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5 Yoga asanas that help you connect with nature and elevate your inner peace

5 Yoga asanas that help you connect with nature and elevate your inner peace

TOI Lifestyle Desk / etimes.in / Jun 05, 2025, 15:49 IST

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Yoga, beyond physical postures, is a lifestyle promoting mindfulness and environmental awareness. It encourages sustainable choices and harmony with nature. Himalayan Siddhaa Akshar highlights yoga's role in achieving inner balance and attuning to nature's rhythm. Specific poses like Downward-Facing Dog and Tree Pose enhance this connection, fostering a sense of interdependence with the planet.

5 Yoga asanas that help you connect with nature and elevate your inner peace

Yoga is renowned for its stress-reducing properties, quieting the mind, and overall physical well-being. Yet, beyond the physical asana and control of the breath, yoga is a way of living that brings inner calm and external peace. Yoga promotes mindfulness, compassion, and awareness-based living and motivates one to consider their influence not only on themselves but on the larger ecosystem like animals, vegetation, and Earth.As Himalayan Siddhaa Akshar, yoga guru and proprietor of Akshar Yoga Kendraa, explains, yoga, when practiced consciously, is a philosophy of living that is abounding in health, ecologism, and religiosity. "When you practice yoga consciously, you not only achieve balance within but also attune yourself to nature's beat," he says.

5 Yoga poses to fuel your body and mind

According to ‘The Ashokan Center’, these five yoga poses that not just health and fuel body and mind but also enhance your sense of oneness with the planet.

Downward-Facing Dog (Adho Mukha Svanasana)

This root pose awakens the whole body and quiets the mind. In Siddhaa Akshar's words, "Adho Mukha Svanasana teaches surrender and helps you reconnect with the Earth."How to do:

Start on hands and knees, curl toes under, and bring your knees up off the floor.
Extend the legs as far as possible while gently pushing your heels towards the mat.
Relax your head down between your arms, letting tension disappear from the neck.
Breathe deeply and hold for 10 seconds, feeling solid and centered.

Bridge Pose (Setu Bandhasana)

Bridge pose is also said to calm anxiety and stimulate digestion. This represents the bridging of inner peace and outer awareness.

Instructions:

Lie on your back with bent knees and feet hip-width apart.
Press feet into the floor as you push hips up towards the ceiling.
Weave fingers under back and stretch arms out along the mat.
Open your chest and hold for 10 seconds breathing slowly.

Eagle Pose (Garudasana)

Eagle pose encourages coordination, concentration, and aids the nervous system. "Garudasana improves focus while encouraging body awareness," says Akshar.How to do:

Stand with feet hip-width apart and transfer your weight to your left foot.
Cross your right thigh over the left and hook your right foot behind the left calf.
Cross arms in front with left over right and hands clasped together.
Squat slightly, focus your eyes, and hold the pose before switching sides.

Shoulder Stand (Sarvangasana)

Source: Yogateket

Or the "queen of asanas," this inversion relaxes the mind and gets the blood pumping. "It reboots the nervous system and clears the mind," says Akshar.How to do:

Lie on your back with arms at your sides.
Lift your hips and legs with your core, aided by your lower back with your hands.
Stretch your legs up straight toward the ceiling with toes pointed.
Hold for around 10 seconds, with steady, relaxed breaths.

Tree Pose (Vrikshasana)

Source: Yoga Journal

A stability and calmness pose, tree pose represents growth and equilibrium. "As a tree that does not waver in seasons, the pose instills inner peace and concentration," writes Akshar.How to do:

Stand and transfer weight onto your left leg.
Position the right foot sole on the inner thigh of the left leg (not the knee).
With hands clasped prayer-fashion at the chest, or arms raised overhead.
Aloft, find a stationary point to look at and fix for 5 to 8 breaths. Reverse sides.

Significance of Yoga

Yoga naturally evokes a responsible lifestyle and awareness. It encourages individuals to make decisions that are sustainable, ethical, and in harmony with nature. It suggests being aware of the impact of our consumption, habits, and attitudes on the environment. By performing yoga regularly, humans become attuned to their environment and more willing to coexist with nature in harmony with the earth's natural rhythms. It creates a feeling of interdependence between one's well-being and the world's well-being and reminds them that they go side by side.

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TOI Lifestyle Desk

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