Yoga now

Yoga and mindfulness for every day

I often hear from you that you would like to practice yoga and meditation, but you don’t have the time. I understand that, when the day starts and rolls around, one thing pulls the other and drives us in its own direction. We often have thoughts like “oh, I didn’t have time to practice in the morning, but I’ll make it in the afternoon”, then in the afternoon there is some new chaos and the end of the world that we solve so we think “OK, I’ll do it in the evening”. In the evening, of course, we are too tired and we still have to clean up and prepare for tomorrow. And so on every day.

The desire for yoga is the need for quality time for ourselves, for a little introspection to remember our true values ​​and reset our body and mind.

Practice is food, it gives us joy and meaning for everything else and the capacity to be good with other people. That time is very important, the urge of our being to stay healthy in spirit in a healthy body, which is essential. Since it is difficult at some stages to set aside a quiet hour and get organized, I would like to motivate you to incorporate yoga and mindfulness into your daily life and everyday activities.

That is the intention of the Yoga Now project.

When I was younger, my yoga practice lasted about two hours with additional regular meditation every day. It was some ideal, yoga in which you do yoga all the way to the end and meditation in which you “move on”. Now I have let go of all ideals, I take what I can and I am more grateful for it than I was when I “had everything right”. Now everything is chaotic but much more honest, it comes more from my real need for movement, breath and openness, and less from what I should achieve or be. Now I am immersed in Samsara, I struggle with my arms and legs but I am alive, now I am a mother. Of course, Samsara was my milieu before, but that apparent order made me feel a little above, a little “saved” hahaha, how sweet I was…
I mean, if you live chaotically, just relax, you’re here, you’ve arrived.

It’s important to set the intention from which we act well, so that even one minute will have 100% value.

Photo: Stjepan Tafra

The first step is to let go of ideas about how things should be in order to be good enough, to stop putting a green check mark on ourselves when we meet our expectations, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
The second is to see my duties as time for myself. While I’m washing dishes or hanging laundry, I become aware of how I’ve positioned my body, how I’m breathing, what’s my facial expression, who I’m arguing with in my head, what’s going on? I ask myself “how can I change my state and be relaxed, open to do what I do with ease”? The idea is to shift the image of yoga practice from “my hour in a parallel universe” to the here and now.

The good news is that we do not need any other conditions – what is happening now is the most fertile ground for mindfulness, we just need to open ourselves to it. The only thing stopping us is the idea that it needs to be somehow different in order for it to be a good time for practice and for “my peace”.

Meditation is silent reflection, but it is not what we reflect that has to be silent, but the one who reflects that has to be silent.

We do not need peace for mindfulness. We need to REMEMBER to become aware of what we are feeling now, expand our attention to what is gathering, allow it to be what is, and act from clear intentions. In that attitude there is peace. Without it there is struggle. In this way, we are called to practice in all conditions and situations, because our attention can always be broader than what is happening, we can awaken a healthy relationship and tenderness towards ourselves. The more we remember and apply these principles in our daily actions, the easier it will become for us to live like this and mindfulness will grow into a habit. You know that even after enlightenment, one must chop wood and carry water, as the Zen proverb says, in other words, even after we achieve what we strive for, everyday life is everyday life.

Don’t think that life is too fast-paced in modern times to meditate, it is true that we have a lot of obligations and stress, but that is why we have washing machines, dishwashers, stoves, diapers… Life was full of obligations before, but along with them they also had to wash sheets, ride donkeys, chop wood, and the like. So we have no excuses, life is easier now. Those who really want it and have a strong calling within themselves will do yoga NOW.

YOGA IS NOW

The idea of ​​this project is to remind ourselves that the practice is available to us at any time and to motivate us to invest a little attention and effort in establishing a healthy attitude. We are building a tower of small blocks, arranging “mindful” moments and little by little we will build a castle. Let’s play with ourselves and our minds and take things less rigidly, seriously and unchangingly.

The project is divided into three branches: Yoga Now, Yoga While… and Little Buddha, all three are short videos in which I show an exercise or give mindfulness advice in one minute, and you are invited to implement them in a creative way in your own style. I share videos on my Instagram profile in the form of “reels” and on my YouTube channel in the form of “shorts”.

For more yoga and mindfulness, join my guided online yoga program.
See you, Tena

Yoga is always available to us, let’s get up right away and do something small for ourselves. Let’s get our energy going with one or two simple exercises, breathe a little and stretch because believe me – a little goes a long way. You will slowly awaken your appetite for exercise, overcome laziness, feel the joy of movement and health in your body. When your appetite grows, join my regular online yoga program.

While doing everyday tasks, we can position ourselves so that we exercise, not tire our bodies. Through a few simple tips, I show you how you can playfully exercise while doing your daily tasks. For example, many “household chores” involve bending and lifting, so we make sure to position ourselves correctly so that we heal our backs and strengthen our glutes instead of making our bodies even more sore after the task is completed. Play and try.

A little wisdom to apply immediately. Mindfulness, translated from Pali, literally means remembering the right instructions, those that guide us towards emotional and mental health. Remembering at the right moment how to allow ourselves to feel, how to approach and solve a problem – what attitude to take. Mindfulness reminds us to be a noble being who does not act from reactive and selfish impulses, but those imbued with awareness and thoughtfulness with a lot of attention. Compassionate, empathetic and wise. Take the advice that helps you and use it, this knowledge is our human wealth and the right of each of us.