TUNING IN NOT SWITCHING OFF

TUNING IN NOT SWITCHING OFF

Often people have the misconception that in yoga we are switching off. In fact we are tuning in!!! YES we are putting down our screens and stepping away from the intensity of our everyday, BUT we are very much not switching off. 

Our culture doesn’t priorities or teach us the skills to listen to the body and be in tune with the bodies needs. Noticing the subtle energy of the body and then developing an understanding of that energy takes practice. What makes yoga so different to other forms of movement or physical exercise (not that yoga has to be done for exercise) is the fact it teaches us to appreciate the nuances of the body. 

Our practice gives us the time and space to bring awareness to intricate details e.g. the connection our feet has to the ground, the sensation of our palms touching, the movement of breath in our body, awareness of thoughts and feelings. It’s not to say we have to move about our day slowly and be hyper aware of everything we do. When we first start to embody this practice (for me also) the aim is to have moments of awareness. If something happens in your day whether frustrating, stirs up sensations of anger, or even if it’s a subtle feeling of guilt or jealousy - we can stop for a moment and observe where we can feel it in the body, and how the body is responding. What areas are we holding tension? Can we soften, release and let go. Locating the sensation is the first step - it's common to clench the jaw, or loose your stomach because of nerves. Once you’ve located the sensation in the body pause and breath deeply, see if you can work through the feeling with breath techniques, meditation, and/or mantra and then either respond to the cause at hand with greater clarity, or let it go. 

On another scale, we might find that we become more in tune to when the body is hungry, tired, stressed, anxious and we start to learn what we actually need to nourish ourselves rather than what we think we need. The art of listening and tuning in will have profound affects as to how you feel about yourself.  

When you next practice yoga remind yourself to keep tuning - checking in with the breath, the jaw, sensations in palms/ feet. You’ll have to reset often and you may even remind yourself ever few seconds but to remember to be aware is the first step.