Yoga for daily life: Cultivating a daily practice

During our retreats, we always place a lot of importance on the power of the morning ritual. How do you start your day? Checking emails or Facebook? A good old cup of strong coffee? By running through your mental list of what you need to achieve that day? All of this outside stimulation means you are already disconnecting from yourself, from your own energies – and you are already ‘borrowing’ energy from external sources.

And as we know, what we borrow, we must give back!

A morning ritual or practice can be so simple, but makes huge shifts in the way your day goes. In fact, it can change your life. Checking in with yourself, feeling where your energy is today – and more importantly, where it’s coming from. Cultivating a practice to open your energy channels and your body and also learning to protect yourself from all the outside stimulations and messages we experience on a daily basis. Literally millions. This is all about self-care and self-love.

Practical tips
* Use an alarm clock with natural sounds to wake you gently – get your phone out of your bedroom to avoid any temptation
* Replace your morning coffee with hot water, lemon and turmeric (amongst other things, a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory)
* Set up a temple space – a place where you can take your tea, sit and just begin to be. Make this space comfortable – dress it with colours that make you feel positive and calm, or pictures and photos that inspire you.
* Your breath is your life-force energy and it tells you all you need to know about what’s going on inside. If your breath feels calm, you feel calm. If the breath is short and ragged – this reflects in your thoughts and therefore actions

Introduce a gentle 20-minute meditation and stretch practice into your day. In all of these practices, we are cultivating SPACE. Space in our breath for even, calm breathing, space in our minds for calm thoughts and space in our bodies with the yoga asanas themselves. In creating space, we offer ourselves an alternative to how we live our lives. The alternative of response rather than reaction. Reaction often comes from a place of fear or anger. Responses are mindful and considered and infinitely more skillful!

Why not take a 7-day challenge? See the benefits for yourself. Contact Ibiza Retreats for guidance or a 1:1 session via emailing info@ibizaretreats.com.