Renewal – Nurturing the Outer and Inner You
Inspired by Renewal Day on 4th May, in my Blog today, I’m exploring how and why we need to invest in Renewing ourselves for our well being and how Yoga has fantastic tools to help us Renew ourselves.
Renewal for me isn’t just about replacing our old cells. It’s also about rejuvenating our cells, injecting a new lease of life with new energy that supports us as we grow and change.
There are two parts to welcoming in this feeling of renewal, both equally important!
Firstly, there’s the exercise side. We all know about the benefits of exercise, of getting up, moving around to get fresh, oxygenated, energising blood pumping around our bodies.
Secondly, there’s doing the opposite - R&R, resting and relaxing. As I’m learning and accepting every day, this doesn’t mean you’re being lazy. To become fully rejuvenated, we need to give our bodies the chance to rest, to absorb the benefits of our exercise and give our bodies the chance to recover from being busy when our lives and minds are active.
This could be as simple as taking some Renewal Breaks, spending 5 minutes of quiet time with ourselves, eating a favourite meal with family or friends, or going for a walk in nature.
If you’re looking for a single activity that contains both the active and non-active elements required to renew yourselves and your families, luckily yoga has both these elements and more.
We’ve got our Active, Physical Exercise which are the postures, asana practice.
Then, in terms of our Non-Active Rest and Recovery practice, yoga has so many elements including…
Breathing practices (Pranayama)
Relaxations
Visualisations
Meditations
Hand Gestures (Mudras)
Guidance on how to live happy and fulfilled lives in the way we treat ourselves (Niyamas - Personal Observances) and in the way we treat others (Yamas – Morals in our Interactions). These include ideas on how to renew ourselves and more…
So, if we’re really honest with ourselves, do we really value both the exercise and downtime equally?
With so many Rest and Recovery practices, both within a yoga class and outside a class, is there really any excuse for not giving ourselves this gift?
Perhaps it’s this downtime, this time for reflection that’s the magic ingredient to our renewal, growth and evolution?
I think so…
Namaste
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