Yoga Off the Mat by Alison King Tigges

If you have read any OTY blogposts up until this point, you have read about all the various reasons why yoga is good for you.  It has so many physical, mental, and emotional benefits.  It gives us tools to be our healthiest and best selves.  Another huge benefit to a consistent yoga practice is how it helps us move through the world.  Not just our inner world, but the world happening outside of us, and often outside of our control.

Life is stressful!  We have so many worries and concerns coming at us every single day.  There is so much to get done and never enough time.  Plus, the world feels extra chaotic right now.  Political tensions, economic uncertainty, health concerns, diseases running rampant, the list goes on.  I feel it too.  And as a yoga teacher and studio co-owner, we see this stress everyday.  People are desperate for something to help them deal with everything going on.  People are searching for tools to help create peace in their lives and the world around them.

The question I get asked, and often ask myself, is do I engage or retreat?  When the world (or life) feels chaotic, do I hide away or do I go out and attend to the challenges at hand?  

I think the answer is BOTH!

My teacher Noah Maze often discusses the polarity between the Sanskrit word laukika which mean “made up of light” and alukika which means “not of this world/not of light”.  Essentially, the spectrum of dealing with what is right in front of you and engaging versus retreating and going into the shadows.

Sometimes, I do think rest and unplugging is precisely what we need to do.  We have to protect our peace and so when I feel extra anxious or am spiraling hard, that is simply what I do.  Not hiding, but retreating for a short time.  RESTING.  Practicing more meditation, more yin/restorative yoga, more time in nature, more time with my family, less time on social media.  Yoga gives us the tools for this.  Before yoga, rest and stillness was a foreign word I did not appreciate nor understand how to do it.

We must find ways to nourish our soul and conserve our energy.  I think as a society this is an area where we all struggle. We live in a hustle culture that does not prioritize rest.  We need to take that time and practice it so that when we come back to the challenges of life, we do not get consumed by it. We are more prepared to face things head on, and hopefully deal with it as skillfully as possible.   

While rest is an important skill, sometimes we do need to engage!  It is often appropriate to act, in whatever way you feel compelled.  Whether is is the state of the world, something going on at your job or with your family, your health….sometimes we need to get up and do the damn thing!  Yoga also gives me the tools for this.  Yoga helps us practice tapas, it builds heat so we can do hard things.  Styles like vinyasa or hot can stoke this fire, as well as sitting in the intensity and discomfort of a difficult pose.  

Rather than living life in one extreme or the other (only hiding, never resting, etc ), it has taught me how to more easily travel between the extremes.  To be able to find the middle path!  Or to more easily say “ok well this week I am burnt out and need to prioritize rest” and “this week I can get up and fight the good fight”.  The beauty is, yoga allows us to navigate between the two extremes with more ease.  We have more choices.  We have more options for how to deal with the challenges in front of us.