Imagine opening a window, looking up at the endless blue sky, and savoring 10 deep breaths of fresh air. Then returning indoors to your activity, feeling renewed. Just like this, even a few moments of meditation is very rejuvenating.
Read MoreAs Sharon Salzberg teaches:
Read MoreIt doesn’t matter how long we may have been stuck in a sense of our limitations. If we go into a darkened room and turn on the light, it doesn’t matter if the room has been dark for a day, a week, or ten thousand years—we turn on the light and it is illuminated. Once we control our capacity for love and happiness, the light has been turned on. —Sharon Salzberg
“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard.” —Lao Tzu
Read MoreViktor Frankl wrote, "What is to give light must endure burning. Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way."
The bottom line is: the more we practice on the mat, the more our practice is there for us in the challenging moments of our lives. Ultimately, our time on the yoga mat is the 'pre-game'. Our real practice begins, when we step off our mat.
I have long used the practices of breath-based yoga practices, restorative yoga, conscious relaxation, and meditation to awareness of where and how I harbor tension, to befriend myself and my tension, and create conditions for my tension to soften and to feel more spacious and at ease.
Read MoreTension has a psycho-neurological component. We need to realize that our bodies respond to everything we hear and experience around us, as well as to what we think and experience on the inside. Every time we don’t feel okay about something, we tense up in our body and it doesn’t release until we feel grounded, slow down, take a deep breath, and soften our body. Our tension can be from an hour ago or a decade ago. What makes a difference is how we meet our tension.
Read MoreI admit, when glancing at an image of a restorative yoga pose, it could look like a luxurious nap. In fact, many people joke that it's yoga for lazy people. Another popular belief is that restoratives are really for sick, injured, or old people. And while Restorative is deeply restful and healing, it is not just a physical 'recovery' practice. On the contrary, I believe it is one of yoga's most advanced practices. Here's why.
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