“Every day you make thousands of tiny decisions about what to do with your time. Every single choice is a chance to turn toward the life you really want.” Martha Beck, The way of integrity.

Most of the time when we find ourselves in the need of a change in our life, we long for this big shift that suddenly and magnificently puts ourselves in the new chapter, with a new life free from the challenges we are longing to leave behind.

The truth is that this way of thinking might be frustrating. While the decision of making a change and beginning to live differently might be connected to our inner fire and have this bold, sharp and strong quality, to make that change possible we need to be consistent and learn to keep that fire alive nurturing it every day. This shift is most likely not sudden, needs consistent actions, decisions and time. Time to let go of what we want to leave behind and enter into the new space of “becoming”. Our new self has to carve its way into our life and push our old self away little by little, action by action, decision by decision, day after day. And while the ego might complain and tell us we are not doing it fast enough, consistency is the key.

Martha Beck, in her great book “The way of integrity”, shares:

“Imagine you’re flying that plane on a ten-thousand-mile journey. If you change course by one degree to the right every half hour or so, you’ll never notice a drastic change, but you’ll end up in a completely different place than if you maintained your initial trajectory. I advise people to steer their lives with a series of “one-degree turns.”

In my adventures as a SUP paddler I have experienced how small shifts can affect our path, and when I read it, it reminded me the name of this Blog, Yoga Break, those small steps we can incorporate to make one-degree turns in the direction we want to go.

With that in mind, we come back with a new season of Yoga Break in which we will be sharing weekly yoga practices to help you incorporate, more and more in your life, mindful yoga breaks to pause, meditate and keep making the shifts to live the life you want.

While sitting down to meditate for 11 minutes might seem like nothing, the effect it has in our body, mind, and spirit is pretty amazing. By now many studies have shown how powerful these practices are, how they create new paths in our brains to respond to the external situations and connect us more and more to our authentic self. It is a reminder to ourselves to sacrifice old patterns, using the discomfort we might feel from old habits to keep the fire of change alive.

The Kundalini Yoga meditation I share below is to prepare the soil for new beginnings and get ready for self-renewal. Always remember that we have to nurture that space every day with our intentions and actions, so use this meditation as a space to reflect on that.

How to Practice the MEDITATION FOR SELF-RENEWAL:

• Begin sitting down in any comfortable seated position where you can elongate the spine. Use blocks, cushions or blankets if you need to sit down comfortably. You may also sit in a chair.
• Rotate your shoulders back and bring your forearms in front of your chest, parallel to the floor, with the palms facing down, right hand over the left.
• Your right hand should be 10cm above your left hand. The hands align as the right hovers over the left. 
• The right arm is at chest level, the left arm is at breast level. 
• The arms and hands are positioned a few centimeters away from your chest; they do not rest against it.
• Be sure to keep your spine elongated, your chest open and your shoulders relaxed.
• Close your eyes and focus at the eyebrow point. 
• Begin to breathe long and deep, without forcing the breath, inhaling through an “O” shaped mouth, and exhaling through your nose.
• Continue for 11 minutes. (If this feels too long, begin with 3 minutes and work your way up to 11minutes with practice).
• To finish, inhale deeply, hold the breath in for a few seconds and Apply Mula Bandha (if you know it), exhale and relax.
• Repeat this 2 more times.
• Go back to a regular breathing through your nose and give yourself a moment with your eyes closed to recognize your inner state.