As I begin a yoga class in my Nerja studio, I always invite students to close their eyes and arrive in that special place and space we decided to dedicate to the yoga practice, through the observation of the breath. I invite them to observe the body movement of the breath. The breath is a tool that I inevitably associate with yoga in general, with asanas, as well as with meditation. It is for me the means that allows the realization of the very meaning of Yoga as a union between our body and our spiritual part, our divine origin, the source.
One of the first acts of approaching Yoga and therefore one of its most immediate benefits is probably to slow down. You leave out the activities and programs that you have already done and will do later and you focus, you return for a while to that union with yourself and the whole. You stop running from one place to another trying to do as much as possible in those that always seem too few daily hours. You stop being outside, scattered, which is what we tend to do always, and for a while you come back to yourself, focusing your attention inside you.
All this happens by closing your eyes, observing your breath and your body. And so you arrive in that place and in that moment. You are then ready to start the yoga class. And if eventually, during the practice, the mind should return to disperse, I invite you to make this reconnection before continuing with the practice.
In the first asana I always invite you to feel the body. How do I perceive it? Do I have new tensions today? How am I? I perceive, I feel, I listen to myself. And I breathe where I need it. Bringing the breath to a point is healing, incredibly healing. I oxygenate the body, the cells and that part of the body that needs it most.
The attention, where I bring the attention is important. It has great power that we neglect without realizing its incredible healing action.
I breathe in one posture, I exhale in the next. I perceive, I feel the tension, I breathe, I release. .
And to do it, I can only be present in my present.
This way yoga happens to become a flowing journey from one posture to another with incredible elegance, dictated by the rhythm of the breath. In a sort of trance, I return to my true nature, in the silence of movement. So the rhythm changed. We finally reached the human rhythm that allows us to be without panting. That allows us to enjoy everything.
I always conclude the class with a mantra in Sanskrit of Zen Buddhism that I learned at Plum Village, the Buddhist monastery founded by Tich Nat Han. With that mantra we commit ourselves to remain as present as possible and in self-observation throughout the day.
And perhaps it happens that you come out of the yoga class and this new rhythm and this connection with yourself and the Whole remain on you and will be driven to gift with more than one smile those who are close to you, those you meet on the street. You don't run, you are in each step, you listen to the birds, you find yourself admiring a flower or a tree on the side of the road. You might also stop to greet the neighbor who is waving at you, hug your child or your partner for more than 5 seconds when you return home and sit down with him/her for a moment before starting to cook or do something else.
Yoga lived in this way will have led you to slow down with all the benefits that slowing down entails...… Welcome home.
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