The Beautiful Benefits of Outdoor Yoga
Getting outside, moving your body and practicing mindfulness are all known improvers of our overall mental health. Practically everyone I know has been faced with their own unique mental health challenges this past year as the pandemic has more or less forced us to confront ourselves head on and at quite a deep level, with minimal filters, distractions or the usual techniques of avoidance.
Isolation, frustration, questioning meaning, lack of physical contact, effects of groundhog day, specific triggers, relationship dynamics, maintaining a sense of purpose; there’s been no shortage of challenges as we have navigated our way through the mess of the past 12 months.
But now, Spring has well and truly arrived with all of her promise, potential and possibilities. Her lighter mornings, longer evenings and a renewed sense of hope and optimism. Now is the time to gently take hold, look this next chapter square in the eyes and say “I’m here and I’m ready.” We are collectively unfurling and emerging from a year long winter and hibernation period.
So let’s help and support ourselves. Treat yourself to a winning combination of known mood boosters. Serotonin enhancers.
Time spent outdoors; check.
Moving your body; check.
Mindfulness; check.
Enter: Outdoor Yoga!
5 Reasons to Take Your Practice Outside:
1) Return to and Align with Nature:
The vast majority of yoga poses are named after things found in Nature. Tree Pose, Mountain Pose, Half Moon Pose, Lotus Pose to name a few… and then there’s all the animals! Lizard Pose, Camel Pose, Butterfly, Crow, Pigeon, Cobra, (Downward Facing) Dog, Fish, Cow, Cat… the list is endless! Practicing outside aligns us with our beautiful planet. The greatest of all living things. You can literally “reach your arms to the sky”, “ground your feet into the earth” and truly embody the sense of what it means to be in certain poses by immersing yourself fully into the experience of BEING outdoors.
2) Top Up Your Vitamin D:
This one is a no brainer and a benefit I’m sure most people are familiar with! Vitamin D levels in the body significantly decrease over the winter months (especially in the UK), and symptoms of a vitamin D deficiency can include muscle pain and weakness, fatigue and depression. Even on the cloudiest of days the body can detect the suns rays which illicit the production of vitamin D within the body. So do yourself a favour! Time to (literally) salute the sun.
3) Nurture Internal & External Balance:
Practicing outside increases the skill and muscle required for balance. There is no stationary spot on the wall to fix your gaze to; the branches of the trees around you will move with the breeze. The ceiling you would usually look to for stability in triangle or half moon is now infinite, and there are no walls for solidarity on the way up. Nothing is stable outside, everything moves and shifts organically and in flow. The earth is uneven beneath your feet. It challenges your balance and ultimately therefore your ego; can you accept where your practice is in this moment? Can you lean into the opportunity to re hone the stillness required within?
4) Develop Inner Strength & Stability:
Practicing outside helps to develop our inner strength and stability. Perhaps you believe that to enjoy a successful meditation or yoga practice you need to be in a very calm, quiet and controlled environment. Somewhere we can make immediate changes to render our surroundings more comfortable. Where if it’s too cold, we can turn the heating up, if it’s too loud, we can close a door or a window, if our minds are too busy we can play beautiful music to distract. When we are outside, the variables are uncontrolled, so none of this is possible. The familiarity and stability is gone. It’s easier to access that inner strength, stillness and stability when distractions are minimal. It’s quite another task altogether to achieve that inner stillness when the elements are at play, in uncontrolled and untethered existence all around you. When we can welcome the elements as part of our yoga practice; appreciate the roar of a train overheard, accept the swoosh of a breeze that may cause you to lose balance, when we can notice these things exactly as they are and welcome their presence, we can require less from our surroundings; require less for them to be a certain way. Release the need to control and surrender to the inevitable path of nature and to what it means to just be.
As the Bhagavad Gita explains; perfection in our practice is achieved when we are unaffected by our dualities. The hot and the cold. The comfort and the discomfort. The silence and the noise. The pleasure and the pain.
5) Opportunity For Earthing:
You’ve heard your yoga teacher use the phrase “ground your feet” countless times when cueing asanas in class. You perhaps hear it that often you no longer pay much attention to what weight that cue may carry… Did you know, that grounding or “Earthing” your feet has been scientifically proven to improve overall health and well-being, decrease inflammation, reduce pain and stress, and improve blood flow, energy levels and sleep quality?! I’ll have an extra large order of Earth please! Luckily for us, Outdoor Yoga has an unlimited supply…
Click here to read Jasmine’s blog post all about the science behind Earthing and its many benefits!
Our outdoor class schedule is live and ready to book!
Spaces are limited so be sure to book early to avoid disappointment.
See you all in class soon!