Hygge (pronounced hoo-guh) is having a moment; in 2016, it was one of Oxford Dictionaries’ words of the year. The Danish term is defined as a quality of cosiness that embodies a feeling of contentment. In the search for happiness, many are giving hygge a try. The most common things that can be more hygge include home decor, wardrobe choices, and even the way we interact with another (i.e., friendliness), but hygge is applicable to nearly every part of your life. Here are five simple ways to apply the hygge mindset to your yoga practice:
Simple ways to make your yoga practice more hygge
1. Step up your meditation game
Make time for stillness. Schedule meditation time and hold yourself accountable. The many benefits of meditation are noticeably instant. Set aside five to ten minutes a day to simply notice yourself, how you’re feeling in your body and what’s going on in your thoughts. Try this for a week and see if you feel more comfortable in your own body and sitting with your own thoughts.
Your body knows what you need, and the more comfortable you become listening to it, the more empowering your relationship with yoga becomes.
2. Practice freestyle
While some yogis prefer to do their own thing on the mat, others may find this challenging and prefer an instructor. If that sounds like you, try to practice independently more often and get comfortable allowing your body to make the cues. During a private class once, I sat into child’s pose, missing the instructor’s cue to move into downward dog. When I apologized, she said, “That’s okay. That’s what you needed,” and this concept changed my relationship with yoga forever. Your body knows what you need, and the more comfortable you become listening to it, the more empowering your relationship with yoga becomes. If you’re not sure where to begin, try Child’s Pose. Take time in the posture to check in with yourself, steady your breathing, and then bring some motion into the body, just seeing where your body shifts to next.
3. Try resting into Savasana with a blanket to feel more hygge
An Indian kambal is a heavy wool blanket sometimes used in yoga during Savasana to help relieve anxiety and increase the overall state of relaxation during this final resting pose. If you’d like to try this, you don’t need a kambal though. You can drape any somewhat-weighted blanket over yourself before resting into this restorative pose. It makes sense that being underneath a blanket, where you might feel safe, warm, or ready to wind down, would be relaxing. Plus, cozy sweater-like blankets and throws will make your home feel more hygge, too.
4. Share your practice
Ask the people you are most comfortable with to practice with you. Yoga provides an opportunity to bond and can be a way to connect with others, providing yet another way to reduce anxiety through your yoga practice. Sometimes, I’ll ask my son, as he walks by me while I’m practicing, if he wants to “yoga with me.” Sometimes he joins me, and sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes, when I’m walking by, he’ll surprise me and ask if we can yoga. Normalizing yoga breaks with those you’re closest to (a significant other, close friend, or other family member) will increase the likelihood that they occur more frequently.
Hygge is meant to increase comfort, prompting one to relax, and in the process, enjoy more of life, including your home life, relationships, and inner experiences.
5. Take a yoga “fika.”
The fika is a Swedish coffee break, a moment to get a cup of coffee or tea, paired with a baked good, and take a moment to rest, whether alone or with a friend; the point is to make a point to take a break. Why not try applying this idea of an afternoon pause to yoga? Yoga is relaxing and stress-relieving, but it can also be surprisingly uplifting.
Hygge is meant to increase comfort, prompting one to relax, and in the process, enjoy more of life, including your home life, relationships, and inner experiences. The idea pairs well with what yoga is meant to provide the practitioner with: peace and calm. Give yourself permission to get cozy within your practice. Yoga is simple. It is welcoming and nurturing. When you surrender yourself to yoga, nothing can become more hygge than the time you take for yourself on the mat.
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Meik Wiking is CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen and has spent years studying the magic of hygge. Meik is committed to finding out what makes people happy and has concluded that hygge is the magic ingredient that makes Danes the happiest nation in the world.
