So you’re brand new to yoga, you may be feeling the effects of age creeping up on you as you bend down to slip your shoes on. Or perhaps after a few hours gardening you are laid up for the rest of the afternoon with a bad back. Or maybe even you have seen a few contortionists throw some handstand shapes on Instagram and think ‘I would love to do that!’
Whatever your reason that brings you to yoga, know you’re in the right place. Generally 9/10 people that look for a yoga class, it’s because they would like a movement based practise and they’ve heard the hype surrounding yoga and would love to give it a go. But what they end up experiencing is so much more.
Yoga has been around for many years. In fact some early traces were found over 5,000 years ago. But without writing an essay of the history (if you’d like some book recommendations, message me and I’ll be more than happy to provide some guidance), yoga has evolved. Especially for the western world. It’s said there could be over 300 million yoga practitioners in the world… isn’t that amazing?
But what is yoga? Yoga in its essence means to unite. To unite body and mind.
But to practise yoga is not just physical movement. It’s how we conduct ourselves in our day to day lives. But again, I could waffle on about this for hours. What you’re here for is to reaffirm what you already know… that yoga will make you feel so much freer in your movements. It will increase your mobility, flexibility, balance. It will help prevent osteoporosis, it will lessen stress and anxiety. It will improve interoception which will in turn, allow you to respond to your body earlier so you will become more in tune with your body. You will change. Your body will change, your mindset will change.
But how is this possible from one little class a week? Well, in short it’s not. Practise makes progress, that’s for sure. But you need to show up on your mat. You will indeed leave a yoga class feeling recharged but it will be a maintenance practise. If you’d like to see a difference; what you will experience in one class, will double after two, treble after three.. and you get the idea. I would personally recommend establishing a little home practise maybe a couple of times a week in addition to any classes with me to see the most benefit from your practise. They don’t have to be long. Even 10-20 minutes will work.
But this is a choice. Many of my yogis come along to a class, enjoy the space we hold and that class is enough.
They might also add in a Yoga Nidra relaxation class once a month and for them, that’s what they need to keep them feeling spacious and good. Every single yogi is different. Our genetic makeup, our anatomy, our stress levels, our obligations and therefore our needs are different. How we look in the poses are different and that’s ok. Yoga is yours, your practise not how the person next to you looks in a shape. Once you realise this and you journey inwards to how your body is feeling, then too you’ll reap the benefits of a consistent practise.
One of the main ingredients to your practise is also breathwork. When we practise breathwork we settle the mind to prepare for our physical movements. Utilising full belly breaths will not only energise you, it will calm the brain waves and actually fuel your body to feel comfortable in the yoga poses thus increasing your flexibility and strength. More information about the breath is written in a previous News post further down this page.
Next, the final and probably the most important aspect of your practise. Learn when you rest.
Savasana is arguably the most challenging pose of them all. Allowing the body to settle and absorb your physical practise. To be able to take 10-12 mins (or much longer if you experience a Yoga Nidra session), is essential to your own health and well-being. It allows the mind to reset and I promise, once you get used to this part of the practise you will appreciate how wonderful it is. Once you learn when to rest, you will appreciate you need to take some time for yourself, because when you do you are more present, you are a better version of yourself. Your cup is filled and when this is the case, you can pass on this positive energy to others.
So what are you waiting for? Let me know when you are ready to begin. I love mentoring those new to yoga. When that moment of realisation hits a new yogi, that look on their face is the reason I love what I do.. to share my love of yoga with you all.
See you on the mat soon. Namaste 🙏.