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, situations 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-Suātras (see Chapters 1 and 2) teach us the importance of not accumulating unnecessary things and of controlling our desires, calming the mind, and becoming free from constant distractions. This helps us to organize a disciplined, clearly structured day that starts with getting up early enough, creating extra time for our own development. In Chapter 2 we also learned from the Yoga-Sūtras that our state of mind can be influenced by consciously cultivating a positive attitude. This ancient wisdom tells us that it is possible to fulfill all of life’s duties while still feeling relaxed inside.
If we integrate this spirit of yoga into our everyday life, it can help us to be less affected by stressful situations and to maintain a good, healthy posture and natural breathing throughout. Of course it is also important to find sufficient occasions for actual practice. Below we will look at practical aspects relating to our surroundings and the best adjustment of our posture. Also included are short programs to practice in everyday life. If time is short or the surroundings are not suitable for some of the exercises, you can practice only parts of a suggested program.
To make our daily yoga practice successful lifestyle and diet are important. The furniture, which chair we use in the office, the height of our desk and computer screen, how we sit in our spare time, in the car, on a bike, what sports we play, how much effort we put into them – all these factors contribute to the results of yoga therapy. Furthermore our bed, mattress, pillow, and the shoes we wear play an important role. Nowadays there are so many possibilities which need to be tailored for individual use, so we will not give specific endorsements here. However we do recommend that you respect the importance of these factors and consult an expert when you come to buying or changing any of this equipment.
