Yoga has become an increasingly popular form of exercise over the past few decades or so. When it comes down to it, this isn’t all too surprising. After all, it’s a calming form of exercise that follows a steady pace and increases your flexibility, improves your balance, and stretches out areas of your body that you might not have even noticed were tense before taking the practice up. It also promotes a general sense of wellbeing – you get time to focus on your breathing, clearing your mind of negative energy, and feeling at ease in your body and within your environment. What’s more? It can be carried out almost anywhere by nearly anyone. All you need is your body and enough space to maneuver into downward dog, Cobra pose, and Child’s pose.There are classes in most locations if you want a professional to help you optimize your positions and stances. However, if you’re more of a home bird, you can use video tutorials and mobile apps to get a sense of what you should be doing. Believe it or not, some of the best and most impressive yogis out there are self trained. The thing to bear in mind though, is that there’s a whole aesthetic besides the exercise itself that comes hand in hand with the lifestyle of the Yogi. Here are a few different ways that you can incorporate a touch of the Yogi into your general lifestyle!
Your Wardrobe
The Yogi has a very specific wardrobe for practicing their art. Generally speaking, this will consist of tight fitting, yet stretchy clothing. This works as a sort of “second skin” and means that excess fabric isn’t in the way of their movements and doesn’t pose a threat of causing a tangle of arms and legs. The stretch also allows for the far reaches and positions that require a touch more flexibility. You can generally rely well on yoga pants. These are specially designed for the practice and also have looser and less constraining waist bands, allowing for greater movement of the hips when bending. The fabric is also specially designed so that it doesn’t go see through when stretching, which could lead to some embarrassment or feelings of discomfort for you and others in the room! Besides the clothes that you will wear to actually practice yoga, you might also want to incorporate clothes sourced from (or influenced by) Middle Eastern tradition into your wardrobe, such as harem pants.
Your Home Design
Sure, you can simply roll out a yoga mat in pretty much any space within your home as long as you have enough room to stretch out into all of your different standing, seated, and lying positions without inhibiting your limbs. If you want to fully embrace the lifestyle of a yoga however, there are various things you can do with your interior and exterior home design to incorporate positive vibes and energy, and a Middle Eastern influence to your surroundings.
If the weather is good and you want to carry out yoga outdoors, you need the ground to be level. Patio is the best option for this – it gives you a stable and even surface to roll your mat onto. Alternatively, decking could work too. Another aspect of the Yogi lifestyle that you might like to try out is meditation. Historically, meditation has a symbiotic relationship with yoga practice, which means that the two tend to go hand in hand. So, if you practice yoga, but have never tried out meditation, it may well be time to give it a go. Meditation involves a whole lot more than sitting still for a few minutes. If you are just starting out, try out guided meditation. There are likely to be real-life classes nearby, or you can try out one of a whole host of different youtube or online tutorials that are available to you. Don’t rush your efforts, as meditation is difficult to get the hang of. Once you’ve mastered it, however, you will see how it benefits your yoga practice, as it makes you more aware of your breathing, posture, and concentration. You will need a calm and tranquil space to do this, so many people dedicate a specific room to meditation. Make sure that it is as clear as possible with minimal clutter.
Joining the Yogi Community
When you take part in most exercise regimes, you’re pretty solitary. You tend to head to the gym, run round the park, or go cycling alone. At most, you’ll have one partner you go along with to spur you on and encourage your productivity. Most people would think that yoga would be the same, as it is a task that you either carry out in a class with little interaction with anyone other than the instructor, or alone at home. However, there is actually a huge yoga community out there. So why not be proactive and engage with the hundreds of thousands of like minded individuals around you? Not only will you be able to offer each other help, advice, tips and tricks to do with all things yogi, but you may also find yourself accompanying each other to associated classes like meditation or perhaps just meeting up for coffee and a catch up. Check out the yoga hashtag on instagram for endless inspiration and images of people’s improvement. Instagram yoga fanatics often set each other extended yoga challenges too, which will encourage you to keep up with your practice. Like yoga pages on Facebook too, to keep up to date with news and events available and coming up in your local area.
These are just a few different ways that you can incorporate a touch of the Yogi into your general lifestyle! Sure, the exercise itself may be the centre of proceedings, but there are so many other things that you’re likely to get involved in through practice.
Photo Credit: group yoga, standing yoga, mindfulness, yoga mat
