This reflection is centred around our yoga, movement, breathwork, and meditative practice, and how it all ties in with our daily lives.
Having participated in more active and forceful yoga methods for decades and taught them as well, I now find myself taking a step back and offering much slower and more mindful styles. I can see the benefits of doing less.
When we first start any physical exercise or yoga practice, we tend to throw ourselves into it using the most of ourselves, sometimes even beyond our limits.
This is part of the learning process and comes with frustrations, upsets, and sometimes injuries. It is natural to want to push the boundaries and seek "perfection", to see if we can achieve what our ego wants us to succeed at.
Our brain is the leading cause of our struggles and suffering on the yoga mat or meditation cushion. It is easily influenced by what seems to be good for us, according to outside resources and the opinion of others.
Evaluating what is truly good for us is often wrong. Our brain has an unfortunate power over what the body and the breath are asked to do, to achieve unreachable and unrealistic goals. After a long process of negative experiences, injuries, and feeling unfulfilled, we may start to feel stuck, and the reality of our true self and practice is lost.
I vividly remember the day I decided to stop pushing myself. I was attending a popular yoga teacher's workshop at a well-known London yoga studio, known for its robust, pushy, and challenging method. I pushed through the event like a warrior, but honestly struggled.
The day after, my body and nervous system reprimanded me with cold sores, backaches, fatigue, low energy, and moodiness for days. I realised it was not the teacher's fault but mine, and it was time to slow down and find practices that suited my body and this new mindset.
I knew that adopting a new approach would present challenges, but I soon realised it would also offer many new skills and experiences. Instead of fearing the unfamiliar, my curiosity took over, and I embraced the concept of doing less.
Understanding that yoga, movement, breathing, and other mindfulness practices are designed to promote self-discovery and help us learn about ourselves is crucial. If we are committed to this reflective approach, simply pushing through is just the beginning. Once we have realised this, we must let go of our previous system and make room for the next stage of our self-work.
Doing less allows us to meet our true nature, receive more, and learn from the experience.
Seven tips for practising "doing less"
Before you read on, I suggest implementing these concepts one at a time. Take the time to sit with each, and explore them slowly rather than all at once.
These tips are effective in all moving, breathing, and meditating practices.
1. Take the time to arrive and relax the body
The classical yoga tradition recognises the importance of preparing the body before engaging in subtle practices such as breath awareness or meditation.
Without feeling at ease in the body, such practices are harder to enter effectively. It is worth connecting with the body through gentle touches and movements at the start of the practice.
Familiarising yourself with the body's current state allows for informed decisions about the appropriate type and intensity of practice.
2. Connect with the natural breath and use the exhalation
Connecting with our natural breath is central to this process, because the unconscious act of breathing slows down when the body is quiet. Once the body is settled and relaxed, take the time to connect with the simplicity of your breath and allow yourself to be carried by its easy rhythms. If you continue to struggle, using the exhalation to slow the nervous system and ground yourself becomes helpful.
3. Set an intention to do less
For some of us, thinking and setting intentions does not come quickly; at least, it does not for me. Even so, a simple intention can be useful. It helps the brain to shift focus and direct the body in a different way. During breath awareness practice, try repeating an intention in the present tense, using a verb that implies doing less.
For example: I am doing less today, or I practise mindfully and slowly.
4. Become an explorer and observer
Deciding to do less is about experiencing, not just exercising. It involves developing the mindset of an observer and explorer. We can see the body and its sensations with the fresh eyes of a young child. Working this way, we rediscover things we may have forgotten, or never seen before.
5. Embracing presence: letting go of goals and destinations
My former teacher always said, "When you practise, there are no gold medals at the end of it; it is not a competition." This advice has stayed with me, and serves as a reminder to stop striving for immediate results. It is an opportunity to observe and explore ourselves.
If we set specific goals and fail to achieve them, we can be left feeling disappointed, as though we have failed. This can push us to continue forcing ourselves, and the chance to truly learn about ourselves is lost.
6. Embrace 'imperfections'
We are not perfect, and that is a blessing. Perfection in practice is a misleading idea. There is no such thing as an ideal or symmetrical practice, and that too is a blessing. Our practice cannot be perfect because we are imperfect beings. We must embrace whatever arises, and refrain from judging and criticising ourselves or others. We are all at different stages, and accepting that fact is part of the work.
7. Learn your limits, accept them, and adapt
The biggest challenge of doing less is knowing the limits of doing too much. It requires recognising when our egocentric mind is pushing us too far. There is no shortcut to this. We must first implement and work with all the concepts and tips above to build self-awareness. That awareness leads to acceptance, which is another challenging aspect of doing less. From there, we can adjust our practices based on what we have learned.
A closing thought
I am writing this because I have observed numerous unnecessary struggles, unhappiness, and disappointments in my classes. It saddens me, because I know the benefits of moving, breathing, and meditating intuitively and with ease.
I want to stress that "doing less" in practice does not mean stopping movement or setting aside more energising breathing techniques. Those methods remain useful in the right circumstances, and restorative, slow techniques serve different purposes.
In the classical yoga tradition, finding the right balance between too much effort and too much ease is the work itself. That balance can only be found by experiencing both polarities, which I will write about another time. For now, focus on what matters most in your life, and stay with it.
If you would like to practise in this spirit, our weekly online and in-person classes in breathwork, somatic yoga, and pranayama are a good place to begin. View Classes and Pricing →