Don't De-Stress, Learn Stress

At my yoga class last night, my instructor decided to have a "Dharma chat" instead of the brief meditation session she normally leads before class.

Bear with me, there's a non-hippie-dippy point to this.

During the chat, she started talking about how many people come to yoga to "de-stress" from the day. People see their yoga practice as this escape from the stresses of everyday life - a time when they can go into a warm room, do some stretching, lay on a mat, and find a sense of calm.

This resonated with me. Yoga is a great way to disconnect from the outside world, focus on those things in your life that are truly elemental (breath, balance), and find solace in the simplicity of the environment.

However, it's a rare day when I go to yoga and I don't spend the first ten minutes thinking of all the other productive things I could be doing with my time and the last five minutes of savasana creating the "To-Do" list of things I need to do IMMEDIATELY once I leave the studio.

Hey lady standing in front of the door, can you please roll up your mat faster!

My teacher went on to say that we shouldn't see our yoga practice as an escape or a way to de-stress, but instead a way to learn how to deal with stress and replicate that in our daily lives.

LIGHT BULB.

If we try to escape from our stress, it will always be overwhelming when we are confronted with stressful situations. I can't just drop down into child's pose when my boss starts grilling me about issues with our client. I mean, I could, but talk about office gossip.

Escape isn't always an option.

Talk about an escape. But seriously, not always an option.

However, I can apply the coping mechanisms I apply to the physically stressful situations I encounter in yoga to my real life.

You know what I'm talking about - you're holding a chair pose, your arms are above your head, your thighs feel like they are about the explode into flames, and the sweat dripping from your forehead is streaming into your eyes, obviously resulting in eventual blindness if you don't wipe them RIGHT. AWAY.

This is a stressful situation.

But what does your teacher tell you??

"Focus on your breath. Root your feet into the ground and breathe through the pose. Find balance."

Focus on the small task for two seconds. Take a couple steps back ( and perhaps a couple breaths) and look at the situation. Then identify what you can do to make it better. If you make the stress tangible, then you can do something proactive to relieve it.

And then you leave class, feeling accomplished, centered, strong. Your yoga practice helps you practice the poses, sure, but it helps you practice stress. Practice your stress, then you'll know exactly what to do when it sneaks up on you in real life.

Even if it is just breathing.