What deepening your yoga practice means to Zainab

By Zainab Zakari

The phrase “deepen your practice” is tossed around yoga classes a lot (my own included).  It can sound like a rather lofty aim, but I believe it’s only meant to alert us to that moment when we realize yoga is not just a bunch of physical poses strung together, but it can evolve into a multi-nuanced path that goes underneath the surface layer and into the proverbial rabbit hole.  You might wonder why one needs to go into the hole, to find what? Well, it’s not what actually, but who, and that who is you. 

Yoga invites us to develop greater self-awareness to more wisely navigate life and all its curveballs. Among the skills the Yoga Sutras offer to cultivate this self-knowledge is through the practice of svadhyaya, translated as self-study.  When we study anything that engages and enriches our minds about ourselves—from exploring our personal histories to observing our current tendencies—we also gain greater understanding about how we fit into the world. In its most literal translation, svadhyaya often refers to reading spiritual texts or scriptures to learn about oneself, but that definition can expand to include any practice that encourages the practitioner to more deeply reflect upon the layers within his or her life, whether it comes through meditation, journaling or asanas on the yoga mat. With time this continuous self-inquiry can not only offer a broader sense of self, but it can also help us make more mindful decisions, and perhaps chart a path we can consistently be nurtured by.

In my classes, I strive to offer multiple ways to deepen your practice, whether it’s by physically trying a challenging variation of a pose or if it’s sharpening your awareness of your breath in a familiar pose or movement or if it is staying still to meet any of your inner critics head on.  All are ways of challenging what you know by being willing to dive a teensy bit into the unknown, and all can help you deepen your connection to, you guessed it, you.

Deepening your practice is not limited to just these methods, of course, and I encourage you to chart your pathways as you see most fit and effective for you.  The other Mighty teachers and I are here to support.  And I’m honored to be a part of a couple of upcoming workshops that encourage you to deepen your practice your way, from an invigorating Grace & Strength workshop  with Liz on Oct. 19^th to the six-week wellness program (i.e. challenge) with Gina called Living Yoga, starting Oct. 20th.  Plus we’ve also got Huck’s Power, Breathe and Flow on Oct. 5th and Liz’ 3-class Intermediate Yoga Series starting Oct. 26th.  All of these special offerings kick off this month (what a month, right?!), and we hope you’ll explore some of them to get to know yourself all the more.   Happy self-study time!