There are many ways to make your personal yoga practice better, but today I want to share with you one simple thing that can dramatically deepen, extend and generally improve your practice. It is your attention.
From my personal experience I know that the proper attention to whatever you do, will significantly increase the quality of the work, and in this case – the quality of your yoga routine.
What does such attention mean?
It’s very simple: just be there. Listen to your body while doing asanas, don’t hang on the thought flowing through your mind, just watch them from afar, not being engaged in the process of “mental boiling”. Just try to focus on the process of yoga, on your current practice.
What are the benefits of attention in yoga?
Basically there are two of them:
- When you listen to your body, it can tell you what to do and how to do a particular asana or yoga pose in the optimal way for yourself and for the current situation. So, you will not only perform better but your practice will become much safer since you will know the best and safest ways to do a pose.
- It is described in yoga scriptures that our attention attracts the flow of prana of the life energy to a particular place. It means that when you are focus on the process of doing yoga, the energy is activated and directed to the right places in your body. This in turn makes your progress in yoga much better in terms of speed and quality.
How do I learn to be attentive during yoga?
The first thing is to be very serious about your practice. Create the appropriate atmosphere in the place you do your yoga. This will help maintaining your mind in peace. Try a gradual switching to a healthier diet since what we eat directly influences the way we think. If we eat food which is made without violence (vegetarian and vegan), which is fresh and wholesome, our body will be healthy and mind will be more peaceful. And this is not only required for yoga; you will become happier in life in general.
Be serious about practicing savasana. This pose looks simple but nevertheless it is very potent in keeping your mind calm, and your energy flowing freely throughout your body. Every time you complete your program, have at least 3-5 minutes for savasana or a corpse pose. learn to do it properly, and you will reap its full benefits, which also include a better stress resistance and improved health; even your perception of life will change toward a more optimistic one.
So I hope now you understand the importance of being more attentive in your yoga practice. Try it and see for yourself how it works.