Physical Yoga Practice

Like so many others, I started out in the world of yoga because I was drawn to the physical practice and the way it made my mind and body feel after a class. I would leave the yoga studio feeling parts of my body that I’d never felt before, and my mind would feel comfortably calm. This was really what got me hooked on yoga in the first place. The interesting thing is, when you keep coming back to the practice on a regular basis, you really notice how you start getting better. At some point, the postures don’t feel so weird anymore, you’re not that exhausted after class, and this shy feeling of peace starts becoming a friend who wants to spend more and more time with you.

This was the time for me when I became interested in yoga’s deeper aspects, the philosophy behind it, the eight-fold path. You see, while we in the West mostly consider yoga as a physical practice, it really is a whole way of life.

According to the Indian sage and author of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali, yoga is the ceasing of the fluctuations of the mind. With the eight-fold path, you have a whole system that guides you towards enlightenment – or at least to a more peaceful life.

While the physical practice is only a part of that whole system, I learned that it’s incredibly effective in bringing you closer to yoga’s other aspects. By keeping a steady asana practice, you’ll observe how your life naturally changes, sometimes in small ways, like appreciating the beauty of everyday things on your way to work, and sometimes in bigger ways, like changing your routine, your eating habits, or even your job.

You can, of course, actively get immersed in the philosophy of yoga and start practicing other aspects like breathing techniques and meditations, non-violence, and truthfulness right from the beginning, but from my experience, I’d say the most important thing is just to keep practicing. Everything else will come.