Many people use yoga as a form of exercise to improve stability, flexibility, and stamina. However, we can benefit more by developing a yoga lifestyle.
Yoga is made up of both physical and mental practices. The physical aspect includes is the repeated performance of exercises or techniques that are intended to produce positive states in both the body and the mind. The mental aspect is the practice of letting go behavior patterns, habits or attachments that no longer serve us.
Yoga for the Body and Mind
Most people know that yoga has amazing benefits for the body. It can improve strength, balance, and flexibility. But many other benefits have been found from practicing a yoga lifestyle, including reduced stress and better heart health. Yoga has also been found to be beneficial for mental health, reducing anxiety and relieving depression.
One of the reasons yoga has such all round benefits for body and mind is because it is a practice that includes not only poses, but also focus, breathing techniques, and meditation. Yoga is a holistic approach to wellness, targeting not only the physical system of bones and muscles but every part of the body, including the digestive system, respiratory system, and the mind.
Yoga as Holistic Medicine
This is a tradition that has always been centered on becoming whole. Yoga is traditionally called a liberation teaching. Its aim is to help us become greater than we are by freeing us from limitations we have acquired through our culture and education. It is also a system to become enlightened spiritually. When we focus only on the benefits to our muscles and stamina we miss out on so much that a yoga lifestyle has to offer.
So how do we incorporate yoga into our everyday lives?
Yoga is a diverse practice and people approach it in many different ways. Some people study the yoga sutras or find a guru to lead them on their path. However, it is not necessary to study the traditions of yoga in depth to benefit from its holistic approach.
There are several ways you can simply incorporate holistic yoga practices into your life to create a yoga lifestyle.
1. Asanas
The poses, or asanas, help develop physical strength and flexibility. Holding poses while breathing correctly and maintaining focus also develops our mind.
2. Meditation
Most teachers understand that yoga is an exercise for the mind as well as the body and part of the practice is to incorporate a meditation into the class.
3. Karma Yoga
Karma yoga is the practice of liberation from the ego by service to others. We can incorporate service to others in our lives by helping out friends or family members or by engaging in some form of volunteer work.
4. Mantra-Yoga
In this form of yoga, sound is used as a method of transformation. Simply repeating a mantra, such as Om while breathing deeply helps us enter a state of presence and breaks our attachment to constant thinking.
6. The Law of Yoga
Part of the principles of yoga is moral values. These include non-violence, truthfulness, and compassion. We can be mindful of how we treat others and the planet. Many yoga devotees choose to be vegetarian, though this is not strictly necessary. However, it is necessary to be mindful of how the things we buy are produced and avoid anything that has caused harm to others in its production.
A Yoga Lifestyle
All these practices are very simple. However, they require commitment and focus if we are to reap the benefits of them. A yoga lifestyle encompasses everything we do and the way we do it. When we choose to be aware of our thoughts, habits, and behaviors we can learn to choose new thoughts, habits, and behaviors that serve us better. When we treat the earth and all who inhabit it with respect, we create more peace in the world.
Yoga as a Journey
While we must commit to the journey, it is not necessary for us to achieve perfection in everything we do or to achieve enlightenment as soon as possible. The desire to grow and improve is the only requirement. One of the fundamental understandings of yoga is that our efforts are never wasted. Even the slightest attempt at transforming our world and ourselves makes a difference.
Ultimately, practicing yoga concerns choosing how we use our consciousness to make our lives, and the lives of others, better.
