Hello, and welcome to Suvatacast. I’m Ysmay; I’m the founder of SuvataYoga.com, and this show is here to help guide you on your journey through yoga and wellness so you can become your best self ever.

In this episode, I’m going to talk to you about how yoga can turn around a bad day. But before we get into that, a quick message about the show’s sponsor.

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Before we get into today’s topic, I want to share a reading with you from the radiant sutras. This is sutra number 106.

Set your mind free to wander anywhere it wants. Think any thought ride any wave surge in any direction.

The instant of thoughts springs up, abandon it and move on. Don’t let the mind rest anywhere. In this way gain entry to the bliss of silent depths beneath the surf.

I want you to think about how you can put that sutra into practice in your life. We are living through a very dark and painful time and it causes a lot of anxiety and fear and our mind can really hold on to those feelings and attach to them. And if you’re anything like me, it’s too easy to spiral out of control.

Listen to this sutra, and the instant of thoughts springs up, abandon it and move on. Don’t let your mind rest. Don’t let your mind create any more anxiety than it’s already going to during this pandemic.

Have you ever had one of those days that leaves you feeling ready to punch a wall scream for hours, or both? Perhaps all you wanted to do was crash on the couch, turn on Netflix and binge drink until you passed out, no matter how it’s going to make you feel tomorrow.

If you are listening to this during the Coronavirus, Covid-19 pandemic, I bet you know exactly what I am talking about. We are living during a horrible, horrible time.

A time that is emotionally frightening.

And we are bombarded by negativity everywhere we look, we are overwhelmed, and we feel completely out of control we are at the mercy of something that we cannot see and cannot completely understand. It is easy to let fear and anxiety overwhelm us.

And it’s easy to fall into bad habits and bad routines and turn into our less than stellar selves because we just aren’t coping with what’s going on in the world.

But before you cave in to less than healthy habits to manage your stress and anxiety, why not transform the negative energy of your bad day through yoga?

Like the punk band Public Image Ltd once said, anger is an energy, and it’s a potent one.

Make it positive and productive with these tips.

1: Set the mood.

How do you want your fierce yoga workout to go? Typically, your setup might include candles and dim lights. But what background soundtrack do you want? No Yogi ever said you must perform your Asana only to the tune of piano concertos, and spa classics.

If you are going to do yoga to cheer yourself up right now, do it to the music that is going to cheer you up. It does not have to be the traditional soothing yoga music. If you want to do yoga. By rocking out to death metal, go for it. I personally have been doing yoga to Snoop Dogg lately. It is totally okay. Create a playlist and flow through it, add all of your happy songs and just hit your mat and do yoga for you.

This isn’t to say you don’t want to add soothing sound elements as well. You can include relaxing music at the end of your playlist to help you transition into a more calm and relaxed state of mind. But, again, you don’t have to because this is your practice.

2: Start with a body scan.

An ideal way to begin your practice anytime, is with a body scan. While this technique comprises of a mindfulness meditation, it also brings awareness to the areas of your body where you’re holding the most tension. This practice helps you determine what poses will benefit you the most.

For example, if you tend to carry stress in the muscles lining your spine. You might feel tense or taught in your lower back movements like Standing Forward Fold in downward facing dog can help relieve tension in this region.

3: Start generating some heat.

Once you know what you need to work on, it is time to get some heat moving through your muscles. Warm up your legs with chair pose if you’re feeling so moved, get your blood flowing through your massive muscle groups to elevate your heart rate.

Take time to engage your core with some seated twists because a well developed abdomen and lower back will help you maintain balance through the more challenging poses to come. As well as everything else you’ve got going on in your life. If you’re one of those many, many people who suddenly working from home you may not have the best setup to do so, you can help yourself maintain better posture at your computer, sitting at your dining room table or wherever you happen to find yourself by developing your core muscles.

4: Challenge your body.

Once your blood is flowing, go a little crazy. You don’t have to rush into challenging poses if you don’t want to. But harness your negative energy to push yourself safely.

Perhaps you typically perform tree pose while holding on to a wall for balance. Instead, try to do this Asana without the use of an aid and see what happens.

Of course, follow your common sense and listen to your body. While you want to challenge yourself yoga should produce a comfortable burn. But sudden sharp pains means you’re stretching too far. You’ve gone past your edge. Go to the point of discomfort but not beyond.

5: test your endurance.

A perfect way to up the caloric burn and intensity of your yoga practice is to test your endurance. You can up the ante without having to perform any crazy poses. You don’t have to do any single handed handstands. But have you ever experimented with how long you can hold warrior two.

Why not make today the day that you find out as you grow sweaty or visualize the tension of the day, the week of your isolation, or your social distancing, rolling off your body inside each bit of sweat. Imagine this tension evaporating away into the sky.

6: Take your time to cool down.

Many people use yoga to cool down from other types of workouts but since your objective here is to heal your mental state and recover from the quite frankly craziness that is going on in the world right now, take your time to reestablish inner peace.

Once you feel pleasantly exhausted, begin moving through a series of gentle floor-based poses. During this time, focus on your breath and your attitude more than the physical motions and asanas.

You may want to relax and happy baby pose you may want to let yourself giggle. That’s okay. laughter is an excellent way to restore your mindset to a more positive frame.

And last but not least…

7: Relax in savasana.

You transformed the energy of your negative day through yoga. And now you get to reap the rewards.

Hopefully on that playlist of yours you have selected some music that will help you enter a deep state of relaxation. take as long as you like, and let yourself drift off to sleep if you so desire. You’ve kicked that negativity to the curb and you deserve to bask in the glow.

The next time one of those days leaves you feeling like you should pour a double Maker’s Mark. Choose a healthy way to unwind instead, your body and mind will thank you for choosing yoga.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai