When people ask what I do and I reply that I teach yoga, 99% of the time the replies are
"I would love to do yoga but I am not flexible enough"; "I am too old to start yoga" and
"I tried it once and got bored".
Let's take them one at a time:
"I am not flexible enough". Very few of us are flexible enough to emulate the acrobatic poses we see on social media. Yoga is not Circe de Soleil. It is not gymnastics. Those pursuits favour the hyper-mobile population and make for pretty pictures on the beach at sunset. Lovely for some, injurious for others. Also - not really necessary.
cccWithout external distraction, we are left with what is going on in our minds. And we all know how busy and cray-cray that can be - hence the seeking of distractions. It becomes a loop of disengagement with ourselves. Stopping, settling, softening and sinking deeper into yourself - this is what yoga asks. Whether you can do it or not is almost irrelevant - it's a practice, so you come back over and over, until the you. Something I have seen often over the years is new students really struggling to get through Savasana (around 10 minutes at the end of class, simply laying on the floor), all twitchy and agitated ... fast forward a few weeks or months, the same students are asking at the start of class "how soon can we get to Savasana?" and sinking into the floor like it's the worlds fluffiest cloud. Progress!
"I am too old to start yoga". One of my favourites! If you are aging and can breathe, there has never been a better time to start yoga. But be smart and choosy about what yoga you pursue. Depending on where you sit on the healthy movement spectrum, hopping into a fast-paced Vinyasa class may feel great or land you at the physio. All yoga is not created equal, and there will be a style and class to suit where you are at today. The style is perhaps less important than having a teacher who encourages you to respect your own physical and mental limitations on any given day and supports you to find alternative shapes that feel good - rather than focusing on what the pose 'should' look like.
We are all different skeletally, muscularly and energetically. I love looking around the studio and seeing everyone taking a different version of what was suggested - I know that my students are listening to and respecting their own bodies.
"I tried yoga once and got bored". We are bombarded with stimulation all day, every day. We are encouraged to pursue more, hustle harder, do more reps, achieve, be better, aim higher. We could so easily be on the go and distracted and busy from the moment we wake to the moment we face-plant the pillow. So, is it any wonder that when we try and find stillness and depth we get a bit twitchy and agitated? It is no longer our natural state.
Without external distraction, we are left with what is going on in our minds. And we all know how busy and cray-cray that can be - hence the seeking of distractions. It becomes a loop of disengagement with ourselves. Stopping, settling, softening and sinking deeper into yourself - this is what yoga asks. Whether you can do it or not is almost irrelevant - it's a practice, so you come back over and over, until the softness washes over you. Something I have seen often over the years is new students really struggling to get through Savasana (around 10 minutes at the end of class, simply laying on the floor), all twitchy and agitated ... fast forward a few weeks or months, the same students are asking at the start of class "how soon can we get to Savasana?" and sink into the floor like it's the worlds fluffiest cloud. Progress!
A regular yoga practice is a sustainable way to support healthy aging. It is a way to encourage healthy posture, increase flexibility and functional movement so that we can remain mobile and independent. It enhances optimal breathing patterns, which in turn can have a positive effect on our digestion, blood pressure and stress levels. It creates a vital circuit breaker for our frantic minds, to allow us to process and retain information. When done in a slow and mindful way, we engage our parasympathetic nervous system which encourages our rest, digest and repair state, which in turn helps with insomnia, reduces stress, reduces inflammation, and allows all systems of the body to come into balance.
We are living in a world that feeds our anxiety, a world that can be overwhelming and exhausting. Finding solace in the simplest of shapes is such a gift, to yourself and those that are around you.
One breath, one moment, one movement at a time - yoga brings us home to ourselves.
With love,
Amanda xx