Practice

People think yoga and they usually think about muscle tone, balance and becoming more flexible. In truth, if a person engages in a yoga practice on a regular basis you can in fact bring the elasticity of youth back into your life and be more flexible, and stronger. You can learn to apply your physical and mental energy more efficiently and in turn become more engaged and capable in all activities. The physical effects of yoga are well known and documented but how does yoga contribute to becoming more flexible in our daily lives and attitudes?

The practice of yoga is usually a slow process, no one becomes skilled at every yoga pose in a day or a week or a month and because it is a practice it never ends, there are always lessons to be learned and ways to improve. Realizing this is the first step in allowing yoga to help you become a more flexible person. Many people spend most of their day trying to figure out how to be more efficient, how to work faster and smarter, how to find a quicker way home or an easy solution to their problems. Modern life is full of quick fixes and short cuts. There are no short cuts in a yoga practice. You are forced to relax, to breathe and to concentrate on your intention. The outside world disappears for the 30 or 60 minutes of your practice and you learn to just be.

Eventually, the peace you find in your yoga practice will naturally weave its way into your life and become a part of you. You will become more flexible in your mind, soul as well as your body. There will be a sense of calm inside you that you most likely did not experience prior to practicing yoga on a regular basis. You will possess the ability and wherewithal to take deep breaths when a situation becomes stressful and learn to go with the flow when you run into a traffic jam or your schedule goes awry. Yoga will give you these tools if you allow it to and in turn you will be better equipped to pass them on to your family.