Hello new friends and old friends,
I've heard from many of you that you're feeling overwhelmed, lonely, down, or running on empty. We are dealing with all of our normal stressors plus the stress, illness, grief, and uncertainty of a global pandemic. Yoga can provide both a perspective on our mental health and the tools to work with our emotions. The 3 gunas (or qualities of nature) in yoga offer a yogic approach to understanding our emotional state.

The 3 gunas:

Tamas: Inactivity, inertia
Rajas: Activity, change, passion
Sattva: Balance, light, consciousness, harmony

We need both tamas and rajas to have sattva. We need both periods of rest and activity for harmony. However too much tamas could manifest as depression, isolation, or complicated grief. Too much rajas can manifest as anxiety, burnout, or anger.

From understanding where we are in terms of the gunas, we can begin to find the right yogic tools to explore our emotions. Note that I'm saying "work with" and "explore", not "change" or "remove." Our culture has a very goal-oriented approach to wellness, with striving for relentless self-improvement for that "ideal" of getting rid of all stress and pain. However with yoga we can begin to explore our relationship to our thoughts and moods, and with mindfulness, patience, and self-compassion, notice subtle shifts and organic changes in our mental state. We begin to develop witness consciousness, our higher awareness, that ability to know we are more than our thoughts, moods or mental health diagnosis. We are not just the clouds, but the sky.

If this is striking a chord or if you're confused but curious to learn more, consider setting up a 1:1 private yoga or yoga therapy session with me. Find out more here and contact me at mindfuldetroit@gmail.com for a free consultation.