Yoga-the Right Way
INTRODUCTION
We’ve all seen the fancy pictures of someone contorting their body in an impossible position in front of a sunset and thought, “that’s why yoga is something I will never be able to do.”
For me, it took a month-long retreat in Costa Rica to find out that yoga is so much more than that–and in a way, so much less. For a long time I was hesitant to practice yoga for this reason. Being a professional basketball player, twisting my inflexible body into a pretzel did not seem beneficial or enjoyable. Still, once I retired, I knew it would be good for my body to learn new movements and stay active using an exercise that would be easy on my worn joints. That’s when I signed up for my journey to find out what yoga was really about–and everything changed.
Yoga, done the right way, will completely change your world like it did mine. In this blog I will be sharing what I learned in Costa Rica about how yoga is completely misunderstood, being utilized in the wrong ways, how to use it to better your overall health, and how anyone can and should use it, no matter your age, body-type, or athletic ability. The topics I will cover are:
The Western world’s view of Yoga
What is Yoga really?
How anyone can use yoga to better their health
7 basic yoga poses that go a long way
How I struggled to maintain my practice and 3 ways I overcame it
So if you have thought yoga wasn’t for you, think again because I am about to show you why yoga is for everyone!
The Western World’s Idea of Yoga
Yoga originated in Ancient India as a practice to unite the mind, body, and spirit. Yoga includes linking postures-called asana-to breath (Asana is the physical movement of yoga, which is only one aspect. Most of the Western world only knows yoga as this), breathing techniques, slowing the mind with meditation, and chanting. It has been used since ancient times as a way to relieve stress, strengthen the body, to connect to the spiritual world, and even help treat diseases. As the world began to advance and traveling across countries became more common, the people of the western world brought the secrets of yoga and its benefits to the east. The rise of yoga in the west began in Hollywood where people liked the idea of looking good while working out. Like most things in Hollywood, they sexualized the practice, taking the things that looked good and leaving most of the ancient practice behind. This new trendy workout with new opportunities for instagrammable poses and outfits spread like a wildfire across the nation into what we now call yoga. My goal with this post is to show what yoga truly is so that we can reap the benefits of its practice.
What is Yoga Really?
So what is yoga really? Yoga is the inward path. It is returning to ourselves by uniting the being that we call “I” and the infinite which most of us call “God”. It is a healing modality. The idea in yoga is that the body is a temple and we should treat it as such; however, it is not the ultimate. We can use yoga to fine-tune our senses, to connect and to see things beyond which we experience now. If you’ve ever had that feeling inside that “there has to be more”, yoga can help you feel the “more”. It can help us to move past this idea of ourselves in this world, our persona-or mask-that we make for ourselves and for others.
When used the right way, yoga will help us to become who we are really meant to be and live the life we want to live. It is not meant to be used to gain more followers on social media.
How Anyone Can Use Yoga to Better their Health
The health benefits to yoga are endless. These include better concentration, improved mood, improved sleep quality, better body awareness, brain stimulation, relief of chronic stress, helps to prevent heart disease, and the list goes on and on. As you can see, there are both huge physical and mental benefits, but to reap them it is important to practice the right way.
So now that we know what yoga is, how can we use it to our advantage? Well, the first place to start is to find a very basic routine to master. Many times at the start, people want to get to the part where they look like a pretzel. I am not saying you can’t get to that point, and flexibility has a lot of physical benefits, but with that being said, you do NOT have to be flexible to practice yoga. Yoga is meant to feel good.
When I was first getting started in making a routine, I dedicated about 10-20 minutes a day to practice. That's it! And the results were unbelievable. I saw improvements in physical and mental health instantly. Here’s what I did and what I suggest for any level yogi:
Wake up and sit on your pillow, yoga mat, or favorite chair. Anywhere is perfectly fine for this. Give yourself 3-5 minutes of meditation. This can be as simple as closing your eyes and asking yourself how you feel that morning. Notice any aches and pains from the day before. Maybe you can make a mental note of 5 things you woke up feeling grateful for. After 3-5 minutes, do some small movements. You don’t have to do anything crazy at this point. A few seated positions or a couple sun salutations will do just fine. Spend 5-10 minutes moving any way your body desires, just to connect the body and mind. Once you finish your movements, for another 3-5 minutes practice a simple breathing technique (this practice is called Pranayama). There are many different techniques, but just to get started you can use a simple practice called square breathing. This is a 4 second inhale, 4 second hold, 4 second exhale, 4 second hold, and repeat. The more you practice and the more comfortable you get, the more you can increase the square. After a few days of this, try moving to 5 second increments.
With just 10-20 minutes a day and no physical or mental requirements, anyone can use yoga to change their lifestyle. I am certain that with even this small adjustment to your daily routine, you will see drastic changes in how you feel throughout the day.
How I Struggled to Maintain My Practice and 3 Ways I Overcame it
The biggest challenge in implementing a new routine into our lives is finding the time and motivation to do it. Often when we find a new practice, we get excited and stay on it for a short amount of time until life slowly gets back in the way and we fall back into our old patterns. I struggled for years trying to change my lifestyle for the better, constantly on and off the wagon, until one day I learned how to implement everything I had learned at my retreat and that’s when my life changed and I have been reaping the benefits of yoga ever since! Here are the 3 simple ways I successfully changed my lifestyle:
Start small. Make a small change in your day to reach big results. Wake up 15 minutes earlier every day and use that time to practice a yoga routine. 15 minutes is all it takes to start creating a habit and once you see how yoga changes your body, mind, and spirit you will start finding time to implement it any chance you get. Once I dedicated 15 minutes every morning to my practice, I started seeing huge changes and in return, I just kept wanting to improve and build my life from there.
Believe in what you are doing! Whatever you start, if you start it half way, you are setting yourself up for failure. And then when you fail, you just prove to your mind that this isn’t for you. But it is! You deserve to be the best version of yourself, so dive into it completely and show yourself you can do it. The minute I told myself I could do and be anything I wanted, everything opened up and it was for me to decide. How exciting?!
Learn as much as you can about it. Once I started reading about everything yoga could do for me, it only excited and motivated me more. When you see how much you can do with it and how much it can do for you, it will be so much easier to stick with it. Nobody is going to stick to something they dread! So read about it, watch videos, learn anything you can about it to spark your excitement! Learning everything I learned in my retreat changed how I view everything, even the world around me.
7 Basic Yoga Poses That Go a Long Way
Balasana (Child’s Pose)
Balasana is great for opening the hips, lengthening the spine, and relaxing the back muscles. It will help relieve tension, especially in the mornings and getting ready for bed.
Malasana (Garland Pose)
Malasana is a good stretch for the lower back and can improve blood flow to the digestive system, which can be great in the morning.
Uttanasana (Forward Fold)
Uttanasana is great for a relaxing stretch getting out of bed. It elongates and aligns the spine and can also aid in digestion.
Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Dog)
Adho Mukha Svanasana is a great stress reliever at any time of the day and a great full body stretch. It can also strengthen the body when practiced regularly.
Bhujangasana (Cobra)
Bhujangasana is good for the lower back and has also been shown to relieve symptoms of depression when practiced regularly.
Tadasana (Mountain Pose)
Tadasana is a wonderful pose to start your day, improving mental clarity, deepening awareness, and improving posture.
Shavasana (Corpse Pose)
Shavasana is one of the best postures to practice before bed as it aids in tissue and cell repair, relieves stress, and brings you to a deep, meditative state of rest.
Practicing these 7 simple yoga poses regularly will bring big changes to both your physical and mental health. There is little to no effort in these postures and absolutely anybody can practice them.
Conclusion
Yoga has been around since ancient times. And like many things, we have taken the parts we wanted and left the parts we didn’t, leaving many worthy people thinking they are unable to practice yoga and, therefore, missing out on endless benefits. All I want for you is a better life. I want you to feel the same changes in your life that I have felt in mine, because I believe every single human deserves to be their favorite version of themselves. To read more on living better, check out more on my blog HERE where I talk about all things mental health and returning home to YOU. Sign up below to join my Wildflower Family, where we learn how to heal the deepest parts of ourselves through things like yoga, art, writing, and more and get my free 5-chapter eBook “Finding You: A Journey Inward”. Let’s create a healthier world together.
