You know the chattering mind that gets the run of the place in self-practice, when nobody’s counting you through. Somewhere in the standing sequence you’re replaying a conversation from Tuesday, and by navasana you’re deciding what’s for dinner.
Or you reach for your phone, you decide the mat can wait while you make a coffee, or you suddenly remember something that needs to go on the to-do list. Noticing that pull, actually catching yourself in the act of reaching, is the whole practice working, not the practice failing.
A chattering mind is what an agitated nervous system sounds like. Off the mat it sounds the same, the thought loop that starts the second you sit down at your desk, and the racing thoughts before a difficult conversation. Same mechanism, just off the mat.
When the body’s holding tension, the mind can’t settle on one point like the breath or the drishti (gaze), whatever you’ve chosen, no matter how many times you set the intention to. Setting the intention only works once the system underneath it is calm enough to keep it, and that part isn’t optional, it’s the actual first step.
When my mind is agitated before a practice I do some light pranayama just to settle my nervous system. Just a minute of it before you start, and the mind has less to run from once you’re there.
Yoga for the mind is as much a part of the practice as the postures (asana) are, and it starts in the same place, calming the nervous system down. Often we’re too agitated to even notice why we’re on the mat, and asana turns into nothing more than a way of letting off steam so we can settle.
But if awareness never gets brought into it, if it stays only physical, we get distracted easily, because letting off steam isn’t purpose enough to hold us there. Include the healing of the mind alongside it, and the practice becomes whole.
Reaching for the phone isn’t failing at the practice, it’s the nervous system telling the truth before the mind catches up.
This is the first step of the Inner Practice too, on the mat or off it, calm the system, then let the mind actually be worked with.
More on what Yoga for the Mind looks like here: The Inner Practice