Practicing Mindfulness Through Yoga
Regular practice of yoga is one of the ways to practice mindfulness. It is a known fact that it is always difficult to maintain the awareness throughout the day in our busy professional life. Mindfulness is a practice by which one can wilfully concentrate completely on any mental or physical action. In another words, mindfulness is a higher state of awareness of the mind where your mind, body and soul are completely involved in any physical or mental action. It is not confined to the physical actions, but mental activities too. It is something like going beyond the likes and dislikes of the mind. The physical condition of the body has a great influence on the state of mind. The best example of this is to experience mental state after your meals. If the intake of the food is heavy, mind becomes lazy and drowsy. This means that the condition of the mind is connected with the body. If the body is not in a good condition, it affects the mind and it’s state. Lust, anger, absence of the mind, lack of concentration, manifests if the physical body health is unbalanced.
Practice of yoga and mindfulness
Practice of yoga is all encompassing. It is an ancient art of lifestyle that changes your whole being. Physically as well as psychologically. Yoga enables you to control your mind by controlling the body. Control doesn’t mean a strict diet. It means regulating the body organs so that full potential is utilised. The physical body postures in yoga are called”Aasanas” and if practised regularly, you will experience the mindfulness. Now, how does it work?
Asanas are classified into standing, sitting, forward and backward bending, twisting, and side bending. Every asana has a direct impact on each and every organ of the body. How Asanas help:
- Asana practice must be done without any strain unlike physical exercises.
- While practicing asanas, focus on the breath and movements of the body. By this way, breathing becomes normal resulting in the calming down the mind. Slow movements is the key to control the thoughts for better concentration power.
- Circulation of blood is complete, reaching every parts of the body including brain. This is very effective for those who sit continuously for long hours for the work. Forward bending enables the nerves to carry blood to the brain thus activating the dormant blood cells.
- Breathing through the nostrils is another way of activating the brain cells. Yoga strictly says – breathing through nostrils is more powerful and productive than breathing through the mouth. The more you focus on the breath, the more is the mindfulness and awareness. While inhaling one can observe and experience the cool breeze entering the body through the nostrils. The design of the nose is such that all the impurities in the air is removed before entering the body. Once the breathing is regulated, thoughts are controlled and the mind ceases to agitate. Concentration increases and you can easily bring your mind to any subject you wish to work on.
- The life sustaining energy or the force called as Prana is responsible to carry the food particles to all parts of the body. This happens once the yoga practice is regular and there are no blocks in the body stopping the prana to travel across the body parts. Prana is not something that is visible. It is the energy present in the breath as well as in the blood. If the breathing is abnormal or the blood is impure, it affects the person psychologically.
- Asanas help to reduce the digestive and gastric disorders so that the bowel movement is smooth.
Even if the practice is just or 30 minutes in the morning hours, effort put on practising asanas makes the difference in the body and the mind. The mind is automatically trained to be aware in each and every action carried by the body and mind. With the regular practice, the mind is automatically trained to experience the qualities of the mind. You start observing the breath and the whole process of exhalation and inhalation during the work.
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