Life Off the Mat

Written By Jung Kim

Photo by Joe Longo of Joe Longo Photography

If there’s one thing that I want to invite you to today - it’s a tactical pause after you finish reading this sentence. 

One breath in. (pause)

One breath out. (pause)

And that’s what my mindfulness looks like throughout the day, between my emails and zooms. 

Anyone else out there feel like we’re stealing moments of presence in our calendar whitespace?  

Photo by Joe Longo of Joe Longo Photography

When we typically think about someone who’s a ‘yogi,’ the visual that typically comes to mind is a serene-looking person sitting somewhere in complete serenity and peace, or moving their bodies in cirque-du-soleil fashion. Those are both super impressive and I love that that is what yoga is for others!

Yoga goes back thousands of years, rooted from Indian and was accessible to any and all humans. Asana (or the postures/shapes that we make with our bodies) is only about 1/8th of yoga.

“Between stimulus and response there is a space.  In that space is our power to choose our response.  In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
— Thrive Global

I’ve had my fair share of meditation and asana (sanskrit word for yoga postures) learnings, but nowadays - my yoga practice is mostly off of my yoga mat. What that means is that most of my yoga is found in the moments between my daily life needs - finding that harmonization of mind and body between zoom meetings, family time, debates on if we should get a second dog, etc.

A big part of the yoga asana practice that I teach is matching breath with movement - especially in ensuring that we all take the fullest breaths. At the top and bottom of the breath is usually a slight pause, called apnea. This pause, that space, that is where we often have the most power, and that’s where I find myself practicing the most yoga.

2 most common places that I see this happen:

  1. Driving: this is the one remaining place where no one would believe that I’m a “yogi.” I get so unnecessarily angry in situations where I don’t have control, so taking a breath and trying to recognize this has been a small change for me to take on. 

  2. Work: we spend most of our time at work and with people we work with. 10/10 would take a tactical pause when needed, and applying this slight pause is always worth it to keep those professional priorities and boundaries intact. 

Photo by Joe Longo of Joe Longo Photography

This tactical pause in the apnea, top and bottom of the breath, in that space between – what do we fill that space with, aside from an intentional and sorry not sorry nothing? Internal dialogue. There is a voice internally that talks to us - the thoughts that we have – that I realized is 100% my regina george mean girls voice. I would never in a thousand years talk to anyone else with the same harsh tone and voice with the right dose of interjected self-doubt, as I do with my internal voice.

^ that right there. That’s yoga. 

 So let’s talk these little micro moments and yoga practices. 3 micro-yoga ways that you can take on today: 

  1. Take one totally present breath, in through nose/out through mouth. it up tall, relax, your jaw, easy shoulders - now take that same breath you just practiced and do it with a bit more ease

  2. Presence - focus on your feet and what you feel while you get up to walk to the next room and come back

  3. Come as you are and make the time for some free yoga flows below - I've included a few diverse options to see if any resonate a bit more.

And there you have it. There is nothing else attached, no obligations, no attachments to even what you read above.

Toodles!

Jung

P.s. want to extend your practice with bodily movement as well as breath? Here’s access to a free class taught by yours truly. 

For me - DM me! 

Jung Kim

Jung considers herself a student first, and credits her teachers as inspiration as she brings alignment in mind and body to her various worlds in her daily practice.

https://www.yogajung.com/
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