Send Ripples of Peace and Joy from Your yoga mat

Your yoga mat can be a place of self-care, self-connection and reflection.  And your yoga practice can also benefit others.  At its very heart, yoga is a pathway that empowers you to bring kindness, compassion, peace, joy and love to the world. 

A little reminder…yoga is so much more than the posture practice we know today. Yoga is a sophisticated system outlined in ancient foundational texts, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, that extends far beyond doing yoga poses. There is a foundation of disciplines, the eight “limbs” of yoga, each with specific ideas and practices associated with it. The first two limbs are the yamas and niyamas, yoga’s ethical foundations—restraints and observances that teach non-harming, truthfulness, simplicity, contentment, and devotion—so that the kindness and compassion cultivated on your mat naturally extend into how you think, speak, and act in the world.

Yoga is a way of living that takes curiosity and dedication to cultivate deeply.  Once you step on that path, your life will be enriched in ways you never imagined.  And you can start to build the foundations of a yogic life with your very next practice by intentionally offering the benefits of your practice to others.

Here are 6 rituals to send peace, joy and comfort to others from your own personal peaceful sanctuary…your yoga mat.

1. Set your intention
At the beginning of each practice, check in with your body and mind, and think about why are you on your mat today.  This can help you to set your intention for the practice. Your intention is about the higher vibration that you want to embody and carry with you through your practice, and then off the mat and into the world. Putting words to how you want to feel or what you’d like to focus on is very powerful. It could be a mantra or affirmation such as : I am love. I am joy. I am peace.  Set your intention, close your eyes and absorb it into your heart, then carry it with you through your whole practice.

2. Dedicate your practice to someone else
Consciously share the positive energy and the benefits of your yoga practice by dedicating it to someone else. It could be for a particular person who needs some love and support or for a group that could benefit from your compassion.  Declare it to yourself at the beginning or end of your practice. This is a way to amplify the benefits of your practice, to send positive energy, love, healing and compassion to others, even if they are not aware of it.  It’s also a way to remember that we are all connected.

3. Light a candle in a window 
At the beginning of your practice, light a candle in your window to share your presence with others. At the end of your practice, as you blow out your candle, send a whoosh of positive thoughts and support out to your community and to the larger world. (Don’t forget to keep the candle flame away from drafts, draperies and other flammable materials and never leave it unattended.)

4. Ring a singing bowl
Sound is vibration. Sounding a singing bowl, ringing some chimes or a bell causes waves of vibrations to ripple out into the world to other people who may hear it or sense the vibrations. So use these enchanting sounds to send ripples of loving kindness and positive vibrations to the rest of the world. 

5. Connect with something greater than yourself by burning incense
Incense burning is a very ancient and wide-spread ritual, and has been used for many different purposes. There is something magical and evocative about the fragrant fumes wafting upwards. It seems to me that it’s a wonderful way to connect with something greater than ourselves, and a way to connect us all together.  Visualize the scented smoke rising upwards and outwards offering up your powerful intention to others.  Burning incense creates the perfect atmosphere for focus and clarity in your practice.  (Make sure you get all-natural plant-based incense - avoid inhaling chemicals!)

6. Offer love and compassion to yourself as well
As you are practicing, be kind, patient and loving to your body, just like you would be to a dear friend (because it is a dear friend!) Use your own body to cultivate the qualities of loving awareness, patience, kindness, and compassion, and you will have more of these gifts to share with others in your life. 

To help you hone your intention, we have created a series of 6 Intentions-Based Yoga Practices, each designed to cultivate a particular kind of energy or state of being. Each one is a gentle merging of yoga poses, meditation and a suggested ritual into a complete, yet very easy practice.   Find them HERE…and chant silently to yourself…I AM JOY, I AM LOVE, I AM PEACE.  Because you are.