Life Enhancing Tips From Yoga

I find the tips below from Michael Myerscough, a professional speaker and relationship success coach to be very good guiding principles for my yoga practice. I have posted the tips here to share with you all and hope that you will also use them in your practice and in your life.

Top Ten Life Enhancing Tips From Yoga
by Michael Myerscough

Standing on a yoga mat, you strive for the physical. You take away each new posture like a prize. It’s a physical victory. Such is your concentration; it’s easy to overlook the other valuable things you learn on the mat, lessons that help you on your path through life. Here are some tips from my years of yoga teaching to help enhance your life beyond the yoga mat.

1. Stand on your own two feet

You've got to be able to stand on your own two feet. If you can do it with a bit of grace so much the better.

2. Have courage

Attaining postures may well be entertaining but it's not necessarily enlightening. Being able to do the perfect handstand does not change your life. The courage and tenacity that you build getting there does.

3. Take responsibility for where you are

Yoga promotes a sense of Awareness (ouch! My legs hurt), Acceptance (my hamstrings are short) and Responsibility (if I want longer hamstrings I can choose to commit to regular practise). Without these three qualities, progress is difficult.

4. Embrace a sense of calm

A calm, even breath will naturally promote a calm, even mind. Learn to control your breath and you’ll have control of your life.

5. Be an honest novice

Life is a lot less stressful if you can admit to being a beginner. You make life harder when you pretend to be able to do something you can’t. Yoga promotes an ability to tell the truth, because at any given time you can either do a posture or you can’t.

6. Get a sense of detachment

Even a person with both legs wrapped around their head can complain of feeling stiff. There are no good days or bad days, only our reaction to them.

7. Pursue Patience

Dynamic Yoga promotes a sense of lightness and grace in your life. We are all angels in training. Flight may be possible at some time, but not necessarily now.

8. Roll with it

If you lose your balance in a headstand it is much safer to roll out of it than struggle. Relaxed people bounce back more easily for the next challenge in life, creating a lot less noise and chaos.

9. Make space for yourself

Whatever time you find for doing yoga is time away from the noise of the world. It’s the quiet introspection that allows you to become aware of your internal wisdom.

10. Begin with the end in mind

In the beginning some postures can be intimidating. If you can keep in mind a sense of your destination and take regular steps toward it, you are more likely to get there.

© Copyright 2002 by Michael Myerscough ‘The Great Sex Coach’. All Rights Reserved.

"Yoga does not remove us from the reality or responsibilities of everyday life but rather places our feet firmly and resolutely in the practical ground of experience. We don't transcend our lives; we return to the life we left behind in the hopes of something better."
~ Donna Farhi