3 things yoga taught me since I don’t practice (asanas)

In the beginning yoga means asanas for most of us. Most westerners experience the deeper layers of yoga starting with or through physical exercise. Even later when yoga appears off the mat; the basement, the foundation lies in the daily asana practice. It is very much valid for ashtanga yoga that is practiced 6x a week and involves physical strength. But what happens when any injury prevents you from practicing asanas and yoga is much more needed than ever before? Once I was told by a great teacher that even those times are part of our yoga journey when (it seems like) we are not practicing. I cannot agree more. #1 Not practicing asanas is hard It’s much easier to live my ordinary life when each morning I can look into a shamelessly honest mirror that reflects my actual mood, physical condition, behavior patterns (and damn much more) and I have a chance to face all of these within a 68 x 24 inches large but small-enough-to-feel-safe environment (i.e. on my mat). I have the opportunity to experiment and also I can build confidence through these risk free events. Once I succeeded on the mat, sooner or later it will work out off the mat too. When I am not this fortunate, the very first time I meet all these (down)sides of myself is the everyday life. Trust me, being aware of my rising ego in a situation when 4 hours left until departure, it’s the middle of the night, I haven’t slept yet, the room is full of stuff I have no idea where to put and my man still wants me to find some space for 10 more socks and a couple of books in the already over-packed luggage and simultaneously asks ‘was it a good idea to travel to India just right before we move?’ - without the blessings of the asana practice - that’s hard. #2 Not waking up at 5 am means that I feel more tired and exhausted than doing so During the years, it turned out that for me asanas are best to be practiced early in the morning. It comes together with the fact that most of the days I used to wake up around 5 am (yes, even during winter; yes, even when it’s still dark and cold outside; yes, even when I went to bed late) and this gave me the time and stillness to do my practice in my own pace. These hours are blessed and once I stepped on the mat I don’t care anymore how much (less) I’ve slept, how many awful meetings I’m going to have in the office or what I will cook for dinner (Yes! This is a rare case when I totally forgot about food). Despite the early bird lifestyle most of the time I felt energized during the day. Not like now, when I usually sleep in, watch the morning lights from the couch and deciding to take off my pyjamas around 9 am. I crave for a nap during the day and tumble into the bed as early as possible. #3 Actual state of physical body does not show the level of my practice, it’s rather being present in my whatever-is-the-actual-state of body that does I.e. samadhi does not require handstand, kala bhairavasana, not even being able to sit in lotus. However, with time, samadhi can bring me closer to these and even more (less). And I’m almost certain that it will be absolutely insignificant by that time. Back in time I could feel quite miserable not putting my head under my feet in supta kurmasana. Lately I feel extremely happy being able to walk 4 mins to reach the closest park and lie down somewhere immediately to get some rest after completing this astonishing achievement. And still, while doing these tiny steps at a time, I’m more aware of my breathing, the slight movements of the different parts of my body or the current state of my mind than ever before. Who cares how flexible I am if I can be here and now?