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OPEN MIND OPEN BODY Ideas for Your Yoga Practice |
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The
S T R E T C H E D O
U T Practice If
a little yoga is good, it stands to reason that a lot of yoga is even
better. In fact, yoga all day long sounds pretty fantastic. However, if
you've ever attended an all-day yoga workshop or a yoga conference, you
know that asana all day does not always feel as blissful as you
anticipated. A little hobbling off the sticky mat and into a hot bath is
fine occasionally, when you have the time to take time off from work and
family. But how do you get the benefit of all-day yoga without pushing
beyond what your body and schedule can accommodate happily? Try
this: stretch out your regular practice throughout the day. Take the
sequence of your regular asana practice and split it up into 4 or 5
pieces. For example, if your regular sequence is 1) pranayama or breathing
kriyas, 2) warm-ups including sun salutations, 3) inversions, 4) standing
poses and balancing poses, 4) seated poses, and 5) relaxation or
meditation, perform the breathing exercises when you first wake up, the
warm-ups a little later, the inversions as a midday break, the standing
poses before dinner, the seated poses in the evening, after a hot bath or
shower, and the relaxation/meditation before bedtime. The next day, switch
the order. Start with meditation/relaxation, go backwards through until
you finish in the evening with breathing practices. I
have experimented doing this with the Ashtanga Vinyasa primary series:
breathing and sun salutations when I first wake up; standing poses
mid-morning, the seated postures in early evening, and the finishing
postures in late evening. The effects of this practice, when stretched
out, are different from a 2-hour practice in one block. In particular, the
seated poses done as a restorative practice (leaving the vinyasas out)
have a very gentle, soothing, and comforting quality. It is worth
experiencing the difference, even if you prefer a long practice, or if
your schedule makes breaking the practice up challenging. The
main benefit of this stretched out practice is that you experience yoga
more often - the effects of the mindfulness linger and spread out over the
day. Another benefit is that practice becomes less intimidating and less
fatiguing. Experiment, and see if stretching out your practice has a
positive effect on your mood and energy level. Also, if your stamina or
patience for any given practice session is low, you can simply go deeper
with the individual elements of your practice by structuring them in this
way. Longer
practices have their own rewards and consequences, and you may find that
stretching out your practice once a week is enough to give you a sense of
the possibilities in your practice. I encourage you to play with the
temporal dynamics of your practice: slow it down, speed it up, stretch it
out, and concentrate it into one long session. People differ in their
responses to various practices at various times of the day, and you may
find that the poses you hate in your morning practice become your favorite
pose in the evening. Similarly, inversions in the morning may have a more
invigorating effect than the same sequence in the evening. If
this practice does not appeal to you literally, you might consider taking
away the essence of the practice: take the time to explore your practice,
and give yourself the chance to experience yoga throughout the day. One of
my meditation teachers recommends taking a deep breath and centering every
time you walk through a door. Eventually, the effects of paying attention
start to accumulate and spread out. Perhaps with your yoga practice, you
can create reminders to pay attention to your body and your breath every
time you stand up or sit down, noticing what is happening.
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