You-ga: Finding Yourself in Yoga
We opened Balancing Breath with a mission to help you do more than work out. While yoga often gets placed in the “fitness industry,” the physical fitness benefits are not the primary focus of your practice. The essence of your yoga practice includes, yes, physical movement (asanas or poses), but also mental clarity and focus (drishti) and self-inquiry (niyama). At its core, yoga is a practice of connection between body, mind, and soul. Each dimension of yoga practice is a work-out, and also a work-in. Let’s unpack this a bit, and focus on what it means to work in, and to find yourself in a yoga practice.
“Working in” isn’t a new concept or phrase, nor is yoga the only “work in” activity or practice. In fact, happy, healthy, high-level performers in business, sports, and life often turn inward to find their confidence and edge. However, our culture encourages us to do things with an outward focus. Marketing tells us to, “Get your beach body ready,” “Buy this to be trendy,” or “Sign up to compete against the best.” We are challenged to show up, or perhaps more concerning, to show off. We get lost in how we compare to others. Or we just get lost, losing our goals, routines, confidence, perhaps even our hope.
When we practice yoga, there is an intentional focus on how we show up. How is my body feeling today? Where is my mind and focus right now? How well do I understand what I need to be at my best? Yoga is a practice of embodiment—each practice session is an opportunity for you to connect inward, to feel your body, be aware of your mindset, and challenge yourself to strengthen both body and mind, by aligning them with each other. Yoga also prioritizes postural alignment. The depth or height of poses are less valuable to growth than maintaining posture and form. Ground down to rise up; strengthen your core to extend—like a tree with strong roots that bends in the wind.
How do we do this? One specific way is through our breath. Continuous breath keeps us present and helps us find the balance between effort and ease. Another technique is to find strength in stillness (like balancing poses or yin yoga, where we hold positions for longer periods of time). We can also use heat or intense flows (series of poses linked together) to challenge our mind to stay calm while we sweat or move our bodies quickly. We work in by focusing on our core—and that is not just our abs, that’s the core of us, our values, beliefs, and self-awareness. This is you-ga. You, on your mat or chair, seeing and accepting all that you are in that very moment. It’s freeing. And with continued practice, we grow our strength and flexibility (of body and mind) along with our confidence and self-awareness.
Working in is about connecting with what is most important to you. This is why yoga is always practice—there’s no competition or finish line. In fact, one of the pillars of yoga philosophy is non-judgment, or acceptance. We show up to our mat or chair differently each day. Our bodies change, we get sick or injured, we age, our activities change from day to day. And our minds wander through thoughts and emotions—not to mention how we live in a world with constant stimulation. You come as you are to practice. You connect with yourself. Using your body, mind and breath, you lean into your present self with gratitude, and the work in begins.
Balancing Breath offers a community—shared practices where you come to connect with others who are working in, finding inspiration in one another. Yoga, and in particular self-inquiry, is a very personal process. You are on your own journey, to meet your needs, and to grow in ways you choose. We find our own balance between “not enough” and “too much” as we practice. And at the same time, we are connected by breath, by movement or stillness, by the support of knowing that no matter what level of experience we have, the practice is challenging for all of us in personal ways.
Our well-being—our physical, mental, spiritual, and social health—this is the most important part of our life. In fact, our well-being is our life. Without wellness, we miss out on (or struggle to enjoy) the things and the people we love, wrestle with pain or mobility issues, feel sadness, frustration or self-doubt…so many things. And although we don’t have total control of our health, we can impact our wellness, even if our health is not where we want it to be. Wellness can be acceptance—of challenges, limitations, pain, our past. It is also about being present, finding yourself in yoga. You-ga. Everyone at Balancing Breath invites you to help us build a community of practice that makes space for all of us to work out and in together—to build wellness from the inside out.
~ Rebecca and Steph
Creative support: by Jonah Matteo
