I was reminded before teaching the yoga class last night in Cuddington, Northwich that I have not submitted a blog for a while..apologies. I have been enjoying the sunshine pottering in the garden, or repainting the upstairs rooms in my little house. I am learning to relax and really enjoy the moments of tranquility and peace that my life can provide. I am constantly aware of how lucky I am! Recently I read an article claiming a mere 6% of the working population enjoy their job, which seems sad and a waste of a lot of time for a lot of people. I love that I wake every morning excited about the day ahead. I appreciate that my classes and individual tuition are often the bright spots in an already good day. I feel blessed by being able to explore my love of yoga, to share with others the balancing of body and mind that a good practice can provide.
When I look back at my previous – pre yoga – lifestyle…on the busy person who fitted so much into her life, yet enjoyed less, it seems like I almost wasted time. In trying not to waste time I was so busy ‘doing’ that I forgot to just ‘be’. It’s the idea of looking where you are going and forgetting to enjoy the journey! Learning to just quietly sit and breathe isn’t a practice I ever thought I would enjoy, yet now I maintain a regular meditation practice! I find it hard to not to enthuse too much and bore people with how much yoga can change their lives, in every way- mentally, physically and spiritually! However in keeping a lid on my enthusiasm maybe I forget to explain some really amazing things.
After class in Stockton Heath on Tuesday, a new student was explaining his desire to learn more about the practice of yoga. We discussed briefly the practice of breath awareness and pranayama- more regulated breathing techniques. I will often include some basic techniques in class and have decided to explore some of the ideas behind these in my blog. For me, it was exploring the breath and learning to be aware of how my own breath represented some of my tendencies in life that encouraged me to change my way of being.
When I first started deepening my practice and having individual tuition with Dave Charlton, one of the first things I was to work with was my inhale. I had always been aware of a ‘blocking’ almost a restriction in my inhale that made me want to gulp in more air. I had assumed that it was maybe a postural tendency, as I had rounded shoulders and a ‘slumpasana’ tendency at the time. However in exploring my inhale we discovered how much it was linked to my inability to listen to my heart. I had spent many years being more ‘academic’ and ‘in my head’ and not learning to truly listen to what my instinct was telling me. I was constantly trying to fit into others’ expectations and feeling like a ‘square peg in a round hole’ rather that listening to my gut and my heart in telling me to follow the path that made me happy. As I learnt to let go of my internal blocking, to allow myself to trust in myself and ‘allow the world inward’ my breath notably changed. My inhale became longer and smoother and my ability to explore deeper inside myself and listen to my inner self became stronger. Nowadays I utilize this ability to notice my breath to encourage myself to be honest with myself. If I have questions about an activity, about the wisdom of a decision, then a simple practice involving work with breath awareness and exploring my inhale will often tell me how I really feel. If I feel that I am restricted in my inhale, as though the idea of allowing the decision to sit inside myself is not comfortable, then I am learning to listen to that instinct and maybe not make that decision!! It is interesting to watch the protective patterns of the breath, the restricted inhale if we are scared to allow people into our inner lives, or the restricted exhale when we need to spend less time looking inward.
We have all had situations where we knew deep inside ourselves that a decision is wrong, but we choose to go ahead anyway. We may be logical, thinking with our heads and not listening to our hearts. Our yoga practice allows us to observe the breath and integrate body and mind to explore how we should be living. It helps in decision making, confrontation, fear, anger and observing our habits. Simple breath awareness is a wonderful practice for learning how to bring our lives into balance, to give as much to ourselves as we give to the world around us. Conscious breathing encourages conscious action in returning inward to the self. Learning to love the breath, and to explore the intricacies of the mind are wonderful parts of the practice of yoga.