Living Your Yoga… Focus on Commitment

Wow, June already. Seems we were donning sweaters, raincoats and boots just a few days ago and boom 90+ weather. With rising temperatures comes multiple changes to our routines: schools out, kids are under foot, vacations are being planned, schedules are changing. Trying to keep a sense of calm can be challenging as the red shoots up the thermometer (both externally and internally). Keeping a regular yoga practice despite changing schedules and pulls on your time will help to facilitate a sense of grounding and inner peace.

Yoga demonstrates our ability to follow through. It is only through commitment to a regular practice that we begin to experience the full benefits of yoga. With the rising temperatures, now more than ever, allowing time for regular practice will help to ensure a stress free or at least stress reduced summer. Allowing you to stay cool, collected and calm in the midst of whatever changes are happening all around you.

“Even when we opt for stillness, our hearts are beating, our breath is flowing and all our systems are at work.” (Yoga International, Summer 2011) As the temperatures rise we may find our energies waning. Through our commitment to a regular yoga practice we learn the value of purposeful movement allowing us to become increasingly aware of how we move, breathe, and hopefully how we might begin to ease into purposeful stillness. Summer is the perfect time to commit to stillness and meditation is one way to bring a sense of calm, still restfulness to the heat of your day.

Focus on the Pose: MEDITATION… Here’s how:
S t i l l n e s s: Select a posture for relaxation or meditation. Allow yourself to rest in it, gradually experiencing a sense of stillness that rises naturally in you. Settle into that stillness and let it support you.
D i a p h r a g m a t i c B r e a t h i n g: Feel the flow of your breathing. The exhalation is cleansing, the inhalation is nourishing. Let the abdomen rise and fall with each breath. Let the breath flow without pause.
Sy s t e m a t i c R e l a x a t i o n: Use one of the systematic relaxation methods to release tensions. At the end of the method, bring your whole body into your awareness, breathing as if all the cells are cleansed and nourished with each breath.
B r e a t h Awa r e n e s s: Bring your attention to the touch of the breath in the nostrils. Feel the breath; warm as it flows out, and cool as it flows in. Maintain your awareness through each change in direction. Let thoughts come and go without judging or criticizing them. Simply rest your attention on the breath and relax.

M e n t a l Fo c u s: Continue feeling the breath and at the same time begin to think the natural sound of the breath in your mind. Think so on the inhalation, and ham (hum) on the exhalation. Let this sound become the focus of your awareness, gently bringing yourself back to it if your attention wanders. Relax your body, breath and mind, maintaining the focus. Rest in the presence of your own being.