MINDSPACE
By Natasha Currah, 889 Yoga Teacher
In an urban metropolis such as Toronto, we have many distractions that constantly challenge us to stay in our centre, our place of strength, the present moment. I can attest to zoning out on the subway and absorbing myself into my iphone or weaving my way through the downtown crowds feeling as if everyone is an obstacle in the way of my destination. It’s something we all experience as city dwellers. Little fish in a big pond.
I think sometimes that’s why most of us keep coming back to the practice of yoga. We like the feeling that it builds flexibility and strength, but there’s an internal awareness and stability it builds as well. The asana (physical) practice of yoga begins to open up emotional and energetic pathways within. Just by getting a deep stretch into our shoulders or our hips for example, begins to release emotional stress that’s built up over time and takes form in the physical body. Beginning to see that the soft shoulders we thought we were relaxing in downward dog are actually as hard as rocks! Or the quality of our breath outside of class can makes us feel like we’re in a constant state of hyperventilation…yoga starts to turn on little lights that we never even knew were out.
One of the first things that drew me back to class was the feeling of ease I felt in my mind for hours after a practice. The awareness that I was building in my body was leading a pathway to being able to understand how the mind functions. When a teacher once began to speak about a “monkey mind” I began to realize that outside of my yoga practice is where my mind, where most minds go – unconsciously unconscious. We didn’t know there was a deficit until yoga shined a light on it. That realization leads us to being consciously unconscious, now seeing that even off out mats we have the ability to train the mind like a muscle, we just don’t know how yet. Most of us (myself included) spend years and perhaps a lifetime on staying consciously conscious, or in the present moment. Once we understand that we have the tools to…we might even become lucky enough one day to experience and even teach unconscious consciousness.
The ability to stay centered and grounded (even during yoga) can be extremely challenging when you’re in this crazy city. Take some time when this world isn’t constantly prompting you to react to an email/text to do the following practice to help keep you consciously conscious:
- Find a place in your body that you feel a place of strength (physical/emotional/spiritual)
- Focus on that place and begin to feel that place root you to the earth beneath you
- Begin to feel the earth connect back to you and feel the present moment you are in
- Repeat as many times as you can each day (before getting up or going to sleep are great places to start).
This small practice can almost seem too simple, but repeated enough can give you the quality of the moment we are so often missing from our lives. Encourage the lights that have started to flicker and shimmer to shine on and help keep you steady in turbulent surroundings. They will guide you back home.