January 4, 2023|Lifestyle, Wellbeing
What does the word cultivate mean to you?
If we use the word cultivate literally, it means to take steps to GROW something or improve its growth. This is especially thought about when we visualize a garden and the growth of crops. However, when we use the word cultivate figuratively, it really does mean the same thing, except the thing being grown is an abstract thing, such as a relationship, a business or, in the phase in my life right now, a specific lifestyle. I have been really leaning into the practice of finding ways to cultivate living a yoga inspired lifestyle off my mat. I have been trying to let my practice of yoga inspire the way I live and the way I show up with myself, and with my family. It’s a practice that I continue to work on each and every single day. I strive to nourish, improve, cultivate and GROW along in my journey, and I hope to connect, and grow with you along my way too.
The practice of yoga INSPIRES me to be more mindful and live its teachings each day. Yoga means union. It is the union of our mind, body, soul, and spirit. Therefore, living a “yogic” lifestyle is a journey to create unity in EVERYTHING we do. This means we can try to live everyday consciously with a calm mind, and to find the inner peace within ourselves. In our world today, I find a lot of people view yoga as a physical exercise, where we have to be flexible in our body through all these postures and inversions. I really believe anyone who views yoga in this way couldn’t be more wrong, or should I say, couldn’t be more “unaware”…yes, unaware! This also goes for the individuals who view “living a yogic lifestyle” means that you have to be vegan, or you have have to meditate twice a day, or you should do an hour long yoga flow every single day.… also no! These certain individuals are also unaware of what living a yoga inspired lifestyle really means. Yoga is SO much MORE! Just know, we can all live a yoga inspired life off the mat!
I had an unforgettable experience during my yoga teacher training, and I am so glad I committed to it. With that said, my intention was never to teach yoga in a studio. I simply wanted to deepen my practice and learn more about the philosophy and teachings of yoga, and this I certainly did, and I still continue to learn more and more as I practice yoga both on and off my mat. As a graduate of a yoga teacher training, I can certainly tell you one of the most important things I have learned about yoga is that… yoga shows up in your life in SO many different ways, times, and places, and this can also happen off the mat. Whether you are practicig yoga on or off the mat, yoga is YOUR practice and you get to choose what your yoga practice looks like to YOU! Yoga is not about being perfect. Again, it is about finding what makes you feel good, accepting your imperfections, and in time, exploring your personal growth. Ironically, I now find myself sharing and teaching the practices of yoga off the mat…and this is YOGA to me. This is how I am sharing yoga in my everyday life…it is not a yoga flow on a mat.
✨ To me, aspiring to cultivate and live a yoga lifestyle is to simply be inspired by the beautiful teachings, philosophy, and the spirit of the practice of yoga as a whole. It is choosing to live with compassion towards yourself and others. It’s about awareness and presence. It’s about honoring your true athentic self and paying attention to your own needs. It’s about CULTIVATING acceptance for what is! Most importantly, it’s about making an active effort to put yourself first in order to feel your best. It is listening to your intuition, and not being afraid to speak your truth, living your values with integrity and ease. Yoga helps me to develop the inner awareness within my body & my mind. This is why I am inspired to cultivate this type of lifestyle into my life.
✨So, how can we all cultivate a yoga inspired lifestyle? ✨
Here are a few ideas on how you can practice yoga “off” the mat, and cultivate a “yoga inspired lifestyle” into your everyday life right now!
1. Self-Acceptance ✨ This was a big one for me, and it is still something I work on every single day, and I know I will continue to practice for the rest of my life. Yoga taught me that I AM ENOUGH just as I am. Just know you don’t need to change. You don’t need to be better at anything. You don’t need to do more or to be more. You can be content with who you are. YOU ARE ENOUGH, JUST AS YOU ARE!
2. Choose flow over force ✨ We are constantly wanting to do more, to push, to be more productive, to be on the go, and to move onto the next thing and the next project. This is something you can NOT do on your mat. It just does not work! If you force on the mat you will most likely injure yourself, or have physical pain. When you are on your mat, there are no distractions to ignore the pain, no conditioning from the outside noise in your head that tells you to just “push through, you will be fine”. No! On your mat it’s just yourself and your breathe. This makes it very easy to recognize that force over flow is NOT productive. Learning to listen to your intuition and to do what it is YOU need instead of what your ego is telling you to do is a practice that will keep your mind at peace.
3. Learning about Ahimsa ✨ Ahimsa is a layer in yoga phylisophy, it is one of the five yamas. Ahimsa means the way you treat yourself and others. Ahimsa meaning non-violence, of course in the obvious way, of not hurting yourself physically, but also non violence in the way in which you speak to yourself and to others. It is also in the way that you think about yourself and others. Practicing ahimsa daily is noticing when a judgmental thought comes up about yourself or others and making a different choice in that moment. Choosing kindness in all the moments. You can also practice ahimsa by embracing love…learn to love deeply, and also to let yourself be loved. Ahimsa comes from deep in your heart…let your light shine.
4. Connectedness ✨ I started yoga as a means of finding a sense peace and calm for myself. I needed to find the quiet in my busy days. What I didn’t know was how much yoga would have an impact on the way I feel inside. My yoga practice helped me dive deeper into myself, and to my family as well as the world around me. I also started to have a deeper appreciation of my body, and was finally able to follow my intuition in the foods that I choose to fuel and nourish my body with. Listening to our intuition is one of the most important things we often overlook because we are to busy to stop to even take a breathe. Just remember that everything you need is within you to experience joy, happiness, and bliss in your day to day life.
5. Look for the moments ✨ This is one of the most important tips I have. Look for the “in-between” moments. Try to slow down enough to notice them. When you are practicing yoga on your mat, it’s not about the poses, it’s about the moments in between the poses, the transition from one pose to another, it’s about your breathe. In our busy lives that we live, we can get so preoccupied with the next thing, that we forget the in-between moments such as a loving hug to your teenager after there school day. This is what life is about, slowing down and savoring the everyday tasks that our life brings us, and paying attention to the little moments in-between… this is what will make everything in your life feel richer.
How can you start to take yoga off the mat today? Start with just one way today!
From my heart to yours, Sending you Love & Light, Stacey ❤️
