5 Similarities Between Gardening and Yoga

For last 3 years, I've moved to an apartment from camped apartment. After countless failed attempts of indoor gardening I decided to wait until I had my own apartment-today I can say with dare that I've my own yard to try gardening. One of the very first things that I did when I moved into the apartment was calling up my dad and asking for some flower bulbs to set up my own garden in the apartment. I don't have much knowledge about gardening. But I experience something pretty amazing and therapeutic in playing with the dirt. It's akin to the experience that I feel on my yoga mat.

Now you may definitely be wondering that why this crazy man is linking gardening with yoga, aren't you? So here are the five similarities that I found between yoga and gardening:

1. Require mindfulness. Studying the signs of lack or growth in plants requires mindfulness. Identifying how much light a plant needs and when is also a challenge that I'm still honing. Same is true for yoga too - it also requires mindfulness. You need to read your every breathe and movement in the body for doing yoga properly.


2. Finding connection. Seeing the plants grow and flowers bloom is a certainly energizing experience, especially when I know that I did something to make it happen. Thus, we find a connection between ourselves and growing of plants. In yoga too we learn that there is a connection between us and universe. So when I nourish something and help it in growing, I feel even more connected.


3. Removing any weeds. If you want a plant to grow, you've to ensure that the area surrounding that plant does not have any weeds. Otherwise other plants may absorb the nutrients from soil. Same is true for yoga too. In order to dedicate your mind to your yoga practice you must learn to stay away from distractions that pull your attention from the practice.


4. Looking for balance. A healthy and beautiful garden is the one that's filled with a variety of plants and has flowers of various colors. Too many plants of one type don't only spoil the aesthetic of garden but also affect the balance of nutrients in soil. And yoga is also about balance. A lot of active poses at the same time can be exhausting, while a whole lot of passive poses can become the cause of sluggishness in body. To get the desired results you must have a perfect balance of both.


5. Dirty work. You may not always be interested in making your hands dirty of soil, but the more time you invest the better your plants grow in the garden. And in yoga, it may seem hard to hold yourself in certain poses for as long as your teacher wants but the longer you hold the better you get on that particular pose (which ultimately results in health benefits).

This article was written by John Drewry for increasing awareness in people about the importance of Yoga.

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