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Fostering Mental Clarity and Resilience with Yoga

How the practice of yoga stretches far beyond the physical

Mike Peterson
5 min readAug 2, 2021
Credit: @kikekiks/Unsplash

When I first started practicing yoga, it was purely about the downward dogs and the forward folds. After a decade of practice, I’ve realized that yoga is much more about the mind than any one pose.

The Indian sage Patanjali first codified the art and science of yoga in the Yoga Sutras. In them, he defines the practice of yoga as “the stilling of the changing states of the mind.”

Yoga is a popular practice across the globe, but the way it is typically taught in gyms and fitness centers only scratches the surface of a holistic system of wellness and mental clarity. People who do yoga discover this on their own, typically after a few years of consistent practice. But you can gain yoga’s mental and physical benefits from the start— especially if you know what it can offer going in.

Over the years, I’ve come to rely on yoga both as a way to strengthen and stretch the body, and as a way to calm and still the mind. I think it could benefit you, too.

Yoga is a System for Both Mind and Body

Many forms of yoga in the West focus on the physical practice of postures, known as asana. But meditating and practicing breathing…

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Mike Peterson
Mike Peterson

Written by Mike Peterson

Writer. Yoga, meditation & breathwork teacher. Nature lover. | San Diego, Calif. | he/him

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