I wanted to discuss something that’s happening in my life right now. Basically, I’m becoming super annoying to my friends and family. It’s true. I know it’s happening and I can’t even help myself. All I can do anymore is suggest yoga or reference yoga. I can actually FEEL myself being annoying because my response to EVERY thing is “well, you should try yoga!” Got back problems? Try yoga! Getting sick all the time? Try yoga! Can't sleep? Try yoga! Feeling stressed? Try yoga! I feel like I have to preface everything I say with “I swear, I have not joined a cult, but……..” But it’s because I really believe in it. A regular yoga practice has brought to my life so many amazing experiences, a lot of healing, and not just physical healing, though I AM in the best shape of my life, but emotional and spiritual healing, as well. I am amazed by how I feel and this is because I honestly did not know it was possible for me to feel this way in my life without medication, drugs, or alcohol, etc. For the first time ever I feel totally comfortable with myself. Ironically, my life is crazy up in the air at the moment, but somehow, I feel real peace. I can describe it no other way and if you know me at all, you know that for me to feel real peace is quite an amazing feat. Yoga's weird.
You would be amazed at who your yoga teachers are and where they come from. Most of the devoted yogis and teachers I know, myself included, are the most unlikely people to be doing this sort of thing, and yet, here we are, extremely passionate about sharing yoga because we have found so much more than just exercise. The artist in me finds it very beautiful, actually, because so many of my yoga teacher friends have come from a place of pain and are using yoga to not only heal, but create something positive out of that pain and share it with everyone they know. It's an art, at least, that's how I see it. Many of us had become frustrated with life at some point; frustrated with poor health or pain, a lack of self-esteem (that’s a big one,) an inability to connect deeply in relationships, an inability to control anger, sadness and anxiety etc., a lack of purpose, passion or direction in life, and/or an overall dissatisfaction with life. Each of us has wondered, “is this all there is to me?” Something about yoga drew us in and here we are, using these tools we learn to heal our lives. And side note: yoga often gets confused for religion. It is not religion and I will go into that in a future post.
I’m not suggesting yoga will cure everything for everyone. I’m specifically trained NOT to suggest this and I never, ever would. I can only tell you how yoga has helped me and what I witness in my yoga friends and students.
People have many opinions and misconceptions surrounding yoga. I never really paid attention to this before my teacher training, but it’s true. When I start to talk yoga now, people say things like “oh, I already stretch” or “I’m not flexible enough” or “I need something more intense, yoga’s too mellow” or “yoga is TOO intense, I need something less strenuous” or “yoga isn’t for weight loss, I want to lose weight” or “yoga’s bad because I hurt myself trying to do it once,” and the list goes on and on. My reply to all of these things is “oh my gosh, please come try yoga with ME.”
My yoga teacher training was a beautiful and eye-opening experience. I’ll be 100 % honest, though, I was not certain I was capable of teaching when I entered the program. My self-esteem has always been less than stellar and I kept thinking “I am not sure I’m flexible enough and I know I’m sure as heck not calm enough.” But at that point, yoga HAD improved those things (and more) enough in me to know that there was something more to it. I knew the more I practiced the better I felt and it became increasingly important to me to learn how to share it. So I enrolled and thank goodness.
We were trained to teach in a non-dogmatic style. What does it mean to be non-dogmatic? It means a lot of things, but what it means to me as a teacher is making yoga right for every single individual that walks through the door. For example, when I take YOU into a warrior pose, I want you to put your foot in exactly the right spot for your body so that YOU can get the benefits of the pose. Every pose has multiple benefits and getting those benefits is what really matters. Your warrior will most likely not LOOK exactly like the guy next to you, but big FYI, you are not that guy.
And in my opinion, this takes us to the heart of what yoga actually is, and that’s self-acceptance or self-love. Something that continues to amaze me as a teacher is how quick people are to insult themselves. Immediately, when I talk yoga people say something mean about themselves like, "I'm too fat, I'm too old, I'm too hyper, I'm not this or I'm not that." Yoga is not a competition, everyone. It’s not elitist, trendy or some hippie dippy thing. If you have experienced yoga in a way that makes you feel superior OR inferior in some way, I’m sorry for that. If this has been your experience with yoga, this tells me that you have not found your teacher and you have not experienced the true beauty and heart of yoga.
From a physiological standpoint, yoga has many benefits, including stress reduction, weight loss, improved immunity, sleep, digestion, circulation, flexibility, increased bone and muscle strength, and the list goes on. These are all amazing benefits and very well worth it. But in my experience, the above benefits only skim the surface of what yoga is all about.
Yoga teaches us to “surf our edges.” What does it mean to surf our edges? It means LISTENING to yourself and doing what is right for you in a posture so you can get the most out of the pose at any given moment. If something hurts or feels bad that day, don’t do that. It's really that simple. If something lacks challenge, increase the complexity of it. There ya go. This is what I am here for! I will show you how modify the pose to make it less or more challenging, but I cannot tell you what your body needs right now. Only you know that.
And this is where it gets good because you really must think of the yoga asanas or physical postures as symbolic. Yes, we are moving our physical body which benefits us tremendously, but when you surf your edges or listen to your needs in a yoga pose, you are simultaneously tuning into your inner guidance. When you can tune into your inner guidance, yoga changes your life.
This is the real meat of yoga. For those who say yoga is too mellow, ask yourself why that’s so bad? For those who say it’s too intense, ask yourself the same thing. For those who worry about inflexibility or weight loss, ask yourself why this concerns you so much. For those who have tried yoga but injured yourself, did you tune out when your body said stop? And if so, is it possible that you tune out your inner voice when it comes to other aspects of your life? Do you push yourself too hard at your work or sports or parenting? Not enough? Do you keep eating when you are not hungry or eat things knowing how they harm you? On the flip side, do you refrain from eating or doing things that bring you pleasure? Do you drink or smoke when you are uncomfortable? Stay at a job you completely hate? Or stay in a relationship that you know is harmful to you?
Start by asking yourself why you do this and when you get an answer, ask why again. This will eventually take you to the root of it all. Yoga is extremely therapeutic and I hope to go into more detail with that in future post. But I will say, it’s pretty unbelievable how much our physical posture and breath is tied to our emotion and even more unbelievable how much you can release by stretching and positioning your body just so or simply breathing with intention.
Everybody is different and my passion as a teacher is to teach you how to tune in to your body, and along with that, your voice. It is my opinion that when we tune into our inner guidance, the whole world changes for the better. Practice long enough and you will see. This has always been my dream for my life, to make the world a better, more loving place! But I’ve never felt big enough. I’ve never understood how. But by practicing yoga regularly and tuning into my voice, now I see. I understand that I just need to be me and that’s it. And you just need to be you. Where it gets tricky is, what we are as humans is freaking scary sometimes! But yoga teaches us how to face the scary stuff and find a way to make peace with it because there is no getting rid of the scary stuff. And this is a huge, giant, amazing thing.
This will not happen overnight. I don’t know, maybe it will for some, or it may never happen at all and I really can’t promise specifics. In my experience it has taken years of practicing, back and forth at times, but little by little it clicks. Right now, what I can tell you is that it is very worth it to feel this way. I’m so excited to not only find my passion for yoga but also be in a place where I can share it with anyone willing to give it a try. If my enthusiasm annoys you, I really can’t apologize for it! But I would suggest you maybe ask yourself why that is, eh? Yoga's super weird, it's true. It's hard to really articulate what happens because everyone will have a different experience. But I'm very excited to share mine! I truly love it and I hope you will join me sometime. Namaste, everyone. And I really mean it! :)