“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
Albert Einstein
Achieving balance in the yoga studio can seem as challenging as achieving balance in other areas of life. However, I find the more I practice balancing on my yoga mat, the easier each pose becomes. I have discovered this is true for balancing daily challenges as well.
Here are 4 steps that I find useful to stay balanced in the mind, body and beyond.
1. FOCUS ON WHAT WORKS
It always helps to direct your gaze (drishti) on one object in the room when attempting a pose that requires balance. As opposed to looking all over the place to find balance in the body. Similarly, when I find life especially difficult, I look for what is stable and focus on those areas until the balance returns. (ie. family, friends, work, hobbies)
2. FIND JOY IN FAILURE
If you fall out of a pose in your yoga class, can you smile and try again? Perhaps look at it as an opportunity for a fresh start. And then try to apply the same principles when dealing with situations off your mat. When things don’t go as planned take a moment to take a deep breath, keep a positive attitude and try to see the lighter side to the situation. Then pick yourself up, smile and keep going.
3. GIVE YOUR ‘YES’ POWER
One of my favourite sayings, that I come back to regularly is – ‘Your ‘yes’ won’t have power until you can say ‘no”. Build your yoga pose from a strong foundation. Same with life. If I am finding myself over-committed, without much time for myself, I need to turn down any new opportunities, no matter how attractive. I would rather focus on my core task, and do them with integrity, than struggle to maintain my composure when I take on too much.
4. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
This one is easy, the more I practice a challenging yoga pose, the closer I become to achieving the pose. As with life, the challenges will get easier over time, as long as I keep trying.
Let’s all find better balance on and off the yoga mat this month.
See you on your mats. Sweat, stretch & smile,
Kacey
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Kula Yoga has a beautiful hot yoga studio on Camberwell Rd, Hawthorn, Melbourne. Kula offers ‘Hot Yoga’ classes for detoxification, dynamic power yoga ‘Flow Yoga’ as well as a gentle ‘Light Yin Yoga’ option. Beginners through to advanced students are welcome to all classes. Kula also provides prenatal & postnatal yoga classes, and provides Melbourne workplaces with group corporate yoga programs to build employee health, fitness and wellbeing, and school yoga programs. Kula also runs an annual ‘Kula Cruise’ yoga retreat sailing from Bali to Lombok & the Gili Islands. Find out more on our website www.kulayoga.com.au. Or follow us:
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4 Ways to Improve Balance – On and Off The Yoga Mat.
