Ok so let’s write. What am I going to write? Wait a minute, is it still raining?… I feel a bit hungry. I’ll eat something first. No, I don’t think I should, I should just get this done, I’ll wait. Ah, must remember to look that thing up later and also I really have to start that book. I should make a list actually. Why is my hand itching a lot today? Back to writing…maybe it would be easier with a pen…

Sound vaguely familiar? When you’re trying to focus on something, do you often find your mind wandering, a kind of constant chatter about anything and everything filling your head? It’s basically there all the time for humans, we’re so used to it we barely notice most of the time. But when you come to meditation or yoga you might suddenly find this voice is really loud! Why? Because you’ve calmed down the other activities and noises and for many of us this triggers our minds to start ‘talking’ nervously.

One of the original purposes stated for yoga is to calm down the chatty voice of our minds for a bit so we can rest. One of the probable causes of stress in our busy, modern lives is a lack of mental silence – it’s hard to get with the array of wonderful music, entertainment, people and images we have around us. 

I love the stimulation of colour, music and company as much as anyone but I do find myself feeling stressed for no good reason sometimes and I think it’s to do with this. My life is great but I need some silence. 

One of my meditative practices is Hatha yoga (physical yoga). My body is occupied but not moving too fast so my mind can relax. I listen to the teacher’s guidance or follow the steps I know well and bring my mind in tune with my body and breath by just focusing on the form and feeling of the yoga asanas. Sometimes my mind wanders but it’s easier to notice and bring it back to the present as I follow the sensations in my body. And some asanas really don’t leave much room for thinking at all, for example in the balancing postures! I get the impression this may well be by design…

Next time you practice yoga notice your mental state before and after the practice - it’s very likely that you’ll see a difference. A yoga practice can be as simple as paying attention to your breathing pattern for a few minutes or a single pose, like Downward Facing Dog that irons out the creases in your body after sitting.

I’m a strong believer in the fully relevant connection of our mental, physical and soul states and I find yoga to be one of the strongest ways of experiencing myself in this 3D way.

“When the mind is still, the beauty of the self is seen reflected in it.” 

BKS Iyengar, Light on Yoga