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.
My practice is easing me through menopause & giving me the space & creativity to keep adapting my business and earning a wage through the next covid wave.
Anxiety, depression and trauma run thick in my family blood but my practice nurtures and soothes my nervous system and keeps me on good terms with my vagus nerve.
When I’m carrying too much, I can put it all down on the mat and by the end of my practice, I can be clearer about what I really need to pick up again.
My practice is the reason I can say, with my hand on my heart, that my life is truly amazing and I’m grateful to be here.
Yoga isn’t even about flexibility. It’s supposed to be about self actualisation, but for now I’m just here to breathe and move my body for the sanity, and to settle my mind.
Being hyper-mobile, I hardly stretch at all. I aim to move slowly into the sweet relief of stillness.
And it isn’t about discipline. It’s a lifeline. I honestly take my hat off to anyone walking around in the world right now without a practice for balance, resilience, and calm. I couldn’t be without it.
This is why if you come to me for a big stretch, or a workout, you’re going to be disappointed. But if you’d like to join me in nurturing your nervous system, befriending your vagus nerve, nourishing your adrenals and generally slowing down, that is what I love to share.
