Yoga for Beginners - Part 2: How can yoga help to cultivate a healthy mindset?

I was asked to share some tips from the yoga world for dealing with overwhelm and cultivating a healthy mindset. 

So, this article is partly based on what I have learned from my 10 years as a yogi and also from my own life experiences. 

Before I started practicing yoga, I was very disconnected from my body. As a child I would transport myself off into the world of fiction via books and at one point my parents had my hearing tested because I was so far off in fantasy-land that sometimes I didn’t even hear them. 

As I grew older, this continued, I’d escape through dreaming up scenarios, overthinking, worrying, playing out imaginary conversations. It wasn’t uncommon for me to get on the tube to one place and end up somewhere else entirely because I was busy playing out a whole conversation or fantasy in my mind. 

In fact, when I did my initial yoga training in 2015, my teacher was talking about how most of us are stuck in our heads and then he turned to me and said, “Lauren, you’re not even stuck in your head like the rest of us, you’re somewhere else entirely”. It was funny at the time but it was also the wake-up call I needed to learn how to become more present.

Yoga Chitta Vritti Nirodha - Yoga is the calming of the fluctuations of the mind

Yoga teaches us presence. During the practice, we shut off or dim some of our senses to focus on the micro; the drishti or gaze is set, the sensation and focus on the breath is heightened, our taste and smell senses are dimmed and the feeling and attention senses are directed to the body and breath. Therefore, our awareness is turned off from the macro; the world news, the existential questions, the constant barrage of repetitive thoughts.

How does this benefit us beyond the mat? 

A 2009 study showed that during any form of meditative practice there is an increase in the degree of Alpha brain waves, which are associated with quiet thoughts and restfulness. We have different types of brain waves for different activities but alpha brain waves are important because we don’t only experience them on the mat, they continue to sustain afterwards helping us to feel calmer and less stressed.

“Sustained practice also leads to important outcomes such as changes in life perspective, self-awareness and an improved sense of energy to live life fully and with genuine enjoyment. The practice of yoga produces a physiological state opposite to that of the flight-or-fight stress response and with that interruption in the stress response, a sense of balance and union between the mind and body can be achieved.”

- International Journal of Yoga

Talking of fight or flight…

The Sympathetic Nervous System vs The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS)

Anyone who joins my yin classes will know that I talk about the nervous system A LOT. What we’re trying to achieve through the practice of yoga, is a more restful state, a dropping into our PNS or ‘rest and digest’ mode.

It’s not to say that all stress is bad; we need a certain amount of stress to push us forwards, to help us to take action. But, our lives are so heavily saturated with stressful triggers that we’ve become stuck in this system where we’re constantly on high alert; in fight, flight or freeze mode. In caveman times this would be our reaction to a real danger but in today’s world we get stuck in this mode due to what is usually only a perceived danger. 

The practice of yoga brings us back into our PNS, rest and digest, stay and play mode. On a physical level, our heart rate slows, our breath deepens and blood flow can more easily reach our reproductive organs. On a mental and psychological level, we feel at ease. It is from this place of restful awareness that we notice our behaviours, our thoughts, our instinctive reactions. Yoga helps to create the pause where we get to choose whether to act consciously rather than reacting unconsciously.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t get upset, anxious, triggered or stressed. It simply means that when we do, we have the tools to call upon to get us back into a place of balance before we take our next step. 

Have you noticed the benefits in your mindset since practicing yoga? I’d love to hear from you. Or perhaps you’re new to the journey and want some advice on how to get started. My virtual door is always open, feel free to email me or drop me a message on Instagram.

Look after yourselves yogis!