How do you maintain inner stillness when your physical edge is tested? In Season 19, Episode 9 of Yoga Every Day, instructor Steph Schwartz invites you into a practice of peaceful binds and balancing to help you cultivate santosha, or deep contentment, by releasing your attachment to the physical outcome.
This 15-minute hatha yoga balance practice is designed to shift your focus from achieving a perfect shape to embracing the present moment. By exploring level 2 yoga binds, you will learn to create healthy tension and find stability amidst effort. Steph Schwartz yoga guidance provides a supportive space to navigate an intermediate yoga balance flow, using props like a strap and a block to make complex postures accessible. This session integrates yoga binds and balancing to challenge your focus while keeping your breath steady. As you move through various hatha yoga balancing poses, you will discover how to do binds in yoga with patience and ease.
Rather than viewing a bind as a destination or a lock, this practice frames it as a way to connect different parts of the body to create a closed circuit of energy. When we bind, we often tighten up and hold our breath, but Steph guides you to soften into the shape. This approach transforms a challenging physical effort into a peaceful yoga practice where the mind can rest. By working with your edge rather than fighting against it, you develop a deeper sense of self-awareness that extends far beyond the yoga mat. Balancing postures further test this equanimity, showing us exactly where our thoughts drift when we lose our footing.
Begin your exploration of mindful movement and find your center today.
