What is Yoga to me? Yoga to me is to learn how to come back to our self, to find the inner sanctuary where we feel whole, contented, connected, balanced, light and deep peace. Yoga is the journey of unfolding.
The beautiful thing about yoga is that you start just where you are right now. I invite you to start your practice with saying ‘hello’ to yourself………how am I doing today? Am I holding stress in my body…….do I feel tense? Are my thoughts somewhere else?
The grounding point for your yoga practice is to take time and find out where you are right now…..before you begin your practice. How can you find your destination if you don’t even know where you are? Every time you come onto your yoga mat your practice is different, depending on how your day has been, how your week has been. Your yoga changes depending on how you are, what situations you have found yourself in before you step on your mat. For a potent practice it is important to recognise where you are, listening to your body, mind and emotions, scanning yourself, listen to your own inner teacher. You are a wise and intellectual being, and you hold your own answers, but often we are not still enough to hear the whispers. It is the whispers who hold the truth, not the laud shouts we often become distracted by, and can even lead to injuries, physically, mentally or emotionally.
For me it is important to feel the yoga, through breath, body awareness and meditation – becoming one with oneself, starting to like oneself, accept and love who you are. It is about letting go of what we no longer need, allowing room for new, positive and exiting adventures in our lives.
So instead of doing yoga – feel your yoga! It feels so wonderful, so freeing, a beautiful experience. For many there can be resistance coming up, but as soon as surrender happens, the flower unfolds and you can smell the sent of the blossom.
It is like each asana (posture) has its own flavour. When you tune into your practice and the feeling of yoga, the flavour becomes very clear. It is like you can taste and savour each asana, even each movement within the asana. The moving into, the still point and the coming out of each asana have its own feeling tone which I describe as the flavour of the asana. It is even a flavour at the end of an asana or posture, the savouring of the full experience of the asana preformed. It is important to take time to savour this feeling or taste the flavour of the end result before moving on to the next yoga asana. It is like tasting the end result of your favourite dinner, you
might have taste tested it through the process of creating this meal, but the outcome will be different then the ingredients tasted separately.
For me this awareness gives the practice an energetic feel you can taste, we come out of our mind and into our feeling body and our senses awaken and heart opens. It also takes us away from the rushing in and out of one posture; we slow down and can move through the yoga class without rushing.
When we open our body, mind and emotions in our asana (postures) and breath, we become receptive to a wonderful and often overwhelming experience of inner peace………… Through yoga we aim to create union of body, mind and spirit through yoga asanas, breath and meditation to reach a wholeness of oneself.
I invite you to set yourself free……to dive deeper within yourself…….and find all of the hidden treasures you hold…..to set yourself free from your own expectation and other peoples expectation of you……..see the true diamond that shines within your very centre and let it shine outwards and touch every single person that you come in
contact with, even if they don’t notice it…..I invite you to dive into your inner landscape, even if you are scared, polish that diamond and let it shine into the world……..set yourself free and fly……………..
