lifeskillsyoga

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

https://t.co/B3rmwoOhMn

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

@RyanHoliday Stoicism and yoga agree on this one.

The stillness is already within us, and the practice is remembering to return to it.

The breath is one more way back.

A few slow exhales and you can find it anywhere, even in a traffic jam.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

Why practice yoga?

So we suffer less.

It gives us more clarity.

And with that clarity, we can see trouble coming before it arrives.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

@stijnnoorman Every no makes room for the few things you want to keep showing up for.

Patañjali pairs abhyāsa, steady practice, with vairāgya, letting go.

You need both.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

@SahilBloom When negative thoughts take over, you can deliberately bring the opposite to mind.

Patañjali calls this pratipakṣa bhāvanam.

A Rainy Day Folder is an easy way to practice it.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

Everyone has it in them to see and act clearly.

A three-part practice brings it out:

- Balanced effort.
- Self-reflection.
- Letting go of what we can't change.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

@Kvngwealth01 Yoga describes two states of mind.

One is a settled mind.

The other is everyday life, where we take every passing thought for who we are.

And we can always find our way back to the first.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

@Literatureomar The Yoga Sūtras open with one word, atha, which means now.

I get to see it every day with the kids.

They're fully absorbed in a puddle or a beetle on the windowsill, and they remind me what atha feels like.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

@thedankoe Patañjali defines yoga as calming the fluctuations of the mind.

When your mind is what you sell, that practice keeps it in working order.

Some of my clearest ideas show up during breathwork or meditation, long after I've closed the laptop.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

@SahilBloom Sounds a lot like yoga to me. On the mat, so much happens in the transitions, like the pause between breaths. Choosing the slower option off the mat trains the same muscle. Over time, your body settles into rest-and-digest more easily. For me, it's a lunchtime walk in nature.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

@SahilBloom Reminds me of Yoga Sūtra 2.1.

Patañjali described kriyā yoga as doing the hard thing (tapas), studying yourself (svādhyāya) and letting go of the outcome (īśvara praṇidhāna).

Most of this list is tapas.

Slowing down and being present is where the other two begin.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

What carries you through any challenge:

1. Give it everything. Stay with it.
2. Watch yourself along the way �� and learn how you act.
3. Let go of the outcome. Not everything is in your hands.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

@SahilBloom Yoga offers a practice for this: pratipakṣa bhāvana.

When a heavy thought arises, consciously cultivate its opposite.

Energy follows the direction you choose.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

Abhyāsa: steady practice, day after day.

I just joined Ship 30 for 30 with Dickie Bush and Nicolas Cole: 30 days to build a writing habit and start publishing consistently.

You can join me on a free 30-day trial. https://t.co/cqLN6QVXFU

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

@SahilBloom In yoga we call this abhyāsa.

Steady practice over a long time.

Every person I admire has simply kept going longer than their doubts.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

@dickiebush Exactly this.
In yoga it's called svādhyāya: self-study.

Writing by hand slows your thoughts down enough that you actually meet them.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

Breath leads movement.

Start together, end together.
Start before, end together.
Start together, end after.

Same on the inhale. Same on the exhale.

Connect breath and movement this deliberately, and you feel your practice more deeply.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

Now.

Not later.
Not once you're ready.
Not after this one thing.

Yoga meets you exactly where you are - this breath, this movement.

That's embodied awareness.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

@readswithravi So true!

That shift changed so much for me. "I can't" kept me stuck, "I will learn" got me moving.

Love this reminder

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

@Nicolascole77 Same for me, just with a yoga mat instead of a keyboard.
What others call wasted time is often exactly where we build the most important skills: staying with it when it gets uncomfortable, and getting a little bit better every day.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

Dhāraṇā, dhyāna, samādhi

The three stages of meditation, the subtlest of all.
Focus, then flow, then stillness beyond effort.

Not a ladder to climb.

One path, moving from outer to inner, all the way in.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

The 8 limbs of yoga, in order:

- Yama
- Niyama
- Āsana
- Prāṇāyāma
- Pratyāhāra
- Dhāraṇā
- Dhyāna
- Samādhi

Not a staircase.
More like a body: they grow together, moving from outer to inner, coarse to subtle.

A short thread on each.

[lifeskillsyoga @lifeskillsyoga]

Pratyāhāra

The senses turn inward.
The hinge point: less pulled by the world outside, more available to what's happening within.