5-Minute Mindfulness (10 page)

Existing health conditions worsen

If you are experiencing five or more of these symptoms, you are browning out. It’s time to take some steps to manage your stress now.

“Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.”

—J
OSEPH
C
AMPBELL

CHAPTER 6

MINDFUL BODY, LUMINOUS BODY

“This very body that we have, that’s sitting right here right now … with its aches and its pleasures … is exactly what we need to be fully human, fully awake, fully alive.”

—P
EMA
C
HöDRöN

Mindfulness can mean the difference between a stressed-out body and a luminous body.

Mindfulness helps to intimately reconnect you with your body and give it your complete attention. When you rejuvenate, care for, and nurture your body at the deepest levels, you also quiet and focus your mind, relieve tension, increase your self-knowledge and awareness, improve your quality of life, and change how you see the world.

THE UNITING OF BODY, MIND, AND SPIRIT

The mindfulness tool we use to accomplish all this is yoga. If you think yoga is just exercise requiring you to twist your body into impossible pretzels, think again. The word
yoga
comes from the ancient Sanskrit meaning, literally, “to yoke or join.” Yoga traces its origins back thousands of years to India, where it began as a means of communing with the divine. This eight-limbed system—of which the “pretzel” postures are only one—is designed to encourage this communion through a combination of philosophy, postures, deep breathing, and meditation. (In fact, the postures were originally conceived to prepare the body for sitting in meditation.)

Through the practice of yoga, you can reconnect your body and mind and discover your spirit. Yoga is the art of listening to all parts of yourself—allowing you to become whole.

Working with the body through yoga connects you with spirit while unraveling the emotional, physical, and mental knots that bind you and blind you from your true nature. This process allows your essence to shine through and illuminates your entire being.

TRANSFORM YOURSELF

Yoga is a powerful, holistic, transformational tool that calms and focuses the mind and develops innate intelligence and awareness. The postures, breath awareness, and relaxation techniques develop your natural intuitive intelligence and help your mind to focus on one thing at a time instead of jumping around like a hyper monkey. When the mind is focused, the nervous, circulatory, and respiratory systems respond by slowing down. The body and mind start to relax. You feel calmer, think more clearly, and feel centered and grounded. Over time, the mind and the intelligence are able to spread throughout the body, focusing on many points at one time.

As the mind quiets, the body opens to release unnecessary tension and long-held emotions. The emotions become balanced and moderate. The body develops balanced strength, flexibility, and a stable core. You experience emotional equanimity and poise, like a tree that sways in the breeze but always come back to center. Life will always have its sunny days and stormy, windy times; with yoga you can create a strong foundation with which you can endure life’s unpredictable weather.

HEAL YOURSELF

Yoga is also a therapeutic tool. Specific postures and breathing practices can relieve many ailments and disorders. Often, people are amazed to find their backaches, headaches, and joint pain will disappear with regular practice. People with cancer, cardiac problems, and multiple sclerosis can experience relief of some symptoms and develop the ability to more fully relax and cope with stress.

Everyone can embark on the yogic path regardless of age, size, flexibility, or health. Many people unfamiliar with yoga think that they have to be like a Gumby toy—able to touch their toes to their nose—but this is not true. Yoga is the great equalizer. Two people can walk into a yoga class, one very flexible with no strength and the other stiff (too strong) with little flexibility. These individuals can do the same poses, with mindfulness and care, and the overly flexible person will build strength and the stiff person will create space in his/her body. With modifications to the postures, overweight people, pregnant women, and older people can practice yoga and receive its benefits. Many types of yoga are suitable for anyone, and poses can
always
be modified to fit an individual’s needs.

MINDFULNESS IN MOTION

Yoga is a process of learning to recognize and observe the reactions and habitual patterns of the mind, body, and breath. When you become aware of your patterns, you can slowly, with diligence, exchange them for new, more balanced patterns of movement, breathing, and think-ing—in a word, mindfulness.

Learning yoga is like learning a new language for your body, mind, and spirit. This is why yoga is described as a practice—you practice it to gain experience and self-knowledge from your efforts.

YOUR MINDFUL BODY

When you practice yoga, you are striving to align the bones, joints, and muscles, thereby enhancing strength and flexibility, balanced muscle action, and stamina and endurance. The more you practice, the sooner you will discover the right balance between ease and effort in the poses. Once you find that balance, you’ll be properly lengthening and contracting your muscle groups, stacking and feeding your bones into the joints, and soothing your nervous system. Voilà—mindfulness in motion!

How much you practice is up to you. Like meditation, the more consistent you are, the better. And, by establishing a regular practice—be it a weekly yoga class, a video you do on your own twice a week, or a daily practice you set up at home—you set the foundation you need to access the same benefits you experience during yoga practice while you’re going about the rest of your day, no matter how crazy busy your day may be.

Remember that a little bit can go a long way. Frequently doing a few poses at a time may be better for you than practicing for two hours at a shot. You can do yoga any time of the day. When you practice in the morning, the body tends to be stiffer, but the mind is sharper. In an evening yoga session, the body is suppler, but the mind is duller.

THE UNION OF BODY AND BREATH

Yoga is very user friendly. It requires little in the way of equipment and space. The most important part is to show up, have an open mind, and be present with your self. Yoga is all about expanding self-awareness. Therefore, it is important to listen to your body and a trained practitioner as you practice postures and breathing techniques. It is imperative to safely practice in a nonaggressive manner. When opening up tight areas in the body that are unaccustomed to stretching, you may feel discomfort. This discomfort may be due to stiff joints, tight muscles, and/or tightness of
fascia
(the fibrous interconnective tissue that is like a web between skin and muscle and also encases organs). Discomfort could also be due to how your body is built: Some postures may not work for you the same way they work for another person. Every body is unique. So, it’s important to go slowly and mindfully. Breathe into the postures during your entire practice: As you initiate a pose, build it, hold it, and release it; keep breathing, and notice how your body feels as you move and breathe.

Continuous breathing is the key. Often, shortness or holding of the breath is a good indication that you are working too hard or thinking too much. Let your breath inform and infuse your practice. Yoga is yoga because the breath is connected with the continuum of getting into the posture, being in the posture, and coming out of the posture. It is this connection of conscious movement with conscious breath that differentiates yoga poses from other physical disciplines, such as gymnastics or dance.

Yoga is an internally motivated practice. Comparing yourself to another practitioner or to a picture in a book and trying to mold your body into this ideal pose is not useful. All of us are different, and we come with bodies of all shapes and sizes and special needs. Some of us may be able to do backbends with ease and look beautiful doing them but struggle with forward bends. For others, the reverse may be true.

Yoga is not only about what you practice; it’s about how you practice. Always modify poses as needed. This shows reverence for the body and compassion for ourselves and reflects the true meaning of yoga, a path of self-exploration where you learn to honor your experiences in the moment. You also develop trust in what you know deep inside as truth.

A quiet, well-ventilated, comfortably warm room keeps the muscles supple. If the room is too warm, it will be distracting, causing either irritation or lethargy (except in the types of yoga that are purposefully designated as hot yoga). A hardwood floor is terrific, but firm carpeting will also work fine. Clothing should be comfortable for full range of movement. T-shirts, leggings, and shorts are appropriate yoga gear. Yoga is done barefoot to tactilely feel, sense, and ground the feet.

PROPS

Some styles of yoga use a variety of props to help the body attain good alignment, balance, and ease in a pose. Props can enable you to perform a posture in proper alignment, thus allowing for a longer duration in the pose without strain and giving you the maximum benefit. The use of props helps to open the inner body while supporting muscular effort and minimizing strain and excessive striving in a pose. People with medical problems and the elderly will find the use of props invaluable in helping them practice poses that they might otherwise be unable to do.

There are many different props that can be used to enhance your practice. They can be purchased through catalogs and at some yoga centers and health food stores, such as Whole Foods. Here is a list of simple props, some of which may already be part of your household:

•
Sticky or nonslip mat:
This is a useful prop that provides traction and grip so you can concentrate on doing the posture without worrying about slipping.

•
Strap or belt:
A strap has many uses; for example, stretching the hamstrings in a variety of poses or making a “longer arm” for shoulder-opening exercises.

•
Three firm cotton or wool blankets:
Blankets are handy for sitting on and for placing under the knees, head, and torso for headstands and shoulderstands.

•
Metal or wooden chair without arms:
A chair is wonderful for supported and modified poses.

•
Wooden or foam block or a phone book:
This comes in handy in “bringing the floor to you” in many postures (for example, if you are in a standing forward bend and your hands don’t reach the floor, a block placed under each hand eases the effort and stretch in the hamstrings); an old phone book can be encased in strong tape (duct tape works well).

•
Empty wall space:
A wall is a very useful tool to reinforce correct alignment, symmetry, and balance.

You Are Where You Are

Just as you should not be intimidated by yoga, neither should you be too eager to achieve the “perfect” pose and correct bad postural habits immediately. It took a lifetime to get you where you are today. One yoga class won’t change all that. In yoga, being present to each moment along the journey is more important than the destination—and it’s also a lot more interesting!

THE VALUE OF YOGA CLASSES

Attending yoga classes, with a teacher, can enhance your yoga practice. It is important for your understanding and growth for a teacher to observe you, someone who can provide feedback about your practice
.
Very often, we think we are doing correct action in our poses, but there are misalignments and unawareness that can detract from the precision and benefits of the pose. Having someone’s eyes on you and his/her careful guidance can increase your awareness and stimulate your self-knowledge.

The teacher may challenge your way of being in a pose and suggest new actions that will enhance and deepen your practice. Subtleties you might never have thought of can become known to you. Then you can go back home, recharged and motivated, and practice with this new-found awareness.

The group energy of a class, plus being in community with likeminded individuals, can enhance your experience of yoga. You can share experiences with class members and help increase each other’s awareness and knowledge.

UNITE BODY, MIND, AND SOUL

Remember that the goal is not the pose (known as asana) itself. Yoga is about the meditative process, from beginning to end, which includes reflecting on the effects of the poses. The asanas create different effects:

• Standing poses enhance vitality.

• Seated poses are calming.