For a long time, I’ve been ‘old school’ when it comes to Yoga. My beliefs have surrounded the idea that Yoga is best practiced holistically: where we engage in a balanced range of practices that simultaneously touch all aspects of ourselves, body, mind, heart and Spirit.
Where we set aside an hour or so to invest in our practice, be it at home or a community studio. And where we pay particular attention to our experience as we move through Yoga’s elegant, ancient practices. This has meant that to practice, it has taken a good investment of time.
However, an off-shoot of my personal practice has grown now to include a single posture when needed. Something simple and quick that leaves me feeling differently than from when I began. It lives along side my love for a full blown practice where I engage in “the works” so to speak, something to relax, various postures, a meditation, which all unfold in an intuitive way for about an hour or so. Whichever way I decide go, my practice meets me where I’m at and feeds my body and soul in just the right way.
What if you’re someone who wants to practice Yoga, but doesn’t have an hour or so to invest? What if you’re someone who just wants to shift out of feeling scattered or overstressed, and only wants to feel good again . . . yet quickly. What then?
Well, you could do what I do: a single, easy posture for just a few minutes at a time, to let the good vibes roll.
Here’s a simple posture I love to slip into when I want to feel held and nurtured. You can do it practically anywhere. It doesn’t require a mat or hip yoga outfit to do 🙂 . And it feels really good too.
The posture is called the ‘Child’s Pose’. I stay in it for 5 or 10 minutes. Do try this at home. 🙂 Here’s how:
- Come down onto your mat. If you don’t have a mat, no worries. Come down onto the floor to whatever surface you find there. If it’s a hard surface, you might want to place a blanket underneath you.
- Come down onto your knees in the middle of your “mat”.
- Sit back onto your heels.
- Then fold your torso forward, bringing your belly and chest to your thighs. Your left and right femur bones (between your ankles and knees) will rest against the “mat”, as your toenails too rest against the “mat”.
- Bend at both elbows, bringing the underside of your forearms to rest against the “mat”, with the palm of one hand stacked on top of the palm of the other.
- Then bring your forehead to rest against your stacked hands.
- You should be in a forward bend now with your belly and chest resting against the top of your thighs. Your eyes are facing the mat, either open or closed.
- Allow yourself to find comfort in your body here.
- Then turn your attention to the rising and the falling of your breath in your body. Watch its rhythm, as your hold here in this way.
- Stay here only as long as it feels comfortable for your body. No longer. One minute, or 5 minutes, or even 10.
- Then, when you’re ready, come out of this posture slowly and in away feels right for your body.
- Rest here for a moment, and notice how you feel.
There’s something to be said for meeting your body where it’s at and giving it what it needs. In this way, less really can be more with your Yoga practice. The ‘Child’s Pose’ is one quick way of feeling peaceful inside. We’ll talk about others in upcoming editions.
