Twelve Ways to Set the Mood for Yoga
Use Your Senses to Create a Perfect Yoga Space
How we FEEL is so important. It is the key to life but we won’t be delving into that existential path today!
For now, it’s time to set up our space before our yoga practice. You know how you feel before you get on to your mat and how you want to feel when you get off it (blissful!) so when you can, it’s a lovely habit to make sure you set the scene to enhance your overall enjoyment.
And it’s all connected to the way you feel. Setting the mood with intentionality beforehand will usher in the peace and joy you hope to get from your practice.
Take time to craft a therapeutic environment.
Gather what you need
In an ideal world, what would you have around you while practising yoga? Where would you like to be? If it’s the beach, then perhaps you have some stones you’ve collected on holiday that you can place on your mat or next to a plant. I’m not going to go as far as to suggest putting sunscreen on so you feel like you’re by the shore, but what if you did? How about a little coconut oil or an essential oil spray with a little citrus in it?
Ways to prepare for yoga
Music
I’m unable to play music when I teach over Zoom but you might enjoy having music playing in the background to enhance your practice. Listen to whatever allows you to transcend the present moment and move into a relaxed state of mind.
When you’re practising alone, find the beat that matches the mood. Or let the music guide you into your desired feeling. Let the music help you release any trapped energy within you from salsa beats to soothing acoustic notes or zen beats to high-paced drumming to wake you up and loosen your core. Find your rhythm.
Nature
Let the sensations of the outdoors bring you closer to your inner nature and allow yourself to reconnect with your essence. Listen carefully, what do you hear? The hush of the trees, the breeze catching wind-chimes, the birds above. Bring your focus inwards, absorb the rhythm and symphony of nature, become one with it.
Breath
Use your breath or one of your body’s natural rhythms to move into silence.
Sometimes the best sound is the sound of your rhythm, your vibration. Take a few moments to ease into the peace of practice. Close your eyes. Bring your attention inward. Count your breaths. Find the rhythm of your heartbeat or a meridian pulse.
Flowers
Flowers are nature’s timely gifts of scent and colour. During a warm season, sit or walk outside for a while and enjoy their gentle pleasures. In less clement weather, put cut flowers in your studio and perhaps light a fire with scented wood.
Scent
Light incense or use essential oils in your preferred way, choosing the smells linked to your practice style. Smooth a little on your skin or use a reed diffuser, whatever sets the mood for you.
I love grapefruit or tangerine. My favourite incense is Satya Nag Champa Oodh.
Light a candle
The soft light is perfect for creating a calm, relaxing mood, particularly in the evening. They are also a wonderful tool to aid relaxation and meditation as watching the flame can be incredibly hypnotic.
They are also richly symbolic. The lit candle flame represents the light of the teachings and is symbolic of the state of Enlightenment. The flame can also represent the impermanence of form. In this way, candles are a bridge between both realities – they are of the realm of form, yet also in touch with the infinite, ever-renewing compassion from which all forms arise.
Natural light
Lighting is really important and has a huge impact on our mood. Practising in sunlight provides a boost of vitamin D, something that up to 1 in 5 of us have low levels of in this country. A diminished level is associated with a higher risk of poor musculoskeletal health, broken bones and poor muscle strength.
Although you won’t be able to absorb vitamin D through glass, moving your mat closer to the window can boost your mood and enhance your practice.
Lighting
For a softer glow and a colour to suit your mood, try carefully draping a scarf over your lamp. Red for easing energy, and blue for making you more alert. Be creative, crafting a sequence of colours or use complementary ones together: like orange, yellow and red to embody sunset.
Fairy lights are also a delicate and delightful way to set the mood.
Crystals, rocks and pebbles
Bring the energy of crystals and stones that you love to your practice. These precious objects hold healing energy and so history.
Choose the ones that make your heart sing. You’ll know either the second you see it or how it makes you feel when you hold them.
Lay them in the light of the moon to recharge their energy and rebalance them.
Decoration
If you can, designate a space in your home specifically for yoga practice and decorate it with things that bring you peace or centredness. Hang minimalist art and pictures of nature scenes, put small totems or tokens from travel on display. Conversely, a sparse area will create a sense of zen and focus.
Yoga is meant to be your practice, one which can be soothing, invigorating, and strengthening. Overall, you are communing with your body and feeling the energy flow through you as if you were on a yoga retreat.
Breathe in, breathe out, and enjoy all that yoga brings to you after you have set the mood.
Hot tea or naturally flavoured water
Before your practice, choose your favourite herbal tea and focus on the sensory experience. Have a few minutes of quiet meditation on the sensations of taste and warmth to prepare you for your time on the mat.
You could use lavender from the garden, herbs, rose petals, lemon or fruit to flavour your water on a hot day, making your practice most special and unique for you.
Be creative, have fun
These are just my suggestions. Remember your yoga practice is sacred because you’re taking time for yourself but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have fun with it!
So wear some sunscreen one day, enjoy the smell of coconut and remember the last time you were on the beach. Maybe you’ll have some sand trapped around the nozzle to really bring you back to your last holiday.
So ask yourself “What If” questions
What if ….
I picked or bought flowers for my next practice?
I practised in another room?
I took my mat to the garden or the park?
I changed the lighting?
I wore something different?
I practiced with my eyes closed?
I changed my perfume?
I made my practice really FUN?
I would love to hear what you brought to your practice and how it made you feel. I hope it sparked joy and enticed fun into your day. Please share your story!
And remember, you’re more loved than you think and there is only one you.
Beautiful You. Namaste.
Love,
Emily