My Why

I LOVE yoga

It feels so good to move, breathe and stretch my body in that way. it challenges me, it improves my body and my mind.  I feel and look stronger, I can cope better with life’s challenges. My heart comes alive, sending endorphins throughout my system.  My whole body feels better afterwards.  That, along with eating foods that are alive.  

When I share a class with people, and they are moving and flowing with me, it is incredible.  To know that I am making people feel good, too, makes me feel good.  Being with people, moving, sweating, and enjoying the movements of the body.  Helping people find a posture that they have been struggling with.  I love giving assists because it brings people deeper into themselves and their bodies.  Showing them that they can achieve these things that may look difficult.  With hard work and consistency, seeing their improvements.  Bringing them new challenges and opportunities to adapt and improve.  I am mostly moving around the room, assisting people with their positioning, allowing people to feel the postures in a new way, something that they would not necessarily be able to do on their own.

But sometimes, I love to lead from the front and bring people into a moving meditation. Feel into what they need, where the room is at, and adjust the pace and flow accordingly, and sometimes, improvise.  

It excites me that there are so many other sides to yoga than the physical benefits, the seva, helping others, the nada yoga, the music, the singing, the chanting.  Sitting with a lovely group of people and hearing all of their voices mixing in harmony, oh, especially with the harmonies!  There is nothing more joyful than harmonising; my heart bursts open with love and pure bliss. 

Meditation, Dhyana, when I sit, and my brain goes through all of it’s patterns of bringing in other’s opinions, what they may say, what they may think.  When I let all of that go, and the stillness comes, that’s the bliss moment.  It makes me look at all of my choices and make better ones.  Sometimes the not-so-good choices can be beneficial, though, because they make me see what I don’t want, and the consequences that come from those decisions can be deterrents, not always of course!  

It is self and spiritual development in the absolute best way.  It kicks you in the gut and then picks you up, dusts you off and sends you skipping off into the rest of your day feeling lighter, brighter and energised.

I never would have guessed that moving more would bring energy, but it does, of course!  Energy creates more energy.

Then synchronising it with the breath takes it to another level.  I teach many beginners in the pod, so I have to be careful with the breath cues, as they have the movements and the heat to get used to first.  But when a bunch of regulars come to class, and I CAN cue the breath as much as I like to, it’s literally magic!  I even blurted out as I was leading the group the other night, “Feel how you are energised by the breath!”

I can sense it when a class is vibing with what I am bringing. Sometimes, it is good to give a challenge, work on the postures and spend lots of time on them.  But sometimes, like Friday night, when it’s the weekend (especially a bank holiday), and I would like to give them a more fun and creative practise, the whole class comes alive, and it is so beautiful.