Yoga Philosophy, What it means to practice yoga and why I keep coming back to it

While it is amazing that yoga has made it to all parts of the world, in our Western world it has taken a slightly different approach than what was originally intended of the yogic philosophy.

Yoga philosophy states that the mind, body and spirit are all one. They cannot be separated and should be thought of as being interconnected. When you do yoga, traditionally it refers to all of the above. It’s pranayama, or breathwork, its asana, the poses that we see and do in class, its living a non-harming, disciplined lifestyle among other things.

It’s more than just going to class and getting a quick 50 minutes of sweating. Obviously if this is what youre doing, it is not an issue, I do it too, and love a good sweaty yoga class. However, I think that if you’re going to practice yoga asanas, then its valuable to know the whole story, where it comes from and how to tie the mind and and body back together.

I personally love going to a yoga class, but think it’s important to give emphasis on your breath at least. To move the body with the breath is an amazing feeling and just shuts off your brain. Hence why it’s called a moving meditation. I know that when I am distracted in yoga class and my mind is all over the place where I’m doing the poses and I look fulfilled from the outside but I don’t feel connected to my body. I normally leave these classes feeling disappointed or scattered.

Sometimes its just one of those hectic days but its valuable to try to come back to your breath, sometimes it’s those days that are hectic that you need it even more.

It’s valuable to realize that our mind has the power to shift anything. Bad mood, close your eyes and breath for just 2 minutes. Feel the difference. Yoga can be about building muscle, but that will honestly be a positive side effect of being connected with your breath and moving the body through movement meditation.

I keep coming back to yoga because I love the power it has of turning my day around. I love that I’m able to take some time to slow down and feel connected to my body. I almost always leave feeling more refreshed and grounded. A thing to look out for here I think is the rushing from one thing to the next. Obviously if you have a full schedule and you need to run from work to yoga to make it in time, then of course do so. But if you’re rushing to yoga to squeeze in 60 minutes, and then running to your car to rush back and it only adds more stress to your day, then maybe you should consider if this is worth it to you.

The point of yoga is to slow down and bring your nervous system back to homeostasis, but if its having the opposite effect, because your mind isn’t able to shut off then it might be a good idea to reconsider the timing of your day. Would it be helpful for you to wake up earlier and go to a morning class? Perhaps you scroll on your phone for the first 20 minutes of waking up, would it free up more time in your day if you were able to get up, drink a glass of water and go to another room to do some deep breathing or gentle stretches for 10 minutes instead?

There are lots of pockets in the day in which we can incorporate the yogi lifestyle and it doesn’t have to include running to an overpacked lunch time class just for your mind to be busy the entire class about getting to the rest of your day.

Take what works for you and leave the rest.