Why Yoga Works for Me… and It Might for You too Right Now

In need of a little inspiration in these crazy times? How about some yoga inspiration? Learn all the reasons why yoga matters right now for you

So, with all this corona virus shit going down right now, the world is in a bit of a crazy place. No, a really crazy place. Social media is no longer the fun place I get on to see cute puppies or what my friends are up to, but rather the latest infographic on why we’re all going to die from this virus or we’re all making it a way too fucking big deal. I can’t handle the information overload right now and it’s too hard to distinguish what's real and what’s not. So… I’m stepping back. Especially from Facebook. Fucking Facebook… don’t get me started on that.

Anyways… I’ve been asking myself a lot lately- what is it time for? And these past few days? It’s been a shit ton of movement. I normally don’t swear this much, but this virus must be bringing it out of me. What was I saying? Oh right… movement! Thankfully I have two dogs, one of them being a crazy physco that needs five walks a day, so movement comes pretty easily in my day. But the other movement I’ve been craving lately besides walking in the middle of nowhere? Yoga. duh! Why, though? Why is this any different than being outside and moving and feeling the wind on my face and the blue sky and the trees? Different intention. I walk to get the dogs exercise. To warm myself up. To get my day started. I yoga to ground myself. To feel deeply. To be in creation and exploration. This may all be too much for you right now.

Let me back up. When I say yoga, I mean more than the physical form of yoga. The asana, as we sometimes hear it. Meditation is also yoga. As is focus. As are a lots of things (go google the eight limbs… you’ll have a great rabbit hole to dive down) anyway… I’m talking the bigger deeper yoga, but yes, in this case, the physical movement of yoga. When I do yoga, I’m not simply walking and putting one foot in front of the other. I’m placing my feet, my hands, my body, in a special way on my mat and that intention creates something. So why the heck would we need intention and place our hands and feet in a special way right now? Because fear gets us to go outside of our bodies and into our heads… and you guys… our heads and our crazy minds are like, the WORST place we could be right now. The worst. We are really good at making up shit. Like, really good. We do it all the time. We make meaning out of things that have no meaning. We make up how we think people feel, how people think we feel, what they are saying about us (whether or now we know). ALL. THE. TIME. and it’s the same with this damn virus. What we actually REALLY KNOW is low. What do we do when the world is trying to get our heads in a tizzy, or when we are already there in panic and in fear? The BEST thing we can POSSIBLY DO is come back to our bodies. Our bodies cannot lie to us. They physically cannot lie. We get a stab of pain when something is wrong. It’s our body’s way of warning us. Our minds lie to us all the time, as I just explained. Our bodies tell us the truth. There’s a reason they call it a “gut” instinct- it comes from our physical gut! So, we do yoga asana to ground and to be in our bodies. Because then, we see the truth instead of the lies. We also shift our perspective. Rather than being “out here” with everybody in their fear and terror and all the other things… we get to go inward. We shut out the noise, however briefly, and move into a state of deep listening. When the noise is gone… the panic fades, the fear disappears… and all's right in the world. We need this now more than ever before… in an almost unprecedented way.