One of the primary benefits of yoga and main reasons to practice is to achieve balance in your body, your mind, and your heart. Yoga Sutra 2.46, Sthira Sukham asanam, is commonly translated to mean the posture should be steady and comfortable. By finding a balance between effort and ease on your yoga mat, you can create a sense of wholeness in your life.
Hatha yoga is the broad umbrella under which most physical forms of yoga are housed. ‘Ha’ means sun and ‘tha’ means moon. Hatha yoga seeks to balance the masculine solar energy and the feminine lunar energy that exists within all of us.
Because at any given time, each of us is experiencing some level of imbalance, right? Your career is on fire, but your personal life is in shambles or vice-versa. Playing with the concepts of effort and ease through asana and pranayama helps bring the energy within you into a sustained state of balance.
By working to create a sense of symmetry in your physical body, you are also encouraging your thoughts and your feelings to align. A yoga practice focused on balance won’t just help bring you back into a more symmetrical physique; it will also help you hone focus and calm an overactive mind.
If you work on improving your balance on your yoga mat, that effort will stay with you when you step off the mat for the rest of your day. Sure, you’ll be better at balancing on one leg, but you’ll also feel more in equilibrium in life.
Life is a juggling act and we live in a multi-tasking world and often we hear the phrase, “I’m too busy to…” (fill in the blank). By taking the time to nurture your individual challenges through yoga, you have the opportunity to achieve the perfect balance for you.
That’s the beauty of yoga: it’s not a one size fits all type of practice. Depending upon what’s dominating your life, you can choose a practice to bring yourself back into balance.
This week, we offer you four unique classes designed to help you find balance in your body and your life. Three of this week's classes have a special emphasis on balancing postures and a more in-depth breakdown of principles of balancing on one leg. One class strikes a perfect balance between effort through vinyasa yoga, and ease, with some yin. Enjoy!
1. Eric Paskel - Fly Like An Eagle
2. Kylie Larson - Vin with a side of Yin
3. Keith Allen - The Art of Balance
4. Shy Sayar - Therapeutic Alignment - Tree Pose