“Citta vitri nirodha” – quieting the mind – is an important benefit of yoga and meditation. Taking time to quiet the mind has a deep and lasting impact on how we live our lives both personally and professionally. It leads to mindfulness and the practice of learning how to pay attention to what is occurring within our field of experience from moment to moment.
Mindfulness is an ancient practice that involves a combination of slowing down, doing one activity at a time and bringing full awareness to both our outer activity and inner experience. It provides a potentially powerful antidote to the stress of time-pressure, fragmentation, overload, distraction, agitation and worry.
Even more, mindfulness through yoga helps us to uncover a new sense of self-confidence and assurance. By exploring physical and emotional sensations of our asana practice, we become mindful our emotions, their impact, their causes, and their impermanence. We become mindful toward our own thinking processes. We become aware of how certain thoughts affect our reactions. We learn how to step back, assess and then act fully mindful of our impact.
Practicing mindfulness means becoming an impartial witness to our thoughts and experiences as we have them. The more we practice mindfulness, the more we are able to overcome the constant judging and reacting to inner and outer experiences that constantly stream through our minds. Over time, we develop sustained concentration to uncover new perspectives, gain greater insight and unleash creative problem solving.
