The current economic turbulence has affected each of us some way or another. Be it the fear of losing your job, or having already lost your job, or knowing a friend or relative who has already lost his/her job. When faced with such a situation, the negative energy of fear and uncertainty begins to manifest internally leading to increased stress and anxiety.
Hallelujah if you are a yoga practitioner because now is the best time to apply your knowledge to everyday living!
Asana
Perform more standing and balancing poses such as Tadasana (Mountain Pose), Vrksasana (Tree Pose), Natarajasana (Dancer Pose) and Virabadhrasana III (Warrior III Pose). In standing poses, we learn to root and ground our feet firmly to the earth. In balancing poses, we continuously concentrate and focus to maintain our equilibrium. Similarly when life throws us obstacles, we need to stay strong, stable and remain undeterred by the challenges that lie ahead.
Pranayama
Deep and slow breathing has been known to diffuse anger, ease tension, cure the jitters and neutralise all kinds of bad emotions. If you have been skipping all those pranayama techniques, do start bringing them back into your practice. Nadi Shodhana (Alternate Nostril Breathing) and Ujjayi (Ocean Breath) both help to bring calm and peace to your inner self. Only when you are at peace with yourself do you feel empowered to make the necessary changes to transform your life positively.
Meditation
No one has to be an expert to practise meditation. By just spending some peaceful time alone to calm the mind and to escape the flurry of daily commotion already counts as a meditative moment. At the end of it, you might even discover the power of clarity that had always been within you.
Contentment
Aparigraha, the fifth Yama in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras is also known as abstinence from greed. When resources are scarce, we find ourselves naturally inclined to protect our own interests and grab more than we need. Practise Aparigraha effectively by reflecting on the things that are really necessary in your life. Ultimately, happiness is what humanity seeks and when we open our eyes, we will start to see that happiness lies in the basic beauty of simplicity like being around nature or sharing a home-cooked meal with loved ones.
nice one!