Come Back To Your Senses
Yoga is a centring exercise. For body and mind. When balance feels or seems off. (Yeah, yeah, we know that, Andreas.) It all makes perfect sense. But why is it that it’s often the first thing to go when we feel ‘off’ in any way?
For me, it’s because I often feel over-faced by the thought of practising, usually because I have some idea of what a practise needs to be. So I baulk at the idea, and then chicken out. The most helpful thing I’ve done in recent months is to completely throw out any sort of plan. Instead, I make a point of beginning my practice with a simple question, not to my mind, but to my body: what do I need in this moment? The answer tends to branch in one of two ways: either I need physical invigoration, or I need to decompress.
In the first case, asana practise is generally helpful, generating the blood flow and oxygenation necessary to get out there and bring whatever has been on my mind to fruition. A dynamic, powerful practice can supercharge my day, giving me the zip I need to blaze through tasks, or categorise and solve problems. Similarly, active pranayama techniques such as kapalabhati or bhastrika are very effective, either on their own if I don’t have much time, or in conjunction with my asana practice to help rev up my engine. The idea being that by taking your half-baked mind off the issue for a little while, you can return to it with a brain that’s aflame with energy and creative potential. Needless to say, barriers tend to melt away much more quickly after that!
In the second case, a practice focused on releasing and observing is invariably the best solution for me. This could be asana practice that avoids muscular engagement, such as yin yoga, with long (c. 3-8 minute) holds, or restorative yoga (10+ minute holds). It could also be a pranayama technique that focuses on natural or gentle breathing, such as nadi shodhana. If it isn’t too upsetting — and goodness knows, it can be — it could also involve meditating with an ‘anchor’ (a focal point) somewhere in the body, like the palms of the hands or the chest, whilst gently pursuing the train of thoughts that have been bothering you as you sit. Sometimes trying to stay clear-headed is simply a losing battle, and a waste of time. All of these softer techniques are deliberate ways of giving your mind the bandwidth it needs to solve nagging thought processes. Unless we take time out like this, they tend to just sap our energy, the cerebral equivalent of the Apple ‘wheel of death’ or the Microsoft hourglass.
What unites both of these approaches, of course, is focus. Whether we are bringing awareness to the dynamic movement of the body in space, or to bodily sensations while static, to the breath, or to thoughts themselves, this focus allows our brains to defragment in the background. I never cease to be amazed at the inefficiency of my thinking when I worry, and the corresponding efficiency when I focus on yoga. It’s as if an army of brainy little elves suddenly springs into action while I’m distracting myself with my practise, and then supplies me with all the answers I need afterwards, clear as day.
Getting in touch with our physical senses is an incredibly powerful way of getting the mind to do its thinking ‘for free’, as it were. By centring on the body, the mind-machine can really get going behind the scenes. And the best bit is, you don’t even have to think about it.
So, if there’s something on your mind, try a new approach. Deliberately set it aside, practise for as little as 15 or 20 minutes, and then come back to it straight away. You’ll certainly sense a change.