Yogi, take the necessary time to observe and understand what is going on in your body when practicing. It’s not just your body doing asanas, your mind has a job too. Yep, understanding what’s going on in your mind is crucial too. You just can’t separate it, body and mind go together. We should always practice mindful, feeling, observing, understanding.

I sometimes recognize, that my practice is just one asana after the other, while my mind is somewhere else. Time to connect. Time to go internal. I usually close my eyes for a moment, just listening to my breath, before restarting my practice. Activate my bandhas, deepen my breath, establish a strong drishti.

Take your time, rushing around and not paying attention will just get you tired, and make you more exposed to injure yourself, and also create mental madness. Your practice is a journey and so is each pose. You have to learn from it. Mastering a posture doesn’t mean anything if you haven’t learned from it. The physical level is quite obvious, but you might also be confronted with your weaknesses on a mental and emotional level.

Practicing yoga means digging into yourself, facing your true self and work on that changing process. Develop your body and mind, work on your flexibility on all levels. Create prana, learn about yourself. Don’t be afraid to change. It’s crucial to develop on each level. Enjoy the beautiful journey and take your time yogi!

Photos by Dee Gandhi, www.AlokaCreative.com