What is Yoga?

It’s the middle of week one of my one-month intensive yoga-training course and yes it is definitely intense but I am absolutely loving it! It’s hard to find something to compare it to, maybe like a child waking up on their birthday- that feeling were you are dying for the day to start to see what great things it brings. Every day I am waking up before my alarm clock tired and a little achy but with a fluttering of excitement and jump out of bed.

Each day starts with a 2 hour yoga class and my body is beginning to get used to it, it’s only 3 days in and I am already at the information overload stage but not in a freaking out kind of way, totally the opposite. I love it. 

Growing up any kind of exam sent me into a nervous state of panicked study. I was that person who couldn’t take a chance going into an exam that I might not be able to answer enough questions so I had to cover it all. So yes I got good grades but I worked hard for them. This course just seems different- there is a massive amount of information to take in. Exams and assessments all over the place but I am not worried about them. I will work hard for them but I am not going to stress about it, in a strange way it feels like I don’t have to.  I am happy!

We had a class yesterday where we were broken into groups and asked to come up with a sentence, which answers the question: What is yoga? So before I answer, have a think about what your answer would be.  Even if you are not a yogi…. What do you think it is?

My group came up with the following; ‘Yoga is a practice which uses the breath to connect the mind, body and spirit’…. The other groups said something similar, some groups explained it a bit further and said for a lot of yogis it starts as a physical thing and after time moves to the connection with the mind before evolving further into a really spiritual thing. But this didn’t quite work for me. It’s not that I don’t agree that yoga is about more than just your physical body but the sentences didn’t really define what yoga is for me.

We had a meditation class in the afternoon after our yoga philosophy class and I couldn’t get this thought out of my mind…. I couldn’t quite settle. So when I went home last night I was thinking about how I personally would answer the question…. what is yoga?  Yoga is happiness! 

Let me explain…..

At the start it was absolutely a physical thing, I was always quite flexible and when I first started doing yoga I liked that I could get quite deep into the poses and push my body in a new way. I started doing hot yoga 6 days a week and loved both the physical and mental challenge of pushing my body…. I'll be totally honest there was zero spiritual aspect to it for me. I have said it before, Savasna or relaxation at the end of the class was when I planned the rest of my day, my mind usually felt really clear because I had been focusing on the poses for an hour or so, so by the time I got to relaxation the thoughts were like a huge gush of water bursting through a dam. Over time though I did learn to let the calmness flow into relaxation and I managed to train my mind to keep the floodgates shut until I had left the yoga studio – this was nothing short of a miracle.

So earlier this year when I had that niggling feeling that something wasn’t quite right I went back to my mat. I didn’t try to answer all the questions in my head I just did my yoga. I did a lot of self-practice; I did it to my own flow and with my own music. I shook things up a bit – sometimes I even left the TV on or listened to chart music if I felt like a more powerful practice. This gave me the clarity and headspace I needed to see I had been waiting for a sign that had literally been hanging in front of my face…. I was ready, I had the courage, the ambition and the drive to follow my dream… to take the leap without fear or doubt and become a yoga teacher.  Once I had made this decision I couldn’t believe how other things started to slot into place, people started emailing me and calling me about teaching, everywhere I looked and conversations with friends were giving me inspiration for my new venture and also sent me back to writing!

I really feel so lucky to be where I am right now and so happy that I made the decision I did. This is the start of my life, my dream and my little yoga buzz. I will not be a traditional yoga teacher…. I don’t believe in following strict guidelines on anything so I am not going to apply that to my yoga practice or through my teaching because for me Yoga is an extremely personal thing. It is for you to decide what yoga is for you and what way the balance lies between the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. Whatever works for you do it. I am in a great position at the moment in that I am being exposed to lots of different schools of thought and am doing this course with a diverse group of people with very different backgrounds, beliefs and experiences. I don’t have to agree with everything everyone in the group says but I am not going to rule new ideas or styles out. I will try new things and incorporate the elements that work for me into my mat time and my teaching.  Only 3 days in and I have been truly inspired encouraged and warmed by the people I am sharing this journey with and also by the fabulous teachers we are lucky enough to have. No doubt there will be personal highs and lows along the way as the weeks roll on but I will make sure to keep you posted.

So yes for me Yoga truly is happiness.

For now enjoy your yoga…. Whatever it is!

Namaste

xxx