Listen to your body. Usually it is trying to tell you something, whether on the mat or off the mat. During my practice I am generally a better listener. I am more precise with my movements, more attuned to my body’s alignment and I stretch mindfully, trying not to strain or force anything. This has helped my practice and my body thanks me for it.
However, I am not always kind to my body. Not that I’m intentionally beating myself up, sometimes I just sleep the wrong way and wake up with a stiff neck or after a long day of skateboarding and falls, my spine and back don’t feel that great. As a practitioner of yoga my first response to these feelings is, “Let’s stretch them out,” but for some reason in this off-mat stretching, I am less compassionate to my body and listen less. My mind tends to do all of the talking; telling my body to do this or do that, without even asking if that’s what my body needs. I stretch and strain thinking that that the more I twist my head to stretch the side of my neck, the sooner and better I will feel. Wrong. That’s just not how our bodies were made. If I had listened to my body even a little I would’ve heard my neck saying, “ow, do you feel that pinching sensation, that can’t be good, ease up!!”
This is one of the reasons it’s important to practice listening to the body and cultivate awareness on a yoga mat, so that we can bring this skill into other areas of our lives. It is especially important to listen to our bodies while on the mat. If we ignore the signals, we can start to place a lot of strain on the body, especially in certain poses, which is counterproductive to our yogic goal. Even if some poses become more routine, like the surya namaskar (sun salutation) series, which seem to demand less of the body, if I stop listening to my body I will notice that if I don’t diligently engage my core when pressing up into urdhva mukha svanasana (upward facing dog) after a while my lower back senses discomfort. My breathing can be occasionally forced and labored too. I tell myself that I am being focused and breathing with intent, but if the ujyai breath is so forceful that it begins irritating the throat, that can’t be good either.
So try lending an ear to your body—being extra mindful next time during your yoga practice of what it means to push a little beyond your edge as opposed to leaping past it. Also listen to your body during your daily practice of life. Start with the small things: noticing your breath while you’re your walking to the subway, trying not to slouch so much when sitting at work. Your body will thank you. Just listen.
