toilet unassisted. It also gives you what your mind needs: more ease and less struggle.
From the body to the mind
The mental benefits come naturally, just by practicing poses. At first you might feel tense when you don’t know what you’re doing. Raise your hand if you are a perfectionist who doesn’t like not knowing what you’re doing! Yeah, me too. But with repetition, the poses become familiar, and you learn what you’re doing with your body.
That’s when the ease starts seeping in, like water into a sponge. You might notice you’re less agitated, have less anxiety, and maybe you’re sleeping better. You might be less snippy with your kids or partner. Your focus is easier to maintain for longer periods. Over time, stressful situations might feel less stressful because you have a deeper pool of patience from which to pull.
One of the ancient yoga teachings from Patanjali is to find your steady comfortable seat. Yoga shouldn’t be a struggle. You practice poses to cultivate strength, balance, and mobility, but you leave your mat feeling grounded. Easeful. Calm. At peace. It doesn’t matter what poses you do, what matters is that you do them without creating unnecessary tension.
Some of the guidance I offer while teaching:
- Focus on your breath. Slow down your breathing.
- Listen to your body and honor how it feels. Rest when you need to rest. You can always take Child’s pose.
- Be easy and gentle with yourself.
- Don’t force the stretch, don’t fight the stretch. Relax into the stretch and surrender to gravity.
- Feel your feet pressing into the mat.
- Take this feeling with you, into the rest of your day.
These little bits of wisdom are to help you practice the poses with more ease and less effort. When you let go of struggling on the mat, it’s easier to let go of that struggle off the mat. Who doesn’t want to live their life with less struggle?
My own experience
I started practicing yoga at age 23 at the advice of one of the choreographers I was working with at the time. I resisted trying it out at first, but eventually I found a class at the gym where I taught swimming. After 3 classes I got back in the pool and my stroke felt different. I found I could glide through the water with more ease and less effort, feeling more connected in my body. I thought “hmm, there must be something to this yoga stuff.”
While I never let go of my Type A personality, I did eventually set down my perfectionism. I became far less anxious, and I started liking myself, rather than the previous self-loathing I had steeped myself in for my whole life. Liking myself turned into loving myself and accepting myself for the imperfect being that I am.
Yoga brings me peace, plain and simple. I enjoy the physical poses, the time getting to know myself on my mat, and the community of yoga students and practitioners that surround me. Teaching yoga has brought me so much solace and understanding during the last 30 years. I want to share that with anyone who will listen. Yoga saved me in so many ways, especially from myself, and all I did was spend time on my yoga mat.
Downward Dog for the win.
Transitioning your yoga practice off your mat
I run an online group called Sangha Sundays. We meet once a month online to discuss different challenges in our lives through the lens of yoga. Each month I send out journal prompts related to a specific topic, like boundaries, contentment, non-harming, gratitude, anxiety, and discipline. This month we’re exploring your relationship with the concept of “lazy.” If you think of yourself as lazy, is that actually true? Many perfectionists feel like they are never doing enough, yet are always exhausted. Are you lazy or are you tired? Who decided that you are lazy and what does that mean?
Drop in to Sangha Sundays or get a subscription (minimum 3 months). Paid Yoga Living 50 and Beyond subscribers get 50% off the drop in fee when they buy a Sangha Sundays subscription. Message me for the special link. Click the link below to drop into Sangha Sundays! The next meeting is Sunday August 30 6:30-7:30pm ET.
I have written two books related to taking your yoga practice off the mat, replete with journal prompts to elicit self reflection. Click the graphic below for more information!
Thank you so much for reading Yoga Living 50 and Beyond. Aging isn’t easy, and all the messages out there say we shouldn’t. I disagree. I write about embracing aging through the lens of yoga, and how to apply your yoga practice to your life. What you practice on the mat you take with you off the mat. Please tap the 💜 and become a free or paid subscriber. I appreciate your support, whatever it looks like. ~Janine
I don’t always remember put this graphic in, but it’s always true. All of my essays are 100% written by me, not AI. They are my thoughts, my words, and my experiences from over 30 years of practicing and teaching yoga. Thanks for reading! 💜 Janine
