Practicing Yoga in Daily Life.

"Take the physical practice of yoga outside of the studio, into your daily life." Something I say to my yoga students often.

The physical practice of Yoga does not end at the confines of the studio space, it is something one can incorporate into daily life.  5 simple ways to start :

1 Take that tall and straight yoga standing posture out with you. Keep your head held high, face soft, a smile on your face and shoulders pushed slightly back. It will make you an inch taller and you will radiate confidence. You will breathe freely, attract good stuff towards yourself and exude positivity. Small changes in your body will make big changes in your life.

2 Every now and then switch off from the world around you and move your focus to your breath. During a chaotic moment in the day, or a moment of anger and distress towards someone you dislike, or a boring meeting, snap out of thoughts and distractions and feel and observe your breath flowing in and out through your nostrils. Try to listen hard to the sound of your natural breath. Just for a few moments. Trust me, the noises around you will fade. When you snap back to the world around you, things will be calmer and clearer, and you will be more aware.

3 Turn normal activities into yoga stretches and include the breath practice into it. It might sound funny, but for example when reaching out for something on a high shelf, breathe in deeply and make it a stretch, when you reach down to pick up something you've dropped on the floor, make it into a forward bend and breathe out into a stretch. It starts to come naturally and mundane tasks become yoga. Life becomes a dance.

4 Practice awareness and become and observer to your daily activities, just every now and then. Switch off from simply 'doing', and instead switch to 'being' the observer to the doing. For example, when you're rushing to make your morning cup of tea or coffee tomorrow tell yourself : "Now I am rushing to make my coffee. I'm pulling out a cup from the shelf. I've just switched on my water boiler. I'm pouring the coffee into my cup. I'd better slow down else I'm going to burn my tongue." Observe every step of what you do. It will slow you down a bit, and heighten your sense of awareness of the world. Try it out, it's fun.

5 If you lead a sedentary lifestyle, put your yoga knowledge into practice every now and then. Start by putting a reminder every hour for it.  When the alarm goes off, stretch your arms up, correct your posture, make your back straight. Roll your shoulders back and forward, do a few neck exercises to release the stress. Crack your fingers, you've been typing and texting too much. Then close your eyes away from the computer screen for a few seconds and count upto 12 breaths before you open up your eyes. Reboot.

These are just a few things you can do. As you deepen your practice, you'll notice that you're incorporating a lot of these automatically into daily life. Yes, people may around you may laugh at you in the start, but when you begin to radiate brilliance, the same people may get a bit blinded by your light, and will want to follow suit.