Today I finally got myself to the gym to do my yoga practice. I decided that I would try to use the mantra "OM" (with music) for inspiration. When I near a pose's edge I usually ask myself, "What should I be doing more of here?" Today when I reached that point I answered myself by surrendering to the sounds of my background mantra. I discovered that I had a much easier time finding just the right amount of energy to hold the pose while the softening of my mind helped me to relax the muscles that didn't need to be activated, which resulted in my reaching a more comfortable depth in my poses and flow.
With me being a pretty typical pitta, this less is more lesson is extremely valuable, and I am slowing making progress in my own practice both on the mat and off. But I don't incorporate mantra enough into my teaching. And I should definitely start guiding more in the direction of shifting one's focus to releasing tension in asana.
Said and done, I completed my practice feeling renewed and already looking forward to using this experience as a basis for next week's theme. As I left the room I grabbed my new Body Balance DVD that had just been delivered, and I laughed as read the text on the backside cover:
The focus in BODYBALANCE 45 is on breathing and letting go or relaxing the body parts you're not using in the poses and movements.
Cheers, Jackie!
;-)
ReplyDelete