Why I practice yoga

I’m 50 and I’ve been practising yoga for more than 20 years now, and teaching for nearly 20.

During that time people have said the strangest things to me. Like: “You must be so disciplined”, or “I’d do yoga if I could stop smoking/lose weight/be more flexible”.

As if the practice requires us to be flexible, or of a certain standard of mental wherewith-all for us to begin. If that were the case then I definitely wouldn’t be allowed on the mat most mornings! And as for flexibility, that has nothing to do with it. My practice is all about retaining my sanity and equilibrium in a crazy world.