Yoga For Mental Clarity | 'Healthy You' Yoga Series

Here we are, the final week of my ‘Healthy You’ Yoga series where so far, we have looked at:

How Yoga can help you prepare & warm up the body
Yoga poses for energy
Yoga poses to help you sleep
Yoga poses to help improve digestion
Yoga poses to help relieve stress & anxiety

And now it’s time to look at the one thing that we are all craving more of in our lives: Mental clarity.

Life can be confusing. It is full of ups and downs and we experience the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. Our minds are so resilient and they really are the leading force that carries us through this lifetime. Here’s a reminder of that beautiful cycle that our minds create for us:

Our thoughts create our beliefs, our beliefs influence our actions and our actions dictate how our life unfolds for us.

Our minds are so incredibly powerful that they influence how we experience life from the initial creation of a thought to the eventual outcome of an action that is taken or not taken. The accumulation of those actions is what comes to fruition for us and therefore our overall experience of life.

Incredible, right?

Well can you imagine what amazing things we could manifest and draw into our lives if we had that mental clarity to help us see clearer and release limiting thoughts or beliefs that may be holding us back? Mental clarity is something we could all do more with – no matter how enlightened you might feel you are, how centred, introspective or self-aware you are, there is always more room for growth. When we can see clearer, not only can we think more loving thoughts but we can also take more love-inspired-action to help us create the lives we dream of, and do so in a way that serves us best (and those around us too!).

Yoga can help us do just that.

Not only does it encourage us to be in the present moment and quieten that mental chatter that can occupy way too much prime real-estate within our minds, but it can also help us to see things a little clearer and shift our perspective when our inner critics get in the way. Not only can it give us a different perspective through self-exploration and growth but quite literally as well – hello inversions! We can literally see life from a different angle (or many!) which can help shift thoughts, patterns and behaviours to unleash something within us that we didn’t know existed. Plus, going upside down circulates blood flow and energy back to our brains which is exactly what we need for enhancing mental clarity and building mental strength and resilience.

Here are 5 asanas that I love to practice for mental clarity. They focus on:

Balance – which helps to balance the mind, centre and ground us
Introspection – for turning within and exploring our mind and heart
Inversions – not only sending that energy and blood flow back to the heart and brain, but also giving us a literal new perspective and way of seeing the world

Please remember to be very mindful of your body especially when doing inversions and only do so if you know you are fit, well and healthy to practice inversions.

I love to spend a little longer in each of these poses to really turn inwards.

I’ve also filmed a YouTube flow showing you how you can sequence these together which you can find at the end of this article or by clicking the link here.

Warrior 3 (Virabhadrasana iii)

Stand in Mountain Pose (Tadasana) at the top of your mat with hands on your hips and your core engaged.
Sift the weight into your right foot and ground down through all four corners of the foot (this is now your balancing leg).
Lift your left leg (the working leg) in front of you, keeping your gaze forwards.
Hinge from your hips, tipping your torso forwards and begin to extend the left leg behind you.
Keep a small bend in the balancing leg.
Point the toes of the left foot down towards the mat flexing through the foot.
Square the hips down towards the mat and keep the extended leg, hip, shoulders and head all in one line (your hips are the pivoting point).
Hands can remain on your hips or you may choose to bring them to heart’s centre or out overhead with the biceps in line with the ears.
Keep your gaze down towards the mat.

*Repeat on the other side.

Eagle Pose (Garudasana)

Stand in Mountain Pose (Tadasana) at the top of your mat.
Shift your weight into your left foot and ground down into all four corners of the foot (this is your balancing leg).
Lift the right foot from the mat and cross the right leg over the balancing leg.
Bend the knees and bind the right foot around the left calf (or keep the foot on the floor and cross the ankles one in front of the other).
Extend your arms out in front of you taking the left arm over the right and bending at the elbows, binding them around each other (or bring the backs of the hands to touch).
Lift your elbows up in line with your shoulders, aiming for the palms to touch (if taken the bind) and finger tips pointing up towards the ceiling.
Draw the shoulders down away from the ears, elongate the spine drawing the crown of the head up towards the ceiling and focus your gaze on a point (your Drishti) to help with balance.

*Repeat on the other side.

Deep Forward Fold (Uttanasana)

Begin in Mountain Pose (Tadasana).
Soften through your knees and begin to hinge forward from the hips, keeping the spine lengthened.
Fold forwards bringing your hands towards the mat, bending through the knees here as much as you need to depending on flexibility and making sure that if your legs are extended, to keep a micro-bend in the knees to avoid locking out the knee joint.
Allow your head and shoulders to soften.

Shoulder Stand (Salamba Sarvangasana)

Lying supine on the mat, bend your knees bringing the soles of the feet onto the mat.
Press your arms down into the mat as you push your feet away from the floor, drawing your knees into your chest into a tuck position.
Bring your hands onto the small of your back for support with your fingers pointing down towards the buttocks.
Start to work your elbows in towards one another until they are shoulder width apart.
Begin to lift the pelvis over the shoulders and the legs up towards the ceiling. Lengthen the legs, pointing the toes towards the ceiling and engage the core.
Keep your gaze towards the ceiling.

Ear Pressure Pose (Karnapidasana)

From Shoulder Stand, hinge from the hips taking your legs overhead, bringing the feet towards the mat.
Bend the knees, drawing your knees either side of your ears, pressing the tops of your feet down onto the mat.
Continue supporting your back with your hands or extend your arms down onto the mat.
Apply gentle pressure momentarily with your knees onto your ears and then release.

Tags: Anxiety, Health Tips, Inspired Action, Mindset, Manifesting, Mental Health, Personal Development, Stress & Pressure, Self-Belief, Success, Yoga & Pilates

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