To My Students: Integration of Yoga For Living

To all my students, let’s talk about integrating everything we discussed and practiced together! I am so very proud of each of you for taking the leap and coming to learn with us! It was truly beautiful to behold the transformation I witnessed in each and every one of you in such a short period of time! However, you may already be experiencing how fast your “normal life” begins to reassert itself, so how do we incorporate our practices, the philosophies, and experiences of yoga into everyday living?

There’s lots of ways and avenues to keep the practices going, but let’s start at the very beginning with the anchor of our practices. You know what I’m going to say next, right? (Right?!) Of course our anchor is the breathing. With every conscious, full, 3-part breath we take, we are bringing our consciousness into the present moment. If you do nothing else from the course, I would still consider your education to be successful if you breath more deeply and more regularly.

As yoga teachers, let’s begin teaching our friends and family how to breath properly to enlist the whole slew of benefits associated with the practice. To continue practicing with me, check out this video and blog post to read more about those benefits. The more we teach, the more we learn! 

So far we have step 1: Breath more deeply and regularly. Sounds simple enough. Step 2 Practice mindfulness by noticing when “your dog is off the leash.” Meaning noticing when your mind is spinning its wheels on some random fantasy, some past event you’re recollecting, or some future possibility and what that could look like. Notice that you’re no longer present. Then persistently, yet graciously bring your presense back by bringing your awareness to another deep breath, without judgment of yourself for having been “gone.” Like I said, sounds easy enough. Try to see how many times you can catch yourself over a one hour period.

So now we’re observing our breaths and our thoughts and this is an INCREDIBLE start. I’d be super happy if that’s all the practices you did! However we did discuss a whole lot more than that, didn’t we?! An obvious step 3 then would be integrating our 2-hour daily asana practice into your daily life. I can feel that some of you are groaning a bit at this last one, and to be fair, 2 hours of anything is a long time to take for anything in one day. Perhaps there’s more than one way we can slice this pie up.

How about an hour for a morning self-led Vinyassa flow class for yourself followed by an evening Yin or Restorative class? Perhaps switch out the evening class with a Yoga Nidra practice or a 10-minute Nadi Shoddhana to balance yourself after a long day? You could also explore mantras on Spotify and let ‘em rip on your drive home some days! I’d avoid meditating on your drive home though… How about at the very least for a morning practice, do some full body shakes, some tiger/tigress, and a couple other poses for 15 minutes.

Maybe after lunch around the 2 PM slump, you remind yourself to do the daily Mahat Yoga Pranayama to super oxygenate your lungs while you do some bicycles in the air to give your knees, hips, and ankles a much deserved break! Even a 1-minute afternoon practice can make a huge difference!

The point is that we need to incorporate the practices which makes us feel amazing so we can keep exploring and growing. Find like-minded people with whom you can discuss all things yoga. Keep reading the books and exploring the energetic nature of reality to strengthen your belief systems. Take time to meditate each day, even if just a short period. All of our practices are cumulative and each ounce of energy we put into our own personal growth, the more benefits we see and feel within ourselves.

If you feel called to teach what you’ve learned, start taking those steps! First practice the sequence you want to share and then reach out to your community and start putting out feelers. Whether it’s at a yoga studio, private classes, teaching friends and family, or whatever feels genuine, simply keep moving forward.

Of course Sarah and I will always be resources for you. Please reach out if you have any questions or need advice as we are always happy to help whenever we can! Thank you for doing the work. Thank you for opening your hearts and minds with us. This is a journey of evolution and awakening and only you can do the work, so thank you for your enthusiasm and continued efforts.

Om Namah Shivaya,

~Bruce Barnes