Your time on the mat keeps you fit and flexible, but you’ve probably experienced, too, how it quiets an anxious mind or invigorates a creative spark. As you focus on consciously moving your body through space, syncing each movement with the breath, the chatter of the mind slows and grows quieter. Your mind is not still, just fully occupied by the tasks at hand and lulled by the rhythm of breath and movement. To step out of a busy mind for an hour is supremely delicious.
Occasionally, in Savasana, you may sense a connection to the subtle, effervescent essence of who you are—beyond identity and personality, with the confines of life as you know it having faded so that you aren’t aware of many details. You are quietly aware that you are aware, nothing more.
This gentle moment of relaxed awareness may last only a few breaths, and yet it is deeply nourishing. Like a lazy beach vacation, this is a moment untouched by stress and busyness. It has the power to rejuvenate and inspire you. Yet, as soon as you have had the smallest taste of this restorative energy, it’s usually time to roll up your mat, check your phone, and rush off to the next To Do on the list. The gifts of your practice remain nearly untouched.
Most of us invest pretty heavily to create the conditions that gave rise to that sense of peace, contentment, and creativity. We devote time and resources to getting ready and attending a class. And then, just as it starts to pay off, we step away and turn our attention elsewhere.
What if you begin to think of the practice as an investment in your personal energy bank? You might log the benefits: Feeling more relaxed, more energized, happier. Discovering more clarity, greater inspiration. Though you are already investing in it, you may not yet have a container to collect the dividends it provides. Maybe its time to learn how to harness the calming, enlivening, creative energy you are cultivating and used it to motivate you to stay true to your purpose, to fulfill your life’s dreams and ambitions.
Collect The Energy You Create
The next time you practice yoga, schedule an extra 15 minutes for yourself after your class or home practice session—and keep a notebook nearby.
At the beginning of your practice, set an intention to stay gently present right where you are for the duration of the practice. Stay with the instruction offered or the sequence you planned. Lavish your attention on the breath. Be curious about the feeling each pose elicits in the body as well as your mental reactions to it. When your mind drifts to other thoughts, call it gently back to join you here and now for this pose, this movement, this breath.
At the end of the practice, head to a quiet place where you can sit for 15 minutes.
Sit on your mat or if that’s not possible on a park bench, in your car, or any place you can easily get to and rest undisturbed. You can meditate, daydream, journal, draw—whatever quiet endeavor you like that enables you to stay connected with the energy you have just created. Your only intention for this time is to be with yourself. Take these few minutes to focus on the energy cultivated in your practice, as well as whatever thoughts or feelings arise.
After 10 minutes, take out your notebook and spend a few more minutes capturing your experience on paper. Describe how you feel and note any insights or inspirations that came to you during practice or in the quiet time afterward.
Do this exercise three times after three different yoga practices. Can you describe the energy and attitudes that permeate you after a focused yoga session? Can you tap into them as you recall them?
To the best of your ability, continue to make room for this kind of quiet time after your practice. It might just be the first step to cultivating and containing the energy needed to identify your dreams and make them come true.