The magic of yoga

I have been practising yoga for many years but it doesn’t come naturally to me. I’ve never been flexible. My hips have a mind of their own and are still tighter than most in the studio. Even though I’m a yoga teacher, I can’t do fancy poses like handstand or headstand. I can’t do all the weird and wonderful arm balances and my feet certainly do not go behind my head! 

For me, that’s not what yoga is about. Yoga is not doing a fancy handstand on a clifftop as the sun is setting in ethereal clothes. Yoga means union. For me it is the union of my mind, body and spirit. It is the tradition, the philosophy, the breathwork, the meditation, the ethical practices. It is Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga, of which asana is only one.

The magic of yoga is not contorting your body into weird and wonderful shapes (although that can be fun). The magic of yoga is in the mind body connection. That thing it does to you. That state of bliss you feel afterwards and hopefully for the rest of the day. That thing you can’t touch, you can’t smell but you know is there. It is the way it makes you feel and makes you want more and more. That is the magic of yoga. 

It is the memory of that feeling that makes you get out of bed to practice. To commit to long days of teacher training. To more and more study and practice. 

Yoga has taught me so much. Patience. Humility. Compassion. Kindness. When you are practising and facing your limitations on the mat every day it teaches you to be grateful for what you have. Grateful for where you are at today. Patience not to beg for the pose but to do the work and trust the process. And maybe I’ll never be able to do handstand or headstand or contort my body into pretzel shapes. However, I do plan to be an old lady doing whatever form of yoga I can. Moving my body and feeling the magic while I am here on earth.

Yoga has taught me to think big and deep. To look at my own behaviours and recognise where I need to do work. To be aware of the words I say to myself. To consider why certain people trigger me. To examine the patterns in my behaviours and work to untangle them. To acknowledge my limitations on and off the mat and be ok with them. 

I love yoga. I love the way it makes me feel. I love the way it takes me out of my mind and into my body. I love the mobility it gives me. I love the community that surrounds it.

So I encourage you to give it a go. Get on the mat in whatever form suits you. Find a teacher that speaks to you. I truly believe there is a teacher out there for everyone. Cause who doesn’t need a little magic in their life?