7 Prompts to Power Your Yoga Practice This Week

Could your practice use a little inspiration? Explore these seven prompts from Brian Leaf’s new book,The Teacher Appears: 108 Prompts to Power Your Yoga Practice. Try one each day this week, or let all seven inspire your practice right now!

1. What would it be like to accept your body and your yoga practice exactly as it is today? Live into that answer today on your mat. (From Anna Guest-Jelley, founder of Curvy Yoga)

2. Practice on a blanket today rather than on your sticky mat. Notice which muscles you use to stabilize your feet. How do your postures feel different?

3. Stand in front of your mat and dedicate every movement of today’s practice to someone you love, someone who needs healing, or someone you need to forgive. Notice if it changes the way you move, the way you breathe, or the way you feel. (From Seane Corn, yoga teacher, activist, and cofounder of Off the Mat, Into the World)

4. For the rest of the day, every time you hear a smartphone beep or buzz, stop whatever you are doing and take a deep, mindful breath.

5. How do you feel right now? Internally repeat the words “I rock.” Notice any change? Repeat the phrase at least fifty more times today (particularly at moments of difficulty) and watch what happens. Begin now.

6. When you move through your practice today, approach each pose as if it were your medicine. Notice whether you are taking the proper dosage. Are you holding a pose for too long or not long enough? How does your practice feel different with this mental shift? Write yourself a yoga prescription.

7. Remember: The harder you are on anything, the faster you wear it out. Be gentle. (From Bryan Kest, father of Power Yoga, creator of Western donation-based yoga)

Excerpted with permission from The Teacher Appears: 108 Prompts to Power Your Yoga Practice by Brian Leaf.