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There is an extremely easy, four-step process that can be utilized in order to bring yoga into your every day life. This process, called EASE, relates to experience, awareness, self-reflection and elect.

The first step is Experience. It is believed that by watching over all of your own experiences, you can truly see the truths behind the constantly changing nature of the planet. When taking a Hatha yoga class, you will be instructed to take notice of your feet as they connect with the floor during Tadasana, or even to see where your breath is located during Trikonasana. You can bring this same level of close attention to your everyday circumstances for similar results.

The second step is Awareness. This is the ability that we possess to broaden our individual perspective in any particular moment. Our ability to interpret an event comes from where our attention is placed rather than from the experience on its own. Our expanding awareness provides us with numerous different choices for directing our attention. Ask yourself something along the lines of, “What all is there in this moment?” Now you can relax, and step away from your problems, and truly become aware of everything that is around you.

The third step is self-reflection. The purpose of self-reflection is to answer the question, “How do you want to exist within this world?” We are easily misled when people ask us what we want to be when we grow up. Some of us continue to struggle, despite our age, with what we would like to do with ourselves. The future is not what holds the key to our happiness. We should instead focus on a present-oriented question that is easier in nature to address. How do we want to be? Answering this question makes it possible for us to focus on all of the values that we feel are important.

To elect is the final step of the EASE process. What this means is during a given moment, to elect to act in a conscious way that works in accordance with your own personal values. Speaking what we value is often a lot easier than actually living those values. Life is meant to be the testing ground for our understanding of what these values are, and what they mean to us. What does it mean to be patient when it truly counts? What does it mean to be courageous despite our fears, or loving even when it seems impossible? The only path in our lives is the one that we are living, even when it may seem otherwise.