When I first started yoga as a teenager, I most definitely experienced the relaxing and calming effects of the practice.  But it wasn’t until I was an adult in my own home practice that I started really paying attention to what I was experiencing and feeling in the poses beyond just the relaxation and calmness. In my home practice I moved more slowly and deliberately, and this allowed to me to feel where the sensations of space and ease were; where the sensations of tightness and restriction were.  I worked to pay attention to whether the sensations were always that way or were new to that particular practice.

All these kinds of inquiries led me to a deeper place in my practice: one where I was able to learn to listen; one where I was more present with myself - more aware; one where I actually trusted myself. This is the path of Svadhyaya, one of the Niyamas outlined in the Yoga Sutra.

Svadhyaya or self-study asks us to pay deep attention to ourselves so that we get closer to ourselves, so we learn more about ourselves. 

One way to practice Svadhyaya is through self-inquiry.  Asking questions, and staying open for the answers or even staying open to being with the unknown, brings us into the present moment, and toward what’s true for us in that moment.

Reading and seeing ourselves through the text is another way we can practice Svadhyaya.

And of course, non-judgmental observation is yet one more way we can explore this teaching.  Our yoga practice teaches us how to slow down and pay attention on the mat so that we can hopefully slow down and pay more attention when we are off the mat.  We train those awareness muscles on the mat so that they can “flex” more automatically when we are off the mat.

You can start this practice of inquiry and self-study right now:

• As you read this, notice your shoulders - are they hiked up by your ears or relaxed? 
• Are they rounding forward or pinched back together or somewhere in the middle? 
• What choice would you like to make with regard to your shoulders right now?
•  Did that change anything in your neck or your breathing? 

Practicing Svadhyaya allows us to get to know something about ourselves, it lets us see where and how we are, and it informs us about the choices we might make.  It’s the pathway to learning and growing.

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