Yoga = Dental hygiene?!

 

Each of us has a daily routine. These are not exactely the most interesting things in our life but we see them as absolutely necessary.

A banal exemple: dental hygiene. Who can say that dental hygiene transports one with joy? Trivial? Definitely! But at the same time a necessity - so we just do it and that’s it!

Some of these things seem to become a daily torture ("Mom, do I REALLY have to brush my teeth? Today again?" :-)) but they make sure that we function in an optimal way and help to avoid problems in the long run. And so what we finally learn are long-term strategies for a better life

• we learn them and at some point we do them automatically, without being aware of it.

Optimal is relative, and also subjective, so there are slight differences in our daily routines. That is why some of us function better than others.

Why this introduction?

In order to formulate an idea: yoga should not only be a daily practice of a special group of people (yogis) but should be seen as normal as dental hygiene. Too often yoga is considered to be only a weekend-activity or postponed for a free time or even seen as wellness programme!

Therefore you should not forget that yoga - like other inner methods - is a method to preserve the physical, mental and lastly spiritual hygiene, even if nowadays it is seen as a rather exotic sport.

Every omission or neglection of yoga practice will lead to immediate harm, which will be noticed only later, when we feel the toothache.

Of course, every analogy has its limits therefore I don't want to generalise. Apart from the obvious differences between yoga and let's say dental hygiene (!) there are some more interesting parallels:

• Both should be done on a daily basis. Daily yoga practice brings you higher benefits than only one or two sessions per week. Who would think of brushing his teeth only twice a week? With yoga we tend to practise even more seldom… maybe also because our teeth – as part of our outward appearance – seem to be more important to us than our inner health… or just because we have been cleaning our teeth for so long. Please remember: our daily routine has the most powerful impact on our wellbeing.

• At the beginning both are exhausting, a torture! Like parents who have to answer the question "Do I have to brush my teeth today?" again and again – I, as a yoga teacher, always have to deal with the typical beginner question: How long do I have to practice technique X? Being an adult we do that technique X gladly… especially when we get the results immediately, so that we don’t have to do it anymore after this ;-)

• Both take time! We spend so much time on so many things which on the long run will not effect us as essentially as yoga will – let’s think about that!

• Both sound like must-do, drill, discipline, and force! Maybe only at the beginning (and every beginning is difficult!)… I believe it is rather a question of how we see it (see next point)

• Forgotten or neglected, both will inevitably lead to pain. Deep, pure pain! This is motivation, isn’t it ;-)?

• Both are easy to carry out! Everybody can brush his teethes and also everybody can practise yoga! Maybe not everything right from the beginning but all the techniques are designed in such a way that really everybody can practise them according to his level and with efficiency.

Therefore: integrate yoga in your daily programme, in your daily routine. Transform yoga into something normal… at least as normal as dental hygiene ;-)

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