Yoga for Life: A mindset and action for change

Posted 8/19/22

It doesn’t matter where you are, look around – are the fingers doing the thinking or is the emphasis on thinking...

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Yoga for Life: A mindset and action for change

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It doesn’t matter where you are, look around – are the fingers doing the thinking or is the emphasis on thinking through everyday actions with the mind? Technology, such as the one I am using now, does not control thinking unless the first thought of the day is to turn on the computer and/or phone and turn over thinking to artificial intelligence. When eating at a restaurant anywhere, observe the conversation, is there any between human beings or is everyone staring into an electronic device and ignoring humans with them?

Time to reevaluate and awaken conscious awareness. One pro-active reason to integrate a yoga practice into everyday life activities is that it turns on thinking and action. Today’s Yoga practice, integrates the mind and body as a pathway to restore life, health, and growth.

Yoga Step 1: After reading this article, thank yourself for thinking and begin to ask questions about your personal mindset. When you practice yoga, you are applying your mental visualization of a posture and putting it into action.

Yoga Step 2: Apply your vitalization and understanding of yoga postures into everyday activities including selection of diet.

The title of this weekly column, “Yoga for Life,” published weekly in the Health Section of the Highlands News Sun, was the inspiration of yoga practioners in Sebring. At the end of one class, I asked them if I wrote a column about yoga, what should it be entitled? Collen Polonsky suggested: “Yoga for Life.” The response was an instantaneous, “YES!

Today’s yoga practice is the continuation of this thoughtful human thinking process put into action. As you study the picture of the yoga practioners, observe how they have applied their concentration to mold and hold the pose. The posture begins with visualizing the form in the mind and then actualizing it into “Extended Side Angle.” Yoga requires each posture to be correctly initiated for the greatest health benefit.

This momentum of moving from one pose to the next, provides a mental and physical challenge to range of motion. Transitions are not rushed, choppy but smooth, controlled and the tailbone stays lifted in line with a straight spine. When the spine is consciously lengthened in any posture, the tightly held joints gradually move as the muscles become free from tension.

A comprehensive yoga practice that includes a number of postures initiated and held for at least 5 to 10 breaths with slow transitions will encourage the body’s flexibility.

Don’t forget about the focus of the eyes. While moving into a new posture, find a spot ahead of the body on the horizon and concentrate on using that place as a central focus for physical stability.

Yoga is a comprehensive daily practice. Join one of the yoga classes to evolve into your own personal preferences of postures with others there to enjoy and laugh as we learn!

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