"Go inside yourself"

The next time you step onto your yoga mat, ask yourself the following questions about your yoga practice:

Does it awaken the energy inside your body?

Will it make you aware of what's inside of you?

Can it be done in a way that may release tension and not lock it into the body?

Will it open your spirit?

Think about it. These are valid questions to ask of any mind/body activity, but it is especially important for a yoga practice. The top 5 most popular reasons given for people to practice yoga are stress relief, pain relief, better breathing, flexibility, and increased strength. But will you be able to gain any of these benefits if your practice causes you to perform in a way that may actually be causing you more stress, pain, and injuries?

"Even if you can put your legs behind your head, you can still be tense 24 hours a day", says Taoist Lineage Master Bruce Frantzis. I've definitely seen that in more than a few yoga studios and in their instructors. I used to teach a hatha yoga class in a studio that attracted a very athletic and competitive student base and I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to get the students to relax and not fight with themselves in the postures. They collectively seemed to believe that if they weren't struggling with the physical aspect of the practice and pushing past 100% effort then they weren't "getting anything" out of class. Most of the students could perform the postures but were extremely tense at the same time.  It was a challenge to shift the focus by offering them a balance and bring more emphasis to their breath and some sense of mindfulness to what was happening to them on the inside.  I wanted to show them a way to lessen their tension with the postures. Obviously this group sought yoga for a physical workout more than anything else (what Bruce calls "mall yoga"). Over time, some got it and some didn't, and eventually the bulging eyes and grimacing faces began to soften as they learned how to move more slowly, more mindfully and allow themselves to relax and bring more awareness to their breath.

You don't have to give up your more active forms of exercise; chi practices like Longevity Breathing Yoga are a good way to develop balance in your activities, including a more vigorous style of yoga. You can also incorporate a few of the essential foundation concepts of Longevity Breathing Yoga such as whole-body breathing and relaxation into any practice in order to enhance your experience with it. Ideally, Longevity Breathing Yoga students will be able to bring what they learn from this ancient practice into literally everything they do.

The questions listed at the beginning of this blog are a good starting point to examine how you practice yoga (and eventually why you continue to practice).  And in case you didn't know, a Longevity Breathing Yoga practice answers YES to all of those questions.

~Ellen Pucciarelli  
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