I felt a strange tightness in my jaw the other day and realized it was from stress. I thought, “That’s weird!I used to feel that all the time, but it’s been so long that I didn’t know what it was at first.” The obvious conclusion was that doing yoga has reduced my stress level so much that I don’t carry tension in my body like I used to.

Nothing else is all that much different. There are still plenty of things to get pissed off and anxious about, but I don’t seem to take the bait as readily these days.

I attribute some of this to the peace of mind I derive from practicing yogic principles, meditation, and connection with spirit. My faith has increased, and how I evaluate problems is different. Things that maybe I made into a problem before don’t make the cut in my problem maker mechanism now. I have a different view of the “Big Picture”, as they say, and looked at from the right perspective, many things I used to find really important don’t seem to have the same significance. I ask myself if the problem is ego related and if focusing on it will bring me closer to the ‘Ultimate Goal’, ‘True Happiness’, ‘Connection with the True Self’ or whatever. Invariably the answers are yes and no. This helps me know where to put my energy, and ultimately prevents me from staying worked up about whatever it is my ego wants me to stay worked up about.

Also, I attribute much of the change in my tension level to the direct physical changes that come through asana practice. It is hard to separate mind, body and spirit, and what results from what, but my experience has been the physical postures and movements have changed how I store tension in my body. This has been a powerful, revealing, and sometimes strange process. I am not going to delve into the ’strange’ part of it too much, in deference to the average reader(but if you like it a little weird, look me up and I’ll be happy to share the finer details).