Many of us do yoga to feel calm and balanced. But, it’s hard to keep feeling that way when we’re busy with work and life. The peace from yoga often disappears as soon as we leave the class. That is because the stress and demands of work, family, and daily responsibilities quickly overshadow your cultivated calmness. But what if there’s a way to extend the benefits of your daily yoga practice beyond and carry its wisdom into every aspect of your day?
In this article, Ashish Kothari and Alicia Rae Parks, Manager of Happiness Squad’s REWIRE Yoga Program, explore how to bring the wisdom of yoga both on and off the mat and seamlessly integrate your well-being practice into your daily routine.
“Unless we, who are already on the path, don’t take that next step and consciously work on mastering our inner worlds, and through that, bring more people into the fold, we are never going to rise to the challenge of what the external world is calling us to do.”
– Ashish Kothari
Integrating Yoga into Daily Life
Yoga is more than just a practice on the mat. For Alicia, it’s a way of living and we must embrace it intentionally. She shares how it has transformed her life, especially during the pandemic. Alicia’s journey from becoming a mother to now teaches us that things happen for a reason and that we should always trust the process of whatever we’re going through. Yoga provided her with the tools to cope with uncertainty and change, demonstrating its role in enhancing our resilience and adaptability to challenges.
Through her challenges, she found her way to her passion of being a yoga teacher. She started teaching yoga on Instagram Live, which led her to launch a yoga business, embodying her purpose of creating waves of positivity and well-being in the world. By cultivating her inner world first, she took part in something more significant.
In her inspiring story, Alicia shares how her daily yoga practice helped her start living a life with purpose and meaning, knowing who she is and what she wants. And we, too, can experience that awareness by integrating our daily yoga practice off the mat. Beyond just a mindful practice, it can lead to profound personal growth and a clearer understanding of our role in the world.
“Open your mind and your heart for yourself first; that’s going to allow you to be more whole and centered in your ability to be of service to others.”
– Alicia Rae Parks
The Rewire Yoga Program
It’s not enough to do a daily yoga practice; it should also resonate with our everyday lives. The Rewire Yoga Program, as Ashish discussed, is a unique approach that extends the benefits of yoga beyond the studio. Its framework helps integrate the essence of yoga into your daily routine, ensuring that the peace and balance you achieve on the mat follows you throughout your day.
Ashish highlights that the program focuses on forming habits, which is crucial since we operate out of our habits most of the time. The program bases itself on the 9 Hardwired For Happiness practices, which are secular, deeply rooted in spirituality, and scientifically backed. These transformative practices rewire the brain from fear to joy and from scarcity to abundance. The program encourages us to make small, simple changes that impact our daily lives. That is to assist us in transitioning from knowing to doing and ultimately to being, fostering a more joyful and abundant life.
How Yoga Brings About Holistic Well-being
Yoga’s impact on holistic well-being is profound. Daily yoga practice improves flexibility, strength, and balance. It also has been shown to benefit cardiovascular health, respiratory function, and overall physical endurance. But as per Ashish and Alicia, yoga is about physical health, and mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being. It’s not just a series of physical postures; it’s a practice that involves mindfulness and mental focus, deeply rooted in spirituality.
Ashish mentions that positive psychology and neuroscience support the science behind yoga. The Rewire Yoga Program practices are designed to rewire the brain away from fear and towards empathy, and love for others. This neurological change is fundamental to achieving our holistic well-being.
Conclusion
Life’s a journey, and yoga can be your best companion. Thanks to Ashish and Alicia’s insights, we see how yoga does more than just stretch our bodies – it can stretch our happiness and peace, too. Think of yoga as a friend who helps you stay balanced and calm, not just during a class, but in all the little moments of your day. Let’s make yoga a part of our daily lives, and watch how it fills our days with a little more joy and peace.
Alicia shares her own story about how yoga helped her through tough times. She’s a yoga teacher dedicated to bringing authenticity and a sense of community to her practice. She has transformed her life and teaching approach by shifting from fear to happiness.
As the Program Manager of the REWIRE YOGA program, Alicia aims to help yoga teachers enhance their skills and deepen their practice, both on and off the mat. Her mission is to empower teachers to thrive in their profession and to make “happiness” a key element in the yoga community.
Learn more about Alicia at her LinkedIn.
Listen to the podcast with Ashish and Alicia below.
Access and subscribe to all of the episodes of the Happiness Squad Podcast here.
Visit the REWIRE Program powered up by the HAPPINESS SQUAD Community and experience your shift within your 30-day risk-free trial today. Cultivate your Self-Awareness, Gratitude, Purpose, Community, and personal growth more through the 9 Hardwired for Happiness practices. Integrate simple and proven micro-practices grounded in the science of happiness and neuroscience of habit formation in 5 minutes a day.
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