Observing the Mind
Yesterday I went to a yoga flow class that was a little different. The first half of the class was business as usual with warm-ups followed by a few rounds of Surya A and B. For the second half the pace was slowed down and we worked on only a handful of poses, holding each pose for 2-5 minutes. Two minutes in Vrksasana felt like an eternity!
For me, the interesting part of holding poses for slightly longer is not just working through the physical discomfort, but observing the mental chatter. Sometimes you reach your physical limits and have to come out of the pose, but most of the time your edge is in your mind and not your body.
The mind (at least my mind) immediately starts coming up with reasons to come out of the pose, especially when I know I will be holding the pose for a while. Taking a mental step back and just observing the thoughts was a very meditative experience.
Later in the day when I went for a walk I realized that holding poses teaches you a lot about how you approach life in general. How does your mind behave? What are you telling yourself in the continuous stream of self-talk? What happens when you push the edge?
Very interesting observation. It is known in a ‘general’ way that Yoga has a very intimate connection with the mind. To corelate the ‘holding’ of posture with the direct and perceptible effect on the mind is a very interesting observation.
Ya while doing yoga we have to be in same position for 10-15 minutes so that only it will be beneficial to us. though it is difficult to practice we have to follow it for good health.