It is safe to say that yoga has become a popular practice. An alternative form of exercise, yoga is offered ubiquitously in a class setting, from private studios to gyms to college campuses. Classes are easily accessible, taught by qualified instructors, and the fee for ongoing group sessions is quite reasonable. Many classes are even offered for free.

Individuals also choose to practice yoga at home or in a private setting with audio instruction, music, or a calming, meditative silence.

In any practice environment, yoga can reap benefits for physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Its popularity and appeal lies in its uniqueness to inspire wellbeing. Rather than a focus on the self and pushing the limits to be better and do better, yoga inspires the individual to transcend the self-conscious mindset. While some forms of exercise emphasize the transformation of the physical body, yoga emphasizes the connection between the mind and the body. The individual’s perception of his or her body, the relationship with the body, is transformed through yoga. Once this perception is transformed, the body itself can change.

By transformation, I mean changing negative and destructive views about the body into view that are positive and healing. In a society where progress and pushing oneself towards ideals of being are important, we often propagate and absorb adverse ideas about body image. Social standards inform the way we think about ourselves, and so, on a daily basis, we believe that we should look and feel a certain way as a result of working at a certain level to be at the top of our game. Yet, what the “top” actually means has become skewed. The “top” is not one universal model of achievement; rather, it is subjective and varies from person to person. At Bonesball, we strive to redefine the “top” as a state of individual wellbeing and becoming your best self.

Your best self is a state that only you can recognize, and it manifests when you work and act for yourself rather than for other people. The social habit of competing and comparing against other people distorts the idea of the best self. When you are constantly worried about others, and how your performance measures up, you can become disconnected from your own individuality. Your personal aspirations and self-confidence can become lost within the competitive social web.

Yoga is a positive means of extricating yourself from this web. Though the practice may seem daunting with unfamiliar poses and breathing, yoga is great because it is a gradual process of learning and self-awareness. When we first start practicing, our bodies seem to be in competition with the postures. However, as we continue, we find that we are not working against the rigidity of our bones or body. We are in harmony. Yoga teaches us to embrace our body by reconnecting to it. In this reconnection, we can transcend old concepts, fears, images, and the personal issues that can plague our minds. Negative thoughts, competitiveness, and perfectionism are thus banished in the yoga practice room. Yoga fosters uniqueness and love of the self. The goal in yoga is not to be perfect or to be the best. Yoga teaches patience, respect and whole nurturing for the whole body. Incorporating yoga into your lifestyle is an excellent way to begin to appreciate yourself away from the stress of competitive society. Don’t judge yourself, but let yoga be an exercise in releasing judgment and simply embracing the moment. Once we do this, we can adopt a healthier view of the world even as it becomes seemingly more difficult to navigate with growing demands and stresses.

I have been practicing yoga for about three years. It is integral to my lifestyle now, and it has changed me in so many ways. Before I was introduced to yoga, my mind-body perception was enmeshed in the competitive social web. I was stressed and had a difficult time appreciating myself on an individual level. I was locked into the mindset of self-judgment and worrying about how my performance in life measured up to others. I was also struggling with body image. All of these things combined, I was wary of the yoga studio. I did not know if I would like it; in fact, I was scared that I was not ready—mentally, physically—to practice yoga. All of my issues, all of my misgivings, were banished within my first yoga class, however. The environment was safe and encouraging and I left the class with positive feelings. As I continued to attend classes, the positive energy increased and my mind and body began to heal. I learned to better love myself through yoga as my life perspective changed. Yes, I still deal with life stresses, but they have been made more manageable by incorporating yoga practice into my daily schedule.

I believe there is a turning for people who practice yoga, a turning point that makes you want to continue practicing as yoga becomes a reward or a pleasure. Continued practice makes yoga into something you want to do for yourself rather than something you have to do to please others. This essential difference in perspective comes with a turning point, and it happened for me within the first couple of months since I began to practice.

I had been attending yoga classes 2-3 times a week at the gym on my college campus. A particular class was focused on stress relief, which included slow, deliberate stretches and deep breathing. As I moved through the sequence of movements with the guiding words of the instructor, I felt totally connected to myself. With closed eyes, I was aware of how I felt on the physical and emotional level. I was in tune with myself and my surroundings so as to fully enjoy the present moment. Yoga encouraged me (and encourages everyone who practices) to release thoughts of the past and the future. Worries and anything external is irrelevant—what matters most is the present moment, and recognizing the full potential of the experience you are having. The experience could be physical, where a sequence or stretch feels great and strengthens the body; it could be emotional, where sensations from within are released and you are filled with positive energy in the form of hope or rejuvenation.

Whenever I practice, I purposefully set aside time to take care of myself by focusing on my mind and body in the present moment. Our lives are so hectic and filled with obligations, and we tend to constantly look forward and backward, that we sometimes forget to appreciate the present. Yoga is a reminder of the enjoyment that you can feel by simply living in the moment.

This process of living in the moment, of fully enjoying the experience of yoga, is called being in “flow.” Flow is a concept defined by psychologist and author Mihaly Cskiszentmihayli, and the term epitomizes living fully in the moment. Flow occurs with concentration and immersion in a current activity. Yoga, as a mind-body exercise, can lead you effortlessly into flow. Cskiszentmihayli states in his book, “The similarities between yoga and flow are extremely strong. In fact, it makes sense to think of Yoga as a thoroughly planned flow activity. Both try to achieve a joyous, self-forgetful involvement through concentration which is made possible by the discipline of the body.” Yoga entails discipline—focus, balance and steadiness, and gradual precision in moving through poses—and we completely engage ourselves in the practice. Though it may seem difficult at first, the relaxation that accompanies discipline in the practice of yoga steadily contributes to a state of flow, a state of happiness.

Bonesball embraces the flow lifestyle with the incorporation of activities like sports and yoga into our schedules. Attaining a state of flow can allow us to take a step back from the competitive world. We can succeed in our endeavors and live a better, happier life when we take the time to live in flow.
Take time to live in the moment each day. Feel better, and be better.

By Sarah Gross