![\"8746825915_a4b3c5e3c2_z\"](\"http:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/8746825915_a4b3c5e3c2_z.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNope, it\u2019s not that one.<\/h3>\n
Or this one.<\/p>\n Or even this one.<\/p>\n Actually, it might be this:<\/em><\/p>\n Or this:<\/em><\/p>\n Or maybe even this:<\/em><\/p>\n What does that mean?<\/p>\n It means that we\u2019re only practicing asanas\u2014from \u201csimpler\u201d poses like child\u2019s to trickier ones like headstand\u2014because we\u2019re trying to remain in the moment by working our bodies and our balance, and we\u2019re expending our energy and expanding our flexibility in order to be more fully present during meditation or even at the upcoming staff meeting at work.<\/p>\n Practicing yoga does not have to be on a mat.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n You can practice the cessation of the fluctuations of our minds when you\u2019re driving\u2014you\u2019re thinking about driving.<\/p>\n You can practice when you\u2019re riding a bike or merely focusing on the sensations of your breath as it comes in and out of your nostrils. If this sounds easy, I guarantee that you\u2019ve never tried practicing \u201creal\u201d yoga.<\/p>\n Ceasing what many of us call the \u201cmonkey mind\u201d (our constantly churning thoughts that are floating through our heads) is absolutely not easy\u2014which is where and why asana does come in.<\/p>\n On the other hand, I don\u2019t know about you, but holding a tiny baby\u2014feeling her warm, soft cheek against your chest; smelling her soft, sweet scent as your nose presses the top of her tender head\u2014this can be practicing yoga. I\u2019ve never experienced yoga so well in my life like when I hold my daughter<\/em>.<\/p>\n Also, this might not be quite what we\u2019re looking for, but feeling an emotion\u2014really digging in and being with your hurt, frustration, jealousy<\/a>\u2014this can be practicing yoga in the sense that\u00a0you aren\u2019t shoving your feelings aside and pretending to feel something \u201ceasier\u201d\u00a0like anger.<\/p>\n \u201cWe fear violence less than our own feelings. Personal, private, solitary pain is more terrifying than what anyone else can inflict.\u201d<\/p>\n ~\u00a0<\/i>Jim Morrison<\/p><\/blockquote>\n So yoga doesn\u2019t have to look like this:<\/p>\n Or this:<\/p>\n Instead, it can look like this:<\/p>\n (That\u2019s my husband \u201cpond jumping,\u201d by the way\u2014he\u2019s better at practicing yoga than I am and he doesn\u2019t even own a yoga mat, just a few different bikes.)<\/p>\n Because yoga has nothing to do with a sticky mat\u2014that\u2019s merely a tool to help us achieve this mental clarity, peace and restfulness.<\/p>\n How do\u00a0you<\/em>\u00a0practice yoga?<\/a><\/p>\n For me, I\u2019ll admit, sometimes my yoga resembles this:<\/p>\n More often than not, though, I would describe my perfect yoga practice like this:<\/p>\n or this:<\/p>\n And I\u2019m certainly not suggesting that motherhood or parenthood<\/a> is how we all practice yoga\u2014obviously it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n Maybe for you, it\u2019s cuddling your furchild or it could be any number of other things too.<\/p>\n All I\u2019m suggesting is that we keep in mind, when we do finally step onto our yoga mats, that our practice doesn\u2019t call on us to be self-righteous or\u00a0perfect, \u201cadvanced\u201d or anything else besides what we already are\u2014just being with and experiencing this now moment.<\/p>\n And this new now moment.<\/p>\n And this one.<\/p>\n Namaste.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Photos: Author’s own; imgur; Jillian\/Flickr<\/a>; Steven Depolo\/Flickr<\/a>; Kevin Dinkel\/Flickr<\/a>;\u00a0Premnath Thirumalaisamy<\/a>\/Flickr;\u00a0eren {sea+prairie}<\/a>\/Flickr; Chris Waits\/Flickr<\/a>.<\/p>\n This article was first published by elephant journal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Nope, it\u2019s not that one. Or this one. Or even this one. Actually, it might be this: Or this: Or maybe even this: Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. What...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,8],"tags":[398,142,502,10,12],"class_list":["post-2412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspirational-pick-me-ups","category-yoga-practice","tag-advanced-yoga","tag-motherhood","tag-real-yoga","tag-yoga","tag-yoga-practice-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/14857434747_7596ababa3_z.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4dYEp-CU","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2412"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2609,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2412\/revisions\/2609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenniferswhite.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nYoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.<\/em><\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n