September is National Yoga Awareness Month — the perfect time to share a little bit about what yoga is and how it can help you. Yoga has been around for 5,000 years and, over time, has evolved since then.
You are gravely mistaken if you are reading this and still think yoga is a bunch of hippies sitting and meditating in a field, or suburban women with tight yoga pants, expensive mats and fancy green drinks.
What is yoga?
To me, yoga is an approach to life. Unlike any other fitness modality, yoga is an approach to living, not just how you move your body.
Yoga helped me when I felt lost. As recovering addict, yoga showed me that by learning to be still, breathe, feel and become more self-aware, I could live a life free of addiction.
Yoga is the art of feeling the present moment in all aspects of life.
How can I apply yoga to my life as a driver?
First and foremost, deciding to stop, slow down and breathe is Step 1 to living your yoga. How much of the day do you spend rushing around, mindlessly jumping from task to task, utterly unaware of the moment you are in?
Slowing down isn’t about stopping life; it’s about regaining the moment you are in.
Try this: Stop. Inhale for four slow counts. Retain the breath for four counts. Exhale slowly for four counts.
That’s yoga.
When you feel overwhelmed with life, take a breath, be fully present and allow yourself to shift from overwhelming thoughts to breathing. That’s yoga.
Try this for a few minutes before bed to help you relax for a deeper sleep.
Yoga can help your physical body.
If we don’t move, we will stiffen, tighten and slowly become immobile. Most of society has blamed this phenomenon on aging. However, I assure you: It’s less about age and more about how we take care of ourselves. Part of that care is paying attention to how we move. Like taking a daily vitamin, yoga should be your “daily vitamin” for healthy aging.
And no, you don’t have to sacrifice 60 minutes of your day to practice yoga. It can be as easy as a taking a few minutes, sprinkled throughout the day.
Try this before you even get out of bed:
- From toes to fingertips, move every joint in your body.
- Bend your knees and drop them side to side to stretch the back.
- Sit at the edge of the bed, reach overhead, arch your back and look up.
- Drop one arm and side bend each way.
- Stand up, turn towards the bed (or chair) and stretch into a half downward dog.
That’s yoga.
Find those pockets of time throughout the day where you can add in a stretch, a twist, a breath — that’s all yoga. And it all counts.
Here are a few excellent benefits yoga can offer:
- Improves flexibility, mobility and strength;
- Increases oxygen and breathing;
- Lowers blood pressure, blood sugar and cortisol levels;
- Improves regularity;
- Improves coordination, reaction time and memory;
- Improves coping skills;
- Clears the mind of stressful thoughts; and
- Improves sleep.
Yoga can help you live a higher quality of life.
Yoga is a lifestyle approach, tuning into your actions and reactions. Harnessing the power of stillness and using the above practices help curb the desire to rise and grind until nothing is left.
Yoga has taught me I cannot control most things that happen in life — but I can control how I perceive those things, how I respond to them and how long I hold on to them.
Are you moving closer to wellness of mind, body and spirit or further away? Maybe it’s time for a little yoga in your life.
For more information about Hope Zvara and Mother Trucker Yoga, visit www.mothertruckeryoga.com.
Hope Zvara is the CEO of Mother Trucker Yoga, a company devoted to improving truck drivers’ fitness and wellness standards. She has been featured in Forbes and Yahoo News, and is a regular guest on SiriusXM Radio. Her practical strategies show drivers how they can go from unhealthy and out of options to feeling good again.
