8
Chapter
Yoga in everyday life
Introduction
One of the most important therapeutic aspects
of yoga is to integrate what you have learned into
everyday life. Yoga practice should not be restricted
to going to a class or receiving instruction from a
therapist and practicing at home. Rather it should
be naturally integrated every day in an ongoing way
to enjoy continuing success.
We all have many family, work, and social duties.
Often things happen unexpectedly or duties take
much longer than planned. Out of the blue, situa-
tions arise when we wanted just to relax: the phone
rings and our mother-in-law has been admitted to
hospital or our child is ill and we have to come and
help immediately. Or our tax return needs to be
handed in today but the computer breaks down.
Then, instead of practicing yoga, it is the computer –
otherwise ever so useful – that consumes hours and
hours of our time. All these types of event make
us feel that there is not enough time to look after
ourselves and to practice yoga.
There is time if the spirit of yoga is integrated into
everything we do throughout the day. So many things
learned from the therapeutic yoga described in this
book can be applied at any time and in any situation:
mindfulness, awareness, feeling the breath, correcting
and finetuning the posture, and gentle movements
with the feet, hands, or shoulders. The Yoga-Sutras ̄
(see Chapters 1 and 2) teach us the importance of
not accumulating unnecessary things and of control-
ling our desires, calming the mind, and becoming free
from constant distractions. This helps us to organizeChapter contents
Introduction 223
Selections from practice that are suitable for integration
into many areas and situations 224
Examples for integrating the spirit and practice of
yoga into everyday life 225
Conclusion 228