Practice the Yogic Value of Compassion in Your Life
A yogic life is centered around showing compassion for all things. As your practice grows and develops, you’ll find that it pushes out ego and insecurities, opening the door to a caring and loving way of life. Compassion, defined in the yoga sutras, is called karuna-dukha. According to Patanjali’s yoga sutra 1.33, one way to purify the mind and increase serenity is to practice karuna or compassion.
Open Your Heart
If you want to live with karuna, try incorporating a few rounds of sun salutations into your practice and offer a different dedication to each round.
Round One: Stand in Tadasana (Mountain Pose) and express gratitude towards someone in your life.
Round Two: Picture someone with whom you may find conflict or difficulty and use this round as an offering of forgiveness to that person.
Round Three: Dedicate your third round to someone who may be struggling, worried or lost and send them supportive energy.
Yoga Poses for Self-Compassion
Show gratitude and love for your body by taking time to rest and rejuvenate with these poses.
Child’s Pose: Kneel on the floor. Touch your big toes together and sit back on your heels. Separate your knees hip-width apart. Exhale and lay your torso down between your thighs. Lay your hands on the floor beside you with palms up. Release the fronts of your shoulders toward the floor.
Knees to Chest: Lie on your back, bend your knees, plant your feet on the floor and engage your lower back into the mat. Draw your right knee toward your chest and extend your left leg. Inhale deeply. After a few breaths, release the right leg and draw your left leg into your body and breathe deeply again.
Corpse Pose: Lay down on the floor with your knees bent and feet on the floor. Inhale and slowly extend your legs by pushing through the heels. Release both legs and rest your arms by your sides.
We believe that showing compassion is just as important off the mat as it is on it. During September, we are teaming up with Charlie’s Angels Animal Rescue to support the lives and well-being of innocent animals in our community. The nonprofit was founded in early 2009 with the purpose of rescuing animals from the Transylvania County animal shelter which was, at the time, a high-kill shelter. Today, they are one of the leading animal rescue groups in Western North Carolina.
We invite you to join us for our adoption event and Day of Giving on Thursday, September 26. Volunteers from the organization will be here with puppies who are looking for good homes! We will also donate ten percent of drop-in and community class sales to Charlie’s Angels Animal Rescue. Donation boxes will be available in the Studio and Boutique all month long if you would prefer to give a monetary donation.
See our full class schedule to choose a class!
