The Little Things
April 8, 2015

Hi, The Little Things blog readers! My name is Beth and I am a registered yoga teacher. Today I’m here to tell you all about little things you can do to bring the amazing benefits of yoga into your life!

First things first: what is yoga? A lot of people associate with the asanas, or postures, that you practice during a class at a yoga studio, like downward facing dog or tree pose. But asana is just one part of yoga, one of eight limbs that are equally important to practice if you’re really going to follow yoga. Luckily it’s pretty easy to incorporate some of the key concepts of yoga into your routine. Here are some little things that you can do to bring yoga into your everyday life.

little things to bring yoga into your life

Do mini-meditations. Stuck in traffic? Waiting at the doctor’s office? Hit the mental pause button and practice turning off your thoughts while you focus on your breath. Feel any sensations your body might be experiencing—is sunlight falling on your face, warming your skin? Maybe your muscles are sore from a workout. Take time to notice these sensations, but don’t assign any emotion to them.

Focus on your breath. When you’re in a stressful situation, sometimes things can feel out of control. To feel like you’re back in control again, focus on your breath.Take long, slow inhales and exhales, focusing on lengthening your breath and trying to make each inhale the same length as the exhale. Your breath can take you to that meditative space where you can find a little feeling of peace in the middle of chaos.

Be gentle with yourself. One of those limbs I mentioned earlier is the yamas, or restraints, that yogis practice. One of my favorite yamas is ahimsa, which means nonviolence. I think about this yama a lot in respect to being nonviolent to yourself. First, we’re a lot harder on ourselves than we are on each other. It’s okay to make mistakes and to not be perfect. Sometimes we need to be gentle with ourselves physically, too. Maybe you don’t need to push yourself so hard on your run or in your yoga class. Maybe your body needs a little bit of a break. Be sure to honor where you are in each moment.

be gentle with yourself

Have questions about this article? Feel free to contact Beth via her blog, Running with the Sunrise, where she writes about yoga, running, and healthy living.

Now it’s your turn to share! How would you like to (or how do you) incorporate yoga into your every day life?

←

Comments are closed.