Yoga Beyond Belief: Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your Practice

tuning makes it your own unique yoga, specifically for yourself. Personal practice is a well to draw from; it is one of the greatest gifts we can give ourselves, and it is ultimately a gift to others too.

Integrating Yoga into Daily Life
    There are numerous ways to integrate yogic practices into the day. Many techniques in the tradition were gleaned from watching animals. An animal will stretch several times a day to relieve the stiffness from inactivity. Humans, on the other hand, tend to compartmentalize life. If our workout class is at five, we may be sedentary the rest of the day and not give exercise a thought. Many people will even circle around and around the parking lot looking for a space a hundred feet closer to the door of the gym they are going to work out in.
    Look for opportunities to walk, and walk briskly, or use the stairs when possible. In order to stay flexible, get in the practice of stretching out stiffness after sitting for long periods. A simple standing forward bend, a back arch, and twist will make a real difference. Stand up, breathe, and move around at regular intervals to break up long sedentary periods. Create your own “chair yoga” by learning to do twists and forward bends occasionally at your desk or in the car. Sit a good portion of the time with a straight spine and practice walking some of the time with alignment and awareness. Watch how you carry things. When picking things up, consciously use the alignment you learn from your yoga practice and make a forward bend asana out of the movement. Start using both sides of your body evenly. If, for example, you are leaning or reading on one side for a time, balance yourself by switching to the other side. Your yoga practice will also make you more awareof your tendencies to hold tension. Do you tense your neck when you write, type, or even when you watch movies or television? Try using some of your television time to do some easy stretches or passive asanas while watching. Become more attentive during the day so that you notice and eliminate bad postural habits. You should also be mindful not to get carried away by all this self-observation—a little bit goes a long way. You do not want to be constantly controlled or contrived in your actions; you just want to be aware and occasionally restore balance. It is more important in the long run to be relaxed and spontaneous than to be overly self-conscious and controlled.
    The other day a few friends and I had the chance to visit a great museum. One member of our group was an avid, perhaps fanatic, yoga practitioner. Even though he had been regularly practicing for many days, he said he could not go with us because he would miss his morning practice. He reminded me of the friend described earlier who wouldn’t go on the city and river tour with us. I told him that one of the reasons I practice yoga is to enjoy life; I suggested that we could go, but not miss our practice, finding a way to work it in. As we walked for hours touring the museum and grounds, we found a way to inconspicuously do many postures and stretches. We used railings to do twists and forward bends and did some squat poses to release tension accumulating in our legs and lower backs. We even did a couple of partner poses. All this was woven right into our day. That night we felt the glow of a good physical workout and spirits lifted by art, conversation, and insights. My legs were a bit sore from climbing and walking so much, so before bed I used about ten minutes of forward bending and lunges to release the tightness. My friend was happy he had changed his routine. This is another example of how yoga can be incorporated during daily activities and how it complements our lives without taking out time or preventing us from our activities.
    We weaken our backs by habitually reclining on chairs and couches. It is invaluable to learn to sit on the floor without support. When youfirst start, simple sitting can be difficult and uncomfortable but staying with it will increase flexibility and the tone of back muscles. I was once spending a weekend at the home of a friend and former yoga teacher. He hadn’t practiced in several years and had gotten stiff and paunchy. I happened to be sitting with my feet crossed in the Lotus posture, talking to my friend who slouched on a couch. He was explaining that he no longer had time to keep up his practice. I realized that I was actually doing yoga while we spoke, by sitting in the Lotus