Yoga for Calm Control in a Non-Calm World

Posted on May 24, 2016 Updated on June 22, 2016

Yoga provides you with survival techniques to handle many aspects of our fast-paced world. You learn how to maintain calm control in the face of a dizzying array of demands.

Research shows that people who feel in control of their life are the happiest. In fact, as we get older and accumulate more strategies for coping with the problems in our life, we have higher levels of happiness and satisfaction. Yoga is one of those strategies.

How Can Yoga Help You Stay Calm?

• In yoga class, the focus is on your breath. Breathing in and breathing out. Maintaining a slow, steady rhythm. So simple!
• You move with your breath. Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Your mind stays focused on one thing and one thing only: breathing. When your mind is completely focused on your breath, all of your other thoughts fall away. Ideally, you will experience a clear mind for the time you are in yoga class, and you’ll learn to do this in other times too.
• Yoga teaches you that if a stray thought comes along and interrupts you while you are stretching and flowing, you simply acknowledge that thought then gently send it on its way.

With practice, these three elements of yoga become ingrained. Like all habits, it takes time to really embed these practices. And you’ll have setbacks along the way, like everything in life. Yoga practice ebbs and flows, but it’s important to keep jumping back into it. With a regular yoga practice, you will discover how often you can return to your breath to maintain calm. Use your breath to clear your head, focus your thoughts, and redirect your energy.

So when you find yourself frazzled, rushed, or weary, take a few moments to breathe. Slow. And if you’ve ever taken a class with Jo, maybe you can hear her voice, “Make this the deepest breath you’ve taken so far.”