Preparing the Soil

I believe that going deeper in your yoga practice isn’t always about doing more or working harder. It’s about getting more bandwidth out of everything you are already doing.

I’m terrible at taking care of houseplants. When I do get around to watering them, the soil is sometimes so parched and dry that the water isn’t absorbed. It just runs off the surface.
 
I think this is a good analogy for trying to go deeper in your yoga practice only by doing more and more asana. If the ground of your mind and heart aren’t prepared to receive and integrate a deeper experience, all that effort remains on the surface of the physical body. It doesn’t penetrate deeper to affect the mind, touch the heart, or feed the spirit.
 
If you’ve ever gotten to the end of a yoga practice only to realize that even though your body was going through the motions your mind was completely elsewhere, you might relate to what I’m talking about.
 
Deepening your yoga practice takes presence and attention, for sure. But mindful awareness is just the beginning. You also need to make your practice meaningful to you. Reflecting on why you do yoga and how it helps you in your life is a good start. Adding the perspective of yoga philosophy to contextualize your practice, and you’ve prepared the ground to begin to receive deeper gifts that yoga has to offer.