In a period of difficulty and the need to rediscover one's balance, LifeGate launches its first Smart yoga class, to offer moments of personal wellbeing, increase awareness and stay close, even from home.
In periods of collective difficulty, such as the one we are facing now due to the spread and containment efforts surrounding coronavirus, the choice and responsibility of the individual to take a step back, understand the situation and accept it, and act with respect for others becomes more important than ever. Yet, with the frenetic tendency of today's world to want to control things, to go ever faster and always be connected, when we find ourselves forced to stop, our heads spin a little — we feel almost lost, even a little empty.
For this reason, we at LifeGate — close to people and the Planet for twenty years — want to offer a way to stay close, to become even more aware, even from home. Indeed, on 10 March the first series of LifeGate's Smart yoga classes began, streaming across all platforms. It is a cycle of Vinyasa yoga lessons, led by professional instructors, accompanying us and you every Tuesday and Thursday at 7:00 pm and every Saturday at 11:00 am until 2 May.
This will be a way to slow down, dedicate time to ourselves and, as a result, to others. The practice of yoga teaches us to focus on the here and now, to detach ourselves from the everyday thoughts that fill and drive our minds, so that we can connect with ourselves and, in doing so, increase our awareness. A full awareness that ultimately embraces everything around us: people, the environment and the Planet.
Yoga helps us to do this: to be more aware of our thoughts and our way of acting.Micol Dell'Oro, yoga teacher
Guiding us through this four-week programme are teachers Micol Dell'Oro, Lucrezia Montrone and Giada Campanella, who with their experience will offer exclusive content tailored to yoga practice and psychophysical wellbeing. We met Micol Dell'Oro, who will lead us through the first lessons this week, and she told us about the importance of discovering, rediscovering or deepening this discipline in our lives.
In what way can yoga help us in difficult situations, like the one we are living through now?
Unfortunately we cannot decide external situations — we do not have the power to change what happens in our daily lives, so even in a situation like this we do not have the power to simply make it disappear. But we always have the possibility of choosing how to react to situations, and I believe yoga can help us rediscover a deep connection with ourselves so that we can face everything that follows with a constructive attitude. And so, through our way of doing things, acting and behaving, bring about positive change. We have the means to face the whole situation with greater positivity — not by ignoring the problem, because it exists, but by confronting it in the best possible way. Yoga helps us to do this: to be more aware of our thoughts and our way of acting. It can give us the strength at this moment to get through the situation.
When we find a deeper connection with ourselves, we manage to find that same connection with what surrounds us.Micol Dell'Oro, yoga teacher
In what way does yoga help us to feel more connected to the environment, and therefore to respect it?
When you practise yoga you arrive at a greater awareness that our way of living impacts what surrounds us. Our lifestyle and our daily actions have the power to change what surrounds us. Yoga helps us to develop a deeper sensitivity, to be more aware. This sensitivity helps us understand how to live more sustainably: without wasting resources, and seeking to behave as harmoniously as possible with the environment.
Yoga helps us see things more rationally on one level — because it allows us to remain more objective — but also more deeply, because when we find a deeper connection with ourselves we manage to find that same connection with what surrounds us. And we become more inclined to adopt a sustainable lifestyle. Yoga helps us understand how to adopt a more respectful attitude, not only towards ourselves but towards everything around us. To have respect for life in all its forms.
Why should everyone integrate the practice of yoga and its principles into daily life?
It allows us to create space. Especially in today's society, we are always projected forward, always keeping pace, always attentive to every little thing — our minds are in constant motion. Yoga is a moment in which to stop. I would invite those who already practise yoga, and those who are just approaching it, to live this moment and this practice as a time to pause and reflect, to return to themselves, and to let go of their worries. To find a moment to detach from whatever needs setting aside, in order to rediscover a connection with oneself. This connection helps us to live better. I would invite every person to experience this journey as a continuous discovery and as a way to pause in a society that always demands we keep moving forward, that we be fast at everything. A moment to create connection and to stop.