Starting anew may sound like a good thing to do, but how do you take the first step?
It is easy to build up baggage in life, eventually creating a mindspace (or even physical space) that needs a clean, new beginning. This beginning, which allows you to drop baggage and move toward growth, is a fresh start. It can also be thought of as a reset, a second chance or personal growth. Like its name indicates, a fresh start can be a powerful way to put intention into action and allow room for growth.
It is common for people to rely on outside forces, such as changing of seasons a new calendar year or a major life change to mark the beginning of a fresh start. While nothing is wrong with this, it does place control on external factors, making your fresh start dependent on something other than yourself. Instead of relying on outside factors to mark the beginning of a fresh start, consider utilizing your daily yoga practice for growth, exploration and creating your own new beginning. A daily yoga practice is a powerful tool to fresh start every day not just in season or on a whim, but every single day.
Health
Using yoga to harness your fresh start helps support your health. Yoga is celebrated for its many physical and mental benefits, ranging from increasing body strength to calming the nervous system. The benefits of the practice begin to show themselves in other areas of your life away from the mat. In this sense, yoga is a tool that allows you to personalize a practice to your current needs and long-term goals. If you would like to use it to get in better physical shape, you can focus on practice that builds strength and burns calories. If you need a more calming and restorative practice, you can slow down and find that as well. It just takes time, reflection, and honesty on where you would like find growth in you life.
Mindset
The benefits of yoga are most apparent when it is practiced daily. For the mind, it helps to create a healthy happy the provides a framework for the rest of your life. A daily practice helps you tune into where you are right now and mindfully frame the rest of your day. With a shift in mindset, you are able to cultivate awareness, see things differently and generate new ideas that can lead to a fresh start.
Determination
In yoga philosophy, there is an concept known as tapas, the 4th niyama or social observance to guide behavior the their niyama which is often translate to discipline. When you begin a daily yoga practice, you set the framework to use the practice throughout your day. This helps to create a mindset to take action and can light a spark for your determination, whatever your goal is. When you activate tapas, you “tap’ into your inner fire and determination. Determination requires out to focus beyond the present moment and see ahead to the end goal, even when the journey there can be challenging.
Where to Start: Reflect and Write it Down!
To design your daily practice, consider where you need a fresh start- is it your health, mindset, determination or something else? Whichever entry point you choose, just remember that once a fresh start begins, other changes may ripple out to other areas of your life. Taking care of you health takes determination, and a healthier physical body often translates to a healthier mindset and so on.
To start this process, reflect and write down where you would like your fresh start to begin and take a step forward. Baggage that once weighed you down can provide a starting point for growth. And remember- small steps lead to big changes and the fresh start you are looking for. Drop the baggage, use your yoga practice and give yourself the fresh start you deserve.
