As a yoga teacher, many of my yoga students ask what they can do on a daily basis to cultivate and deepen their understanding of living a healthier yogic lifestyle.
Here, in no particular order are ten habits to adopt on a daily basis to keep you in the flow and maintain your inner yoga glow.
Top Ten Healthy Living Tips
1. As you wake up in the morning, spend the first few minutes in silence and quiet reflection. Quietly observe how you feel and make a conscious effort to gently stretch yourself awake and enjoy the feeling of being alive.
2. Take pleasure in the simple things in life - for instance, notice any random acts of kindness in yourself and others.
3. When you eat take a few moments to give thanks for your food, to acknowledge your role in the whole food cycle process and to eat with a sense of reverence and respect for your food.
4. Acknowledge others, take time to say please and thank you, especially thank you, at every opportunity you can.
5. Be genuine and thoughtful in the way you speak and listen. Give friends and family the space to talk and share what's on their hearts, without imposing your opinions and comments.
6. Do some gentle yoga stretches every day. Spend 5 - 20 minutes practicing your favourite postures. Choose a time that suits you, maybe an early morning before you go to work sequence or a more calming routine before you go to bed.
7. Breathe. During your day, take time to take a break and breathe. A few rounds of deep yogic breathing will instantly revive and lift your spirits.
8. See the beauty and good in all situations. Sometimes life gets you down and you find it hard to feel upbeat and cheerful. That's OK, just hold in your heart the truth that there is always beauty to be found in any situation. The saying every cloud has a silver lining is true.
9. Be spontaneous but not reckless, just allow yourself the space and time to follow your intuition and see where it leads. If the time isn't right for you to jump up and down in puddles, then just close your eyes and imagine yourself doing it instead.
10. Keep your heart open to love. Life has a way of shutting you down, or making you close your heart and put the thorns up. You only have one life, so take a chance on love.
11. Be creative. What childhood passion have you let go of? Reclaim your childhood hobbies and who knows, you could even make it a business opportunity.
12. Give yourself a hand and mini facial massage before going to bed. Enjoy the sense of calm and relief as you massage your daily cares away and invite calm and tranquillity into your sleep.
As you can see, there are numerous ways in which you can recapture and retain that post yogic bliss in your everyday life. Start small, maybe just pick two or three of the above healthy living tips and see what a difference it makes to your sense of well being and vitality.
Blessings From Ntathu Allen, Yoga and Meditation Teacher.
