Asana (pt. 2): Finding balance

Through an asana practice, we begin to find balance, physically on the mat, mentally & within our own nervous system, slowly learning the art of balancing opposites within.

Coming to the mat, we are asked to find stillness within movement, strength within softness & softness within strength, to make our efforts flow effortlessly. These may seem like contradictions at first, though upon deeper experience, like the symbol of yin & yang, we find each polarity contains its opposite. 

Through learning to balance these opposites within ourselves, we begin to relieve the struggle between polarities & integrate the two. Now these opposites become one & the same, each feeding & nourishing the other.

An asana practice can also help us to rebalance our nervous systems. Many of us continuously feel under or over-stimulated, we might find difficulty sleeping at night, anxiety & trouble sitting still, alternatively we might struggle to stay awake, feeling numb or zoned out. Through either of these scenarios we are likely to be under or over-stimulating our nervous systems. 

Within an asana practice we have the opportunity to help rebalance this, through choosing a holistic practice that both stimulates & calms us down while mindfully listening to our body’s cues, we are able to find our perfect balance. 

Similarly, we can look to rebalance our system through our choice of posture or practice style, choosing a practice such as rocket or a dynamic vinyasa on days we would like to feel energized, while choosing practices like restorative & yoga nidra on days we require a reset, this way we can bring harmony to an unbalanced system.