The 15-minute yoga practice

As a young professional in a big city, joggling between moving to a new country and starting my new adult life while keeping in touch with my roots, my everyday life was a whirlwind of catching packed trains, being slightly late for appointments and taking care of all the other million little things in between.

I did not have space for me for a long time. Nor did I want to have any. The distractions kept me away from being alone, with all the scary thoughts and hard work that come with it.

I've spent years living the fast life.

Then, on an early afternoon of another Wednesday at work, I along with everyone else in my company received an urgent email. The subject: Go home.

It was the unexpected beginning of the Covid pandemic and all the months in quarantine to follow.

All of a sudden, I had a lot more time and a lot fewer entertainments. And I did not know what to do with it.

Panic.

While the pandemic has been a challenging period for far too many aspects, it has also been able to teach each one of us something fundamental about our nature and how we live with time.

These realisations have taken different shapes to different people in the form of new ideals, hobbies, routines, goals. Still, to me, all these expressions have sprung up from one only imperative: slow down.

When I started to slow down, I began to be myself in the moment, at least for some moments. And I learnt to see that these moments when we are attentively present without other thoughts and feelings of past and future are filled with invaluable beauty and freedom that last within. A true gift, indeed.

It was not something I would have expected, and for sure I wasn't looking for any insight of the sort. I was never a spiritual nor introspective person, neither I am now. Indeed, you'll find it only fitting - and it may make you chuckle or grumble - how paradoxically I've stumbled upon and kept on this mindful path.

I leisurely learnt how to slow down as I decided to start on a fast and efficient workout routine that could boost my physical health as well as my mental balance with minimum commitment, a 15-minute daily yoga routine.

To be precise, a 16 minutes and 38 seconds beginner morning yoga sequence available on Youtube.

Right after waking up and before the first cup of coffee, every working day I began to put on this same video and get my body in motion. Begin to notice your breath and slow down. 3 seconds to breathe in, 3 seconds to breath out. Don't judge yourself if you've lost count. Feel through all your body. Let the oxygen flow to where the tension is. Let the negative emotions go, they don't belong to the present.

The instructor would repeat these concepts often, like a mantra. After a few days of repetition, I learnt the lines by heart. And, after some more time, I really started listening to their meaning.

As I became stronger and the poses more familiar, I slowly began to notice how my body felt while in motion. How I could indeed relax any tightness just by focusing my attention on it. How flexible and strong I was getting. How my calm breathing would free my mind from thoughts. How positive energy would stick around like a light scent even after the end of the practice.

I was amazed by how good it felt. And even more amazed that I could feel this good in my body and mind, on my own. This was a whole new level of experience for me. Of me experiencing me.

"What a lovely surprise to finally discover how unlonely being alone can be." -Ellen Burstyn

Spontaneously, my 15-minute morning yoga routine thus metamorphosed from a dragging workout routine into a liberating mindful activity.

Over time, I expanded my yogi horizon to more videos, more instructors, more poses. And, consequentially, the connection between body and mind and self has become more and more vivid.

Yet, I have still stayed true to my original idea. Of this being a 15-minute daily yoga practice.

Why yoga?

Not being an introspective person, I have always found it hard to find peace and connection in thoughts. Not those that came from within.

Yoga has taught me to connect with myself through my body first. It has shown me how to coordinate movement with breath. To stop judgment, be patient with my abilities and listen to myself. To focus on my senses and pay attention to the feelings in my body. To appreciate even the smallest improvement. To let go of anything that is not present.

If you are familiar with mindfulness, you'll recognise these to be the pillars of meditation. Through physical movement, yoga has found a way to show me how to take hold of my mind and self-awareness. And, not a small plus, it has achieved this impossible task while keeping me in good shape!

Why 15 minutes?

Maybe it is enough to say that, one year and four months after starting with this new routine, I am still seamlessly following it with sincere enjoyment.

The time it takes, I find, is the sweet spot between it being enough and it not taking too much. The perfect spot for me wanting to do it and being able to do it, even as life gets busy.

Outside of the sweetness and convenience of it, experts also agree that small frequent bursts are better than longer infrequent practices. They do suggest more than once a day, but I believe it's ok if I don't find myself in that stage. I'm just an agnostic, empirical practitioner of the discipline.

And, in my experience, I could not be more satisfied with the intensity with which the peaceful energy and self-awareness of my short daily routine spill over way beyond the time of the practice into the rest of the activities and time of the day.

The best return on investment I have ever seen. After all, it is quite a sweet deal to be able to exercise, energise and introspect all in a 15 minutes time span!