40 Day Challenge - CALMING

Week Two: Calming

As we move into the second week of our 40-Day Journey, we begin to explore the next stage of the practice: Calming.

During the first week, we created an opportunity to become more present. To observe ourselves. To notice our patterns, habits, reactions and tendencies. Before we can change anything, we first need to see it. Now, as we move into week two, we begin the practice of calming. Calming is the third stage within the Moon category of the Science of Hatha Yoga and is an incredibly important part of the journey.

We live in a world that is constantly asking for our attention. There is always somewhere to be, something to do, someone to respond to and something demanding our energy. Our minds are constantly receiving information. We scroll. We consume. We react. We plan. We worry. We replay the past and anticipate the future. And often, without even realising it, we carry this constant activity with us into every part of our lives. This is why the practice of calming is so important.

Before we seek to bring in more energy, before we begin to expand and awaken the qualities of the Sun, we first need to learn how to reduce the unnecessary activity within ourselves. Because adding more energy to an already busy and agitated system may simply create more agitation. More energy does not always mean more clarity. More stimulation does not always mean more vitality. Sometimes, what we truly need is to slow down. To soften. To breathe. To calm.

Calming the Mind

Calming does not mean forcing the mind to become empty. It does not mean trying to stop thinking. And it does not mean that we will never experience thoughts, emotions or distractions. The mind thinks. That is what the mind does. The practice is not about fighting against it. Instead, we begin to reduce the things that continually feed unnecessary activity. We create the conditions for the mind to gradually become quieter. 

Through the Moon practice of yoga, we can begin to move away from constant stimulation and bring our awareness back into the body. We begin to slow down. We reduce unnecessary movement. We stay. We breathe. We feel. We become less interested in constantly reacting to every thought that arises. Instead of following every thought, we allow ourselves to simply observe. And slowly, through practice, the intensity of the internal noise can begin to reduce.

Before We Bring in the Sun

Within the Science of Hatha Yoga, there is a wise progression to the practice. We don’t simply begin by adding more and more energy. We don’t immediately seek intensity. We first learn how to work with the quieter qualities of the Moon. The Moon invites us to slow down and turn our awareness inward. It teaches us that there is great value in becoming quieter. Only after we have spent time working with these qualities do we begin to consciously introduce the qualities of the Sun. 

The Sun represents energy, activation, expansion and expression. But there is wisdom in the order of the practice. Before we seek to rise, we must first learn how to descend. Before we seek more energy, we learn how to become quiet enough to recognise where our energy is going. Before expansion, there is space. And calming helps us create that space. This is the problem with modern Breathwork and Yoga, it skips this essential stage. 

The Role of Forward Folds

Forward folds are particularly supportive during this stage of the practice. Energetically, they invite us to turn inward. Rather than reaching outwards into the world, we begin to draw our awareness back towards ourselves. There is a natural quality of surrender within a forward fold. We automatically breathe into the belly which activates the part of the nervous system connected to rest and digest. 

The Practice of Calming

Calming is not something that can be rushed. It is not something we can force. The more aggressively we try to make ourselves calm, the more tension we can create. Instead, calming is something we allow. We create the conditions. As you move through the second week of your 40-Day Journey, allow yourself to explore this question:

Where in my life am I creating unnecessary activity?

What would happen if I allowed myself to slow down?

This week, there is nowhere to get to. Nothing to achieve. Nothing to force. Simply an invitation to practise calming.

To breathe deeply into the belly.

To lengthen the exhale.

To spend time in stillness.

To soften.

To descend.

And to remember that sometimes the most powerful thing we can do…

Is nothing at all.