How Yoga Can Help Improve Your Conflict Resolution Skills
There are some very well known benefits to yoga, for example how it can increase your flexibility, help you learn how to breathe properly, and increase your body strength and control. While those are obviously valuable effects of yoga, there is one that I have personally noticed but haven’t quite heard anyone talk about, and that is how it can help you improve how you respond to and navigate conflict.
In this article, I will break down what we do in yoga, how it compares to conscious communication, and how the practice of yoga can help you strengthen your conflict-resolution skills.
Most yoga practitioners (or yogis) are aware that practicing yoga helps you to focus your attention in the present and to become more aware of what it feels like to exist in your body. When you take the time to slow down and fix yourself in yoga positions, you start to notice different sensations that you don’t normally notice when you're busy moving about. This practice however, expands past just recognizing feelings in your body. While you sit in these positions that can sometimes feel uncomfortable and even painful, you silently notice what is coming up for you. You slow down. You acknowledge the moment and become much more aware of everything happening for you in that moment.
The practice of slowing down, tuning inward, and simply noticing what is coming up, is the same thing we do when we consciously communicate. This form of communication requires us to be present, aware of how we’re feeling, and aware of what our intention is. Similar to practicing yoga, we become more present in our body, we have an intention with every movement, and everything we do is aligned with that intention.
So what does any of this have to do with conflict resolution? Well, when we practice yoga, we are literally training ourselves to calm down, exist in and notice our discomfort, and navigate through it with intentional movement. We do the same thing when we choose to use conscious communication to resolve or deescalate conflict. By practicing slowing down and being present, we heighten our awareness of how it feels to exist in our body. Sometimes our body responds to messages it receives from our mind’s perception (e.g. feeling offended, feeling threatened) which influences our body to react in panic, and then it send signals to our brain that we need to act, or rather react. But when we use the skills of consciously transitioning and focusing our attention on our intention, we become better at communicating our true feelings, and we also become more attuned to the other person and how they are experiencing the situation.
To summarize, when we use conscious communication to navigate conflict we are making the choice to be aware of ourselves, hold an intention, and slowly and intentionally communicate, on other words, not just aggressively or defensively react. The practice of yoga trains us to do jus that: intentionally move our body, tune in to what we are feeling, respond to those feelings with calm inner-talk and trust that we will transition out of it.
Conflict resolution can be a very difficult thing to practice, especially if you grew up in a household where conflict was never resolved and you learned to fight your way through being understood by someone else. You’re not alone. Many people have grown up without healthy modeling of how to consciously communicate or talk about their thoughts and feelings. I know because I was one of them.
If you’re looking for some unique (and fun) support in improving your communication, check out my programs below.
