Listen to our interview with Lara Dwyer of Sukha Yoga Australia on the Mindful Soul Center podcast right here:
A sacred act
One of my earliest and most influential teachers Dana Flynn used to say to us “a habit is a routine that is made holy.” Yoga is a worthy habit to make holy through ritual. Through the repetition, the routine becomes a ritual which cultivates an opportunity to put you in a mood, to break from the mundane and make a portion of your day sacred. A sacred act can provide you with a sense of power or strength and can serve as an incredibly fortifying gift of self-care.
Taking time
It is often asked when is the best time to practice and the consistent response is the morning. Some reasons are that it allows us to set the mood of the day, a moment that can be a controlled pause before the rest of the day unfolds and an opportunity to proactively cultivate a mindful start to the day. One of the biggest blocks around getting up early is the amount of time believed to be set aside for the practice e.g. “If I don’t rise at 05:00 AM and practice for an hour it’s not worth it.” I am of the belief that you should just start somewhere with a minimal time commitment and see what grows from there. It could be 10 minutes that you set aside after waking and to me, that is better than nothing at all.
Making space
When creating your ritual familiarity is deeply helpful in cultivating the mood for inward reflection. Make a place in your home/room where you go to for this practice. Before you begin, light a candle or incense or vaporise an oil to create a mood of something special and embarking on something meaningful. You might pause to say a small prayer or remind yourself of an intention, and then begin with a little movement which can be anything that invites you into your body for however long you can afford to give. Remember, start small.
Becoming still
Following the movement invites you to find some stillness. You might choose to thread together a breathwork practise that is familiar to you with asana or following your asana practice with a personalised meditation practice or perhaps a guided one you enjoy. Or maybe it's only one of them. It can be as simple as enjoying the stillness before you move forward into the doing portion of your day. On closing as you are more porous to receive insight and information so you might like to read something inspiring such as a passage from a book or poem, or step outside and enjoy what nature offers you & if time allows with a delicious cup of coffee or tea!
Ritual creates depth and passes through time. The more you commit to your practice, the more it becomes ingrained in you and becomes as important as brushing your teeth or nourishing your body with food.
At first, you must make yourself do yoga. Eventually, yoga pulls you up by the hair and makes you do it. - Vanda Scaravelli
Happy practising!
Listen to our interview with Lara Dwyer of Sukha Yoga Australia on the Mindful Soul Center podcast right here:
