The obvious answer would be, when you roll out your yoga mat, and devote 90 minutes to asana, pranayama and meditation — either alone, or in a group setting, of course!
But, what is yoga practice? Why do we stretch, breathe, relax and introspect? Perhaps the question is better phrased as such: “What is yoga, practice for?” From this perspective, the question is best answered quite simply: for life.
Preparation for Life
Yoga practice is really a preparation for life. This is why it’s called ‘practice,’ because when you step out the studio door, turn on your phone, get behind the wheel and remember the long list of things you have to accomplish that day, that’s when yoga really begins.
The most amazing thing is that yoga practice prepares you for almost everything you encounter in your life, either directly or indirectly: whether it strengthens your shoulders and back to carry your first child, or helps keep you calm and patient while tackling your income taxes, yoga practice imbues you with the physical, mental and spiritual strength to conquer anything life puts in your path, with compassion and grace.
Physical Preparation
In your yoga practice, you have probably heard this repeatedly, “let your shoulder blades slide down your back, and open your heart to the sky.” This simple action becomes ingrained in your body after months or years of patient yoga practice. And it will instinctively arise, even off the yoga mat, at those times when you need it the most.
For example, you may be driving and, on one particular exhale, your body remembers what to do, and softens, relaxing and releasing the stored tension. In this way, yoga practice prepares your body to deal with outward expressions of inner tension, or simply the physical realities of life, like driving, office work, bad shoes and grocery bags. These stresses are all inevitable and potentially harmful side effects of life.
Mental Preparation
As we meet and compassionately greet our body in our asana practice, we learn patience and acceptance. Think of your yoga practice, on the mat, as a microcosm of your life.
In your practice, you learn to accep the limitations of your hamstrings, so you can relax in standing forward fold. This attitude of acceptance will serve you well when your boss is driving you crazy and you are within an inch of quitting.
Treating life’s challenges with the same cultivated patience will carry you through life, as you learn to differentiate between those things which you can control and those which you cannot.
Spiritual Preparation
An awareness of our innate spirituality is the least perceptible yet most important preparation that our yoga practice provides us with. Regardless of your social, cultural or religious background, you will inevitably bump into major life events, or even tiny inner shifts, that force you to look at the deeper questions in life, like what happens when we die, or what am I supposed to do with my life?
The point may not be to actually answer these questions, assuming they are even answerable; rather, the goal is to shift into this subtle way of seeing life not as a process of material loss or gain, but for the powerful inner life of all things. Yoga prepares us to perceive and appreciate the spark of life that exists in all beings, as we begin, on the mat, with ourselves.