Can you take yoga off the mat?

Thank you for coming to Sunday’s Sanga at Church House. I enjoyed the shared practice, discussions and quiet spaces. This is a reminder to reflect on your practice.

Yoga is great on the mat but the aim is to take it into life. To start, is there one thing that you can take off the mat into your daily life? Some of you mentioned pausing:

• Mindful attention to the breath: the power of the inhale creating space and opening, that opening to be continued in the pause (AK); the depth of the exhale to bring containment, strength and grounding, deepening an internal connection in the pause (BK)
• Can you use the breath to explore the body and bring you to a focused whole when you are in life?

We have been observing and watching how we move in the online classes and we extended this on Sunday. How do we work with our bodies and how do different parts work with each other? We have been exploring the concept of samyoga – identification or misidentification. What is needed to realise the confusion of samyoga and come to a state of yoga? A few questions about how you use your body:

• How does your left side affect your right, and vice versa?
• Do you move to allow a repeated pattern? Is the pattern useful?
• Do you move to avoid an experience? Is this learned aversion or conscious care?
• Are you aware of what you need and are you working from a place of strength (sthira) and sukha (ease)?
• Can you adapt to what is in you and what is asked of you whilst maintaining your shape?

Can you read those questions again with respect to significant relationships in your life?

I encourage you to take your practice off the mat and cultivate spaces of integrity and awareness. If we do not understand where or why we avoid movement within ourselves, can we really know how we impact on others and be both strong and flexible in our relationships?

I said I would keep these blogs short. There’s so much more to say. I would love to hear from you about your response and your experience

Yvonne x