Maybe you’ve been thinking about slowing down your yoga practice for a while now but you think slowing down is associated with getting older & you’re not quite ready for that just yet!
Well, we’re here today to see if we can encourage you to slow down your yoga practice every now & again.
In fact, we think once you do it & realise the additional benefits, you’ll be drawn to a slower yoga practice more often!
Look, no-one’s saying you can’t go to a faster paced yoga class ever again – of course you can – but I think we can all admit there are days when we don’t have the energy for a flat out pacey yoga session, on those days our body yearns for a slower practice.
The Upsides of a Slower Yoga Practice
- Time to Fine Tune. Slowing down & spending longer in the yoga poses allows time to ‘hear’ the subtle feedback from the body. Time to make tweaks – small movements – to refine or deepen the pose.
- Build strength. Slowing down & holding the poses for longer increases muscle load – the time a muscle is actively engaged. This is absolutely more challenging than just flowing from one pose to the next. Try it, you’ll soon see/realise how much harder your muscle/s are working
- Discover your threshold. Often, in a fast pace class, you move relatively quickly from one pose to the next. Moving quickly often means we’re just scratching the surface of what – how far – the body can go. Move slowly & you have time to complete the pose & learn where your threshold is.
- Technical accuracy. Slowing down allows you to be more technically accurate in the poses & focus on having better alignment & balance. To gain benefit from any yoga pose there has to be an element of accuracy. It’s hard to maintain skill, accuracy & technique when you’re moving fast.
- Curiosity & Wonder. Slowing down ignites a sense of curiosity & compassion for what our bodies can do. Noticing the finer, subtler elements – the layers – of the pose and how it feels. This builds a deeper connection & appreciation for our bodies.
- Strength & skill. When we rush we don’t notice everything – life passes in a blur! Moving fast in yoga often means we’re using momentum & speed to get us through rather than strength & skill. Slower yoga increases presence & mindfulness too which we know is fundamental to lowering stress levels.
- Balance. We use speed to get things many things done in our life & so there’s a danger we bring this mindset into our yoga practice too. Yet, our yoga practice is an opportunity to bring some balance into our busy lives. Moving more slowly, breathing more deeply & having moments of stillness. We all say we want to feel less stressed and so our yoga practice is the one place we can cultivate this!
So if you’re at a point in your yoga practice where you’re wanting to slow down but you’re afraid to – or thinking this means you’re getting older & loosing youthful strength – we hope this post has shown that slowing down is actually more advanced stage of yoga where you’re noticing the more subtler but deeper elements of your practice.
Give it a go! No-ones saying you can’t go to a fast pace yoga class ever again !
