WHY THE YOGA PRACTICE FOR THE MODERN MIND NEEDS TO BE SLOW LIKE A SNAIL.
Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed and stressed by life? It’s hard for you to slow down your thoughts and quieten your mind? The tendency to ‘overthink’ easily throws you into limiting thought patterns? You are sometimes overwhelmed by your emotions which makes you more reactive than you’d like to be? These are all symptoms of our “modern mind”.
In our current world we are mostly overstimulated. In 2023 the amount of information and impressions we are exposed to is tremendously surpassing everything we’ve know. There is too much sensory input for our “modern” brain to handle. For the amount of information, we often do not have the capacity nor make the space to process. All this leaves our nervous system constantly overstimulated and overregulated. I guess lots of our current mental problems like feelings of fear and overwhelm come from that. What we need is some space to process it all.
MEDICINE FOR THE MODERN MIND
Our “modern mind” does not need another fast-paced, strong vinyasa class nor an intense HIIT workout that leaves us with a dopamine-high but our muscles sore and our energy depleted (except if a state of “being exhausted” is what we want).
A few weeks ago I’ve started an individually curated 40 day sadhana (spiritual practice) that has been designed to create grounding, stability and calmness of body and mind. What I have found so far is blowing my mind. My sleep got better. My digestion got better. I feel I am much more resilient and my nervous system is calm like a purring cat. I am more connected with myself. My to-do lists are not stressing me out. I am creative. I can drink several cups of coffee without being a nervous wreck. Simply put: I am feeling great. The practice does not leave me tired or listless. It puts me into a state of smooth calmness with a little spark and my body and mind love to hang out in this space.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO PRACTICE SLOWLY?
In the Hatha Yoga tradition this slow practice is called moon practice and the key components are the following:
Slowing down the pace of the whole practice (hint: slow practice does not mean easy or not exhausting. mentally it can be actually more challenging.)
Holding poses for way longer than in the average vinyasa class
Longer pauses between poses (rebound space – that’s the space in which you cultivate sensitivity and give yourself the time to feel)
Deep abdominal breathing throughout the practice (no ujjayi breath)
Conscious and extended exhalations (longer exhalations than inhalations)
Short breath retentions after the exhalations (skr: kumbhaka)
Mainly asanas that facilitate a downward movement of energy (twists, foreward folds)
No music
Must: Shavasana & meditation (never leave these out!)
WHY FASTNESS IS DULL AND SLOWNESS IS THERAPEUTIC
Just as in life: All transformation begins with awareness, thrives with courage, and is killed by being too busy or going too fast so you are blind to see what truly matters. When we significantly reduce the pace of our yoga practice, and we stick around in asana (physical yoga poses) for longer it can become very insightful. They become the mirror of our (often heavily overstimulated) minds. We won’t get these insights when we too quickly buzzing from pose to pose.
With the longer holding of the poses we do some sort of intentional provocation, i.e. putting us intentionally into uncomfortable places, in which we are easily get triggered, stressed or challenged. The longer we hold the energetically intensive poses, the more likely it gets uncomfortable for us to stay there. When we get uncomfortable in the pose, we can learn about our default mechanism which can be stress, moving around, anger, stopping, getting mad, etc. Lots of unprocessed things from our subconscious mind may come up. The goal during the practice is to not react to the spinning of our mind. It’s our choice: Either we step into the witnessing role or we react. That’s probably the choice we are making in real life too. At some point when we practice long enough to be the witness to the chatters of our own mind, we can usually see things coming and instead of being overreactive we may eventually even get bored of the things that come up and be able to meet them with compassion and gratitude.
When we meet those intense moments without freaking out, when we manage to stay calm in a place of adversity, this is when yoga helps us to become more calm and more resilient. Bc you’ll be making this choice towards non-reactiveness much more easily in your daily life as well. And trust me, this ancient Indian science, it works.
Why should I practice the same sequence EVERY SINGLE DAY?
WHY PRACTICING THE SAME SEQUENCE EVERY SINGLE DAY?
Practicing every day a different sequence makes your body stronger and more flexible but leads you energetically into different directions and will probably get you everywhere and nowhere (do never underestimate the energetic effect of breathing and body postures). In contrast, when you intentionally put together a sequence of pranayama (breathwork), asana (physical postures) and meditation connected to the goal you want to achieve (e.g. becoming a more calm and less reactive human being) practicing the same sequence for longer can really cause a long-lasting change in your life. But first of all you need to get clear an what you want to achieve. Becoming more calm and balanced is probably something 99% of the western world population would benefit from.
WHY FOR 40 DAYS?
Both modern neuroscience and the yoga tradition say that it takes around 40 days to establish new neuronal connections. Practicing a sequence on grounding, stability and calmness for 40 days can be medicine for the modern mind and will help you be a more calm, stable, and single-pointed human in your daily life. After choosing non-reactivity in your yoga practice for 40 days in a row you can be sure that you’ll be making this choice much more easily in your daily life as well. First and foremost it crucial to know your target and what you want to achieve.
WHY DOES THIS PRACTICE MAKE ME MORE CALM?
More often than not we only see the physical aspects of a yoga (asana) practice. Yoga however is a several thousand year old tradition that has a high impact on our mind, body and energy system. We all know that pulling up the corners of the mouth for 30 seconds makes the brain believe that we are happy. That is because the brain cannot distinguish what is real or not. Likewise putting yourself into challenging (yoga) postures while applying a calm abdominal breathing can signalize your mind that the challenge at hand is manageable. This shows that the mind and the body mutually influence each other, while our breath is the gateway into both directions. Keeping this mind-body correlation in mind what you practice on the yoga mat is what you are actually rehearsing for your real-life situations. When you allow yourself to react in yoga, allow for constant mind-wandering and procrastinating, that’s probably what you will get as a default in your day-to-day life as well. That is why a proper instruction in yoga classes is most essential yet unfortunately not self-evident.
If you wish to have a daily practice that supports you in reaching your very individual goals, pls reach out to me.
