Recently a friend of mine said after a yoga class, “I wish I could keep this calm feeling all day long.”
Oh blessed yoga brain! We love it! It’s the source of chuckles after class, as we crawl out blissfully; moving at the slowest pace we have moved all day.
It’s unrealistic and to be honest would be unproductive to live in the state of yoga brain all day. A certain level of stress or urgency is good to keep us motivated and ambitious toward our goals but a regular practice of yoga does transform our minds and make us a calmer individual.
I first experienced this years ago as I saw myself coping well with one of my biggest anxieties: driving in unfamiliar places or in the dark. I had been practicing yoga so regularly that I could just go right into my steady yoga breath. I could just put my mind back in that place where it goes when I am meditating and focusing on my breath. And this new found skill has been life changing!
One thing people notice about me is my patience. Because of yoga, I have developed the skills of calm in the midst of frustration and anger. These calming techniques and new perspective on stressful situations is practiced the most when dealing with my two year old son. You have no idea how little patience you have until you have a two year old.
But the benefits of calm and breath control are practices that have not only improved my abilities as a parent but also become something I can pass on to my children, as they learn how to deal with anger and frustration in healthy ways.
We all deal with stress, whether at home or in the workplace. I encourage all of you to try Christian yoga and meditation.
