What is Yoga Off the Mat?

Yoga is so much more than poses

While most people think of yoga as contorting your body into weird positions on a piece of rubber, yoga is so much more than that. While yes, you do put your body into odd positions to strengthen, stretch, and balance your muscles and bones, it’s a deeper experience than just the physical.

Many years ago I attended an Ashtanga Yoga weekend workshop. Ashtanga yoga is a dynamic, challenging, athletic style of yoga where you practice a specific sequence of poses in a particular order. The entire practice can take 1.5-2 hours to complete.

In between practices, we had discussions about the poses, and about practicing yoga in general. So many students there, including myself, had started practicing yoga for the physical challenge. I wanted to feel stronger, get more flexible to support my dancing, and hopefully lose weight (always one’s goal as a dancer and as a young woman in the 90s).

But we all agreed that in a short period of time, other aspects of practicing yoga started to filter in too. It was a surprise to all of us, that doing poses could have so many other benefits. This is inherent in the yoga practice that comes with you off the mat. It affects your body, your mind, and how you move through the world.

Less anxiety

Doing poses on the mat leaves you feeling less anxious and more calm. The style of yoga that I practice, Vinyasa Yoga, connects the breath to the movements that you do. While you inhale you move into one pose, and while you exhale, you move into the next. Sometimes you hold the poses and focus on breathing in and out.

This breath, Ujjayi Pranayama (Victorious Breath), is like a thread that keeps your mind focused for your entire practice. It is an audible focus, as the breath sounds like an ocean wave, but generally keeps you connected to your body and what is happening in the present moment.

When you feel anxious, it’s often because your focus is on things over which you have no control, like the past and the future. The past already happened and the future has yet to happen. You can’t control either one. In the present there is no anxiety because you have control over the present. When you focus on your breath and what you do with your body, those are things you can control, and anxiety melts away.

I’m sure there is also the endorphin release that makes you feel good after practicing yoga, or moving your body in general, but this type of intentional, purposeful movement leaves you feeling relaxed, grounded, and centered. And sometimes a little sweaty.

Paying attention to your body’s language

When you feel what’s happening in your body, you pay better attention to what your body tells you. The body speaks to us all day long, but we don’t always listen.

• Your stomach growling is your body telling you you’re hungry.

• Yawning is your body telling you you’re tired.

• Sharp pain tells you stop what you are doing, you might be causing damage.

• Sweating helps you know that you are hot and the body is trying to cool you down.

• Shivering is your body trying to warm you up when you are cold, you might need a sweater.

The body talks to us in the language of sensation, and practicing yoga helps you pay better attention. “Listening” to the body helps guide you as you practice. If something hurts, back off. If you can breathe smoothly and easily, it’s fine to keep going. If you feel tired, rest. If you feel energized, you can kick it up a notch.

When you stretch, relax into the pose, never force or strain. Stretching should feel good and your body will tell you when you‘ve had enough. You can read more about that here.

If you fall over, pay more attention to your connection to the floor. If one part of your body fatigues, try distributing the weight to other parts so that the tired part doesn’t have to do all the work.

When you practice meditation, it’s easy for your mind to wander. When you practice yoga, it’s much harder because the body is active. The poses enable you to stay connected to what you are doing, and therefore keep your mind in the present moment. That’s why sometimes people find yoga more accessible than meditation.

Being in tune with your body helps you know when you need to seek assistance and when you are okay. You learn to understand the language of sensation and what the different sensations mean. This is useful both on and off the mat.

Self-acceptance

I have learned all of these things on the mat. I started practicing yoga at age 23, when my body was young and flexible. Injuries were quick to heal. I was also steeped in self-criticism, perfectionism, and self-loathing.

Now, at age 52, my body is much slower to heal from injury. I have my supports, like acupuncture and my yoga practice, but my body has changed over the years. Having 2 kids, plus aging, has changed my body, and yoga has helped me accept these changes. I usually cross my legs when I sneeze (IYKYK), I don’t do the same practice 2 days in a row, and I (try to) prioritize sleep because that’s when the body heals itself.

My poses are different now than they were in my 20s because my body is different. I no longer put my foot behind my head because my hips don’t tolerate that. Instead I focus on poses that maintain my mobility, while building strength in my core and body as a whole. I use my practice now, not to lose weight, but to feel good. I don’t have pain most days, and if I do, it’s temporary. I work it out on the mat. I have learned to meet myself where I am, rather than push through at my own expense.

Self-compassion and self-love

If you had told me 30 years ago that I would end up loving myself, I would have laughed in your face. Who does that? Is that a thing?

Yoga has taught me to love myself though many avenues. It has allowed me to let go of the stories that I was telling myself about my worth (or lack thereof) and focus on what is actually true.

From “Nobody wants to hear what you have to say” to “people like to learn from me. I actually do have wisdom to share, and they want to hear it.”

From “I don’t know how to do this” and being paralyzed by that thought, to “everything is figureoutable” and I can take imperfect action to figure it out. I can even ask for help.

From “It’s not perfect, it will never be perfect, I will never be perfect” while internally panicking, to “It’s not perfect, it will never be perfect, I will never be perfect. And it’s all okay. There is no perfect. I accept myself as I am.”

It’s a process of letting go over time. We tell ourselves so many false stories that we believe to be true. Trust me, they’re not. If you feel stuck in one of your beliefs, take some time to dissect it a bit. What comes out can be mind blowing.

Practicing yoga on and off the mat

What I love most about yoga is that it’s a practice, not a perfect. There is no end point, no finish line, the joy is in the journey.

I have gotten to know myself better on the mat, which I then take with me off the mat. I know what my mind does when I hit a challenging pose. I have let go of criticizing myself for “giving up” and instead honor my body’s need for rest. This is a skill that I also use when life throws me a curveball. I can breathe, let things be, and let the answer come to me.

I notice the poses that are easy and the ones I avoid. Sometimes I will do a practice that only includes poses I don’t like. There’s a reason I avoid them, and that reason is usually that they are the poses I need the most. Not the foot behind the head one, that’s not useful, but holding standing poses, like Warrior 2 and Utkatasana for example, it’s challenging! It’s different to hold them than to flow through them, which is my tendency. I like to move, so sometimes I find stillness on the mat, just to shake things up.

I know my tendencies because I have been paying attention, now for almost 30 years. Knowledge is power, especially when it comes to understanding yourself. Yoga helps you do just that, and I will be forever grateful for this practice.

Join me on the mat!

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