Mental Well-being is one of the key topics nowadays modern daily life, it is the integral part of our overall health. Life isn’t designed to be easy yet be able to be comfortable and happy is a process in this journey. There is a mantra : –

Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu

It means “let the whole world be happy”! Being healthy and happy are amongst the top wishes for many people. I found ways to live life comfortably and it is time for me to share some tips on how Yoga Asana works on mental wellbeing in daily life to help balance and to feel happy and at ease.

Firstly, why is mental well-being important to us? In my experience mental well-being is a crucial part of our overall health. Because life isn’t always easy yet in order to cope with the tight schedule of modern lifestyle, we are often stressed out to deal with so many daily life challenges, for instance, early in the morning, before going to work, we often need to settle home duties like sending kids to school, preparing their meals. At work, we have to handle job duties plus interpersonal relationships and decision making; then back at home with more house chores and end the day with exhaustion, and often we bring the daily unsettling or upsetting issues to sleep. This daily cycle sounds familiar to many people including myself.

So in the midst of all these challenges, I often want to get healthy out of this chaotic lifestyle, so that I feel like doing something to take care of myself! I mainly focused on physical health and fitness, more on the condition of the body on a biological level. So I have done all sorts of exercises and try to eat healthy for most part for the purpose of keeping the physical body healthy. However, it doesn’t really help me to combat the stress, and my mind just won’t stop to keep thinking! When I want to be quiet, ironically more thoughts come! That’s the nature of the mind! It’s busy in nature, it’s non-stop in nature like a monkey! Therefore, I realized that a key component of health is missing, it is the mental wellbeing, which we cannot really see, it’s intangible! Yet, It’s an integral part of the overall health. Mental wellbeing is how we respond to life’s ups and downs in a comfortable way.

Until I discovered yoga and until I started learning the ancient scripture such as Patajanli Yoga Sutra, Upanishad, Bhagavad Gita etc., I know that this time I found something that’s worth for a life of learning. Yoga seems is a fad nowadays, what yoga really is? Why do we doing Yoga?

I came across Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, (Yoga Sutra: 1.2), it says:

Yoga Citta Vritti Nirodhah

Patajanli mentioned right in the beginning of the Sutra, Yoga is the cessation of the mind, and quote: “To block or stop the pattern of consciousness is Yoga” . So Yoga isn’t about the postures, Yoga is about the “Mind”, it is about how to still the mind.

In order to see or to be aware of the pattern of the consciousness, the pattern how we understand things, we need to stop the thinking mind! However, with a busy thinking mind it would not helping to realize the pattern, the busy thinking mind stops us from seeing how the consciousness and subconscious are playing out in our daily life. Without such awareness and realization, we are trapped in the same old pattern to deal with life at the same level of consciousness.

Since, the nature of mind is always thinking, jumping, and away. But through Yoga Asana postures practice, to connect the physical body with breath, use the breath as a concentration tool, then the mind easily follows! When the mind focuses on the inhalation and exhalation, it stops jumping.

Most of the Yoga Community is focusing on the Asana, the physical exercise, it is only one of the eight paths / limbs to achieve “stillness” of the mind! Yet it is quite a lifelong practice to experience the 8 steps to liberate from the limitation of the mind to Samadhi, self-realization, to attain a higher dimension of understanding things and how life works!

Having said that, it is very important to learn yoga through the 3rd limbs asana physical postures , it is an entry point for modern life people to begin this “Whole 8 paths” to liberation!

So by practicing asana, I am able to immerse myself with the posture, the mind stops over thinking, and all I need is to focus on the breath with the movement, and holding the balance of the postures. It is a concentration skill that helps me to control, to still the mind. At the still moment, it seems easy to attain a higher level of consciousness, feeling content, feeling great with the body, the body and mind in a state of comfortness and happiness, and that’s the mental Well-being that I have been searching for many years. This higher level of consciousness and awareness bring me to a higher level of understanding and perspectives.

After practicing asana, both my physical and mental health increase strength. I am able to stay in a state of calmness and harmony with the body and mind in a present moment more often, and i am able to move away from the hustle bustle of life matters on the mind level, it doesn’t mean that the daily life matters are gone, but I noticed that I am capable to handle work and family issues with less stress. The more I experience the stillness, my mental state is more versatile, more mind space, more flexible when facing daily life adverse situations, it allows me to have time to “act” rather than “react” to the life events or people. Gradually, I find that there is a great deal of improvement on relationships with friends, family, and co-workers.

Besides, when practicing Yoga asana, the sense of awareness increases. I bring awareness to the postures, movements, the breath, the more I am aware of what I am doing, the more concentration, therefore the mind follows what I have been focusing on! It helps releasing tensions in the body, build strength, stamina, build confidence and awareness of the body, for sure better focus, concentration, and experiencing the present moment to calm the monkey mind with better sleeping quality. It results in higher productivity not only at work but also nitty gritty things in daily life too.

With gaining more balanced state of the physical body and the mind, my energy level has changed, before I easily felt tired, less optimistic, less drive, yet I found out my energy level is at another level after constant practicing yoga asana which i sleep less hours yet feeling more awake with better sleep quality, feeling more stronger on energetic level, I develop more resilience and passion on working on goals, determination to learn new thing, keep motivating myself, more importantly to increase the sense of self and belonging in the society.

My regular practice of yoga asana is simple sun salutation sequences, simple openings, balancing poses to build the strength and stamina both physically and mentally, these benefits make my life happier than ever! If I don’t have enough time, I will split into like 20 minutes in the morning or afternoon then another 20-30 minutes at night time whenever to suit the life schedule. 

To summarize the key points, Yoga Asana helps me to bring more awareness to daily life; achieve a higher state of consciousness to understand things; more mind space to handle interpersonal relationships; higher productivity and efficiency; better energy level, and better motivation! Therefore, I agree that yoga asana plays an important role in our modern life from training the body to building mental well-being. By sharing this message, I hope to let the whole world be happy!

Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavanthu