After you’ve been practising for a while you start to feel more comfortable on the mat, and you may question whether you’re still making any real progress. It’s like you’ve reached a plateau, which can be frustrating as you want to continue to see your practice evolve. While there’s always room to dive deeper into breath awareness or feeling more grounded and centred in your balances, a regular check in for how the asana practice feels for you is a great way to challenge your perceptions of a linear progression. Here are two things to remember when it comes to taking your practice to the next level.
STHIRA SUKHAMASANAM – ASANA IS A STEADY COMFORTABLE POSTURE (SUTRA 2.46)
When it comes to a perfect posture, Patanjali describes an asana as having two important qualities. For a pose to become Yoga, it has to be steady and comfortable. So this is essentially the aim of each and every posture. Steadiness in the foundations of the pose, while finding comfort in the expansion.
So how do you perform that really difficult posture while finding steadiness and comfort? Accepting that your body is different everyday is a good place to start. From here, going deeper in a posture will become a possibility when you are aware that it is a good day for your body to be in that particular shape. There will be days of total surrender where you will be able to get into postures that you’ve been working on for weeks. For example, it might take months of practise and holding back before finally making it into a full bind. But no matter where you are in your practice, if you are comfortable in your body you will find less obstacles on your way to progression. Anything is possible if you believe in yourself and allow yourself to be exactly where you are in the moment.
When life gets a bit much, so does your practice on the mat. Your body gets held back because of whatever you are holding in your mind (sadness, stress, frustration, anxiety, anger etc). On these days your energy is low so there’s no point in pushing yourself. You might notice another day where you have a little extra energy to push the limits and try something new. And then you might go back to feeling heavy and sluggish and unable to move much at all. There are some days when it is enough of a challenge just to make it to class. The challenge of rolling out the mat might be just as intense as the jubilance of accomplishing Koundinyasana for the first time.
MINDFULNESS AND MENTAL WELLBEING
Mindfulness is the essence of Yoga. And because it is a mental state, each practitioner has a different and unique experience of it. To set yourself up to become more mindful, you need to constantly assess yourself and your reactions, which can be tricky.
You can use a mindfulness questionnaire when starting out, or you can simply journal how you’re feeling before, during and after your practise.
Using your breath as a guide is a great way to check in with your level of attentiveness. You want to sit still and simply count your breaths without your mind wandering and losing count. The number of breaths you take is measurable. The more breaths you count, the more concentrated your mind is for longer. You can use mala beads to help you stay focused or simply count the numbers in your head.
Whether you want to progress physically or internally, the journey is the same. Both are called practices because they are never-ending. So you want to exert the same steady effort each and every time you get on the mat. On the one hand it is a work-in-progress, but on the other hand you are already enough as you are. As long as you don’t attach your self-worth to how long you can stay in a headstand or stay focused in your meditation, you progress. Working to eventually accept who or what you are on any given day is the key to mental wellbeing.
Be curious. Play! Namaste with love Yogis!