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Yoga is something that has been practiced for thousands of years. It’s an ancient Indian practice that now people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds enjoy. However, many Wiccans are now in love with yoga too.
Wiccan yoga is a powerful tool to deepen your magickal practice. It helps you ground, center, and forge an organic bond with nature. It clears the mind, freeing it up for deeper intuition. And the focus and mental control it fosters helps you create stronger intentions.
Let’s explore further and learn all about Wiccan yoga!
Why Yoga?
Yogis for thousands of years have said that yoga helps them unite their inner self with the universe. Even in the first texts describing yoga, in the 2nd century BCE, spell out how a yogi’s identity can be absorbed completely into the universe.
And today, medical doctors suggest yoga because of its myriad of benefits, not just with the physical body, but also with the mind! Let’s explore both further.
Yoga Improves Physical Health
The asanas in yoga helps in keeping your body healthy physically. Physical health is key for stamina, balance, and aging well.
Yoga is excellent at improving flexibility and reducing aches and pains. It can aid in chronic conditions, and reduce long-term inflammation.
In addition the pranayama (breathing) in yoga aids so many things. It keeps your nervous system strengthened, boosts your immune system, and increases the capacity of your lungs.
Yoga Fosters Mental Health
Because much of yoga is being in the same position for periods of time, and requires focusing the mind, it’s an excellent aid to reducing anxiety
and nurturing mental health.
The breathing patterns in yoga help us, over time, to keep focus and not get distracted easily. For example, the yogic practice of Dharana helps to train your mind in concentrating on focusing on a single point. This helps to purify the mind’s psychic realm and reduce negativity.
Yoga is also a great tool in maintaining balanced energy flow throughout the body. Using yoga for chakra and energy healing have proved invaluable to those suffering from depression, frustration, and other mental and emotional disturbances.
But Why Wiccan Yoga?
You might think: Yoga is an ancient Eastern practice. Doesn’t it come from India? What on Earth does it have to do with Wicca?
Actually, the two are more similar than you’d think! Aside from the obvious physical and mental benefits, there are tons of reasons why Wiccan yoga is great for your magickal practice! Let’s explore a few.
Bond with the Divine
Wicca is all about creating a bond with the divine, right? So entering meditative states just like you do in yoga is a perfect way to create this bond. Establishing a regular, daily Wiccan yoga routine can be a great way to deepen your faith on a daily basis.
In fact, the word yoga itself was derived from the Sanskrit word “yuj” which means ‘joining’, ‘yoking’ or ‘uniting’. It perfectly explains why yoga can be a powerful tool for Wiccans to create a deeper bond with the divine.
Unite with Nature
Wicca is also all about connecting with nature and the universal forces and energies among us. In general we strive to be centered and grounded with the Earth.
Wiccan yoga as another way you can ground yourself. It lets you connect with your physical body, reside in an embodied state, and become at one with the universe.
Picture this: When you perform yoga, and meditate and breathe, you can feel the universe beating within you. It creates a cadence and rhythm within your mind and body. It brings calm and an acceptance of all that is around you. Mental, physical, and emotional energies are all in harmony.
Hint: Practicing yoga outside of the home, for example in a beautiful park, can further encourage your connection with nature.
Deepen Your Practice
In the book ‘The Weiser Concise Guide to Yoga for Magick’, the authors support the connection between yoga and Wicca. They say that yoga is important in practicing Magick, as it brings forth a clear mind and a healthy body.
Many Wiccan priests and priestesses incorporate yoga into their personal practice, and many teach and instruct yoga as well.
This is because yoga and Wicca both guide people towards higher consciousness. Elevating your consciousness, by way of practicing yoga, can actually improve your Wiccan rituals and spellwork, deepen your intuition, and strengthen your intention.
Free Up Energy for Higher Work
We already know that yoga naturally calms your mind and reduces stress. However, it has the added benefit of freeing up your mental and emotional energies for higher work. It create space for you to concentrate on higher ends.
In today’s world, our default is often to be drowning in negativity. We feel stressed and anxious, constantly getting pinged by our bosses, the news, social media, and other worries.
Cultivating a yogic mind can help relieve this distress. Rather than being anxious throughout the day, and spending most of your time worrying, your cultivated yogic mind will be calmer, cooler, and more relaxed.
It can keep you fresh and calm for your magickal work, whether it’s spellwork, doing good deeds, or working on self-improvement.
Making Wiccan Yoga a Routine
We know how transformative and powerful Wiccan yoga can be. How do we incorporate it into our daily lives and make it a habit?
Keep It Realistic
First, start out slow. Don’t expect that you’ll suddenly start doing 1-hour yoga sessions every morning at 4am. Keep it realistic.
For example, set a goal of a daily 10-minute Wiccan yoga session. Even just 10 minutes can have a profound impact. The goal here is to just get you in the habit– to make yoga an everyday affair.
You can also try to find the most convenient times and places to schedule in your Wiccan yoga routine.
For example, maybe you would feel best with a quick yoga sesh after your workday ends and you can finally relax. Or, perhaps you don’t get any quiet time until late in the evening, so you might enjoy a quick session just before bedtime.
Experiment With Different Yoga Forms
You can also experiment with different forms of yoga to find out which one you like best. Hatha yoga, Kundalini yoga, Vinyasa yoga, Iyengar yoga, and more. It’s also ok to change it up once in awhile too to keep things fresh.
Pratyahara Yoga is a form of yoga that helps slow and even end the flow of distracting thoughts. These thoughts that go on in our mind all the time pain us and don’t let us focus on things that are more important. This type of yoga builds concentration and focus.
Hatha yoga is another type of yoga which involves physical and spiritual exercises. This yoga helps in strengthening of the mind and body both which will eventually help you in your magickal and Wiccan practice.
However the absolute simplest type of yoga to get started with is mantra yoga. Keep reading to get our best and easiest example of introductory mantra yoga.
Be Kind to Yourself
Know that some powerful thoughts and emotions might come up while practicing yoga. This is perfectly fine and completely normal! Since yoga gets you in touch with the deeper parts of yourself, you may make new internal discoveries, both positive and negative.
Along with feeling great joy, you might also find moments of rage, or perhaps find some unresolved grief. This means that you are doing everything exactly right! Wiccan yoga allows us to bring up unresolved emotions and put them to rest lovingly.
If you have an intense session, be kind to yourself the rest of the day. Be sure to take care of the basics: water, healthy food, rest, etc. You can even treat yourself as a special thank-you to your inner self for doing important work.
Stay Positive!
Finally, try to refrain from judging yourself within your Wiccan yoga practice. If you can’t quite do a pose correctly, or you have to keep referring to reference notes, or if you skip a day, it’s all good. Bringing in negativity and judgement is no help to you.
Keep in mind that habits don’t form overnight. It’s perfectly ok to miss a few days here and there. Some days you just might not be up to it. Some days you might not have time. It’s ok!
All in all, try to keep a positive attitude, and if something doesn’t work, keep trying or try something new! Your are in control and your practice is entirely up to you.
An Example Wiccan Yoga Session
Now let’s go over an example session of Wiccan yoga. We’ll give a brief overview first, then a more in-depth step-by-step description. Let’s start with the overview:
Mantra-based yoga and meditation is one of the simplest ways to get started. It doesn’t require any special training, equipment, or location. You can easily try it right now in your own home.
- Choose one mantra which expresses your highest aspirations.
Or to keep it simple, use a meaningless non-verbal tone like “Ohm” or “Aah.”
- Choose 2-3 poses.
Sitting poses are the easiest for beginners.
- Repeat your mantra slowly, over and over again.
- While you repeat your mantra, rest in your poses.
Hold each pose for a minute or two before transitioning.
- Keep repeating your mantra.
Repeat it until you feel it playing in your head automatically like a tune. This means that mantra has reached your subconscious.
- Draw your current pose to a close.
Thank the universe around you for its cooperation, and thank yourself for your participation.
And now, let’s break down each step into further detail.
Choosing a Mantra
The easiest way to practice Mantra yoga is to choose one mantra which expresses your highest aspirations. It can relate to some area in which you need a reminder, an area of personal growth, or an area that you want to emphasize.
Choose a mantra which is appealing to you and represents something that you see as the greater good. Focus on the bigger picture and your highest aims and higher energies.
Mantras can revolve around divinity, nature, or the universe. Try to avoid material things as much as you can. And try to pick a mantra which doesn’t represent any specific need. It should be a general idea.
Here are a few example mantras:
- “I am loved.”
- “I am one with nature.”
- “I am bold and confident.”
- “Happiness comes to me.”
And here are a few examples of mantras to avoid:
- “I will become rich.”
- “I will find my dream job.”
- “I will get promoted before So-and-so.”
If you want to keep it super simple, you can also just use a basic tone which has no meaning, like “Ohm” or “Aah.” Non-verbal mantras keep things simple and focus your mind and body. They are the easiest and most basic way to get started.
Create A Simple Set of Asanas
Asanas, or poses, are the building blocks. When starting out, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the sheer number of poses. There are thousands of poses, ranging from incredibly simple to very complex.
To start off your Wiccan yoga routine, keep things simple and choose just a couple of poses to get started with. Two or three poses should be enough for a 10-minute session.
You can also keep the complexity of the poses to a minimum. While you can choose any asana which can be standing, sitting, bending, etc, it may be easiest to choose a couple of sitting poses initially.
For some ideas, you can see a full catalogue of yoga poses here. There are many helpful YouTube channels as well to get you started. We recommend Yoga With Adriene and Yoga with Kassandra.
Repeat Your Mantra
Once you have chosen your mantra, repeat it over and over again slowly. Keep repeating it to the point that you feel it repeating in your own head automatically (like a tune).
While you are repeating your mantra, gently rest in your asanas. Hold one asana for a minute or two, before transitioning to the next asana.
Once you feel that your mantra is on repeat in your head, it means that the mantra has reached your subconscious mind. It is now repeating over and over again without your knowledge or effort.
When your mantra becomes automatic, changes will start taking place inside you. You may or may not notice the changes, but over time you will feel more able to deal with your environment. You will feel a more magical connection to the world around you.
Carefully draw your current asana to a close. Thank the universe around you for its cooperation, and thank yourself for your full and open participation.
