Applying Yoga to Different Aspects of Your Life

It was 12:45 am and I was awakened by the cry of a four year old. After consoling my delirious child and returning to my own bed, I found it difficult to return to sleep. I'm not one that has difficulty falling asleep. I fall asleep immediately. I don't really need more than 7 hours at night. The only trouble I have with sleeping is if I have to get up for some reason in the midst of it. If I am brought to a fully conscious state in the middle of the night, my mind begins to wander. I start thinking about what I am doing the following day, what I'm going to make for breakfast, what chores need to be done, different sequences of yoga asanas to teach, etc, etc, and etc! I considered going down stairs for a while but then I thought about the regeneration process my body so desperately needed. "How will I get back to sleep?" Then I thought about what was keeping me awake....my mind. I decided to think of something to calm my mind and I suddenly thought about savasana. For those of you who do not practice yoga, savasana is the time at the end of your practice when you lie flat on your back, palm up, eyes closed, mind is still. This is time of total relaxation. If thoughts come into your mind, you do not attach to them. Instead, you let them flow freely and allow your mind to become very still. So, I removed my pillow from behind my head. I chose lay quietly in corpse pose (savasana) for a few moments. Typically in my yoga practice, following savasana, I would begin to wake my body back up into a conscious state. Instead, I rolled onto my side as if I was breaking my savasana and pulled my legs up in a fetal position, and instead of rising to a cross legged position for "Namaste," I returned to sleep. No time was wasted. I woke up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.

Yesterday I was reading an article in Yoga Journal about prescribing the practice of yoga for different ailments and using its healing powers. Studies are being conducted by Sat Bir Khalsa, PhD of Brigham and Women's Hospital (which is a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School) to prove that yoga can be an important possible cure for the health care system in this country. He notes that this is not his job but his mission in life. I truly believe that he has a good case. I have used yoga instead of tylenol or motrin for menstrual cramps, head aches, as well as other aches and pains. I have also used my practice to combat stress and now have used it successfully to combat an insomniatic moment. As I humbly approach the teaching aspect of yoga, it is my hope that I can spread my passion and joy for yoga and that my students can apply it to all aspects of their life. I have heard the saying before and will keep it in my conscious mind to take "yoga off the mat" and use it as a tool in the many different facets of my life.