But yoga isn’t. 😉
I am loving the trend going about, in which people “expose” themselves on social media, reminding us that the curated feeds and touched up photos aren’t anyone’s real life.
Yoga is not about a matching pastel LuluLemon set (not that I don’t love me some Lulu) and you don’t need a sleek black onesie from Taper & Teak* to try a few yoga poses out. (* Taper & Teak being the incredible Winnipeg based clothing company I snagged my black suit from.)
The same goes for me: my every day yoga practice is done in sweatpants, pj’s, old t-shirts, with chipping nailpolish and my hair up in a half bun.
I can not emphasize enough, that yoga is NOT a flexibility competition.
In fact, as my personal yoga practice has evolved, I have learned that while I am naturally flexible – my focus needs to lean on the strenth building poses more. My hubsand for example, has the opposite experience: being naturally strong, and gravitating to weight lifting over stretching… he is seeing that joining me for some evening stretches helps him recover quicker and finds him more limber.
Yoga isn’t even about “fancy” poses.
The magic is way way simpler than that! 🙏
Just the act of bringing your attention back to the body & reconnecting with the breath, brings you to the present – that is yoga.
It draws your awareness into the moment you find yourself in.
It has the effect of “coming home” to the body, to the self.
You can have the most profound and calming moment, just moving with the breath from Mountain Pose to Extended Standing Pose.
Letting the repeated motion soothe the body & mind at once.
(Video linked below to give you a visual.)
Yoga physically lines you back up, as you are aiming to bring the hips parallel for example. The attention is on even and symmetrical movement in this form of exercise. This physical lining back up has a funny way of also lining the thoughts and emotions back up too. 🤔
The beauty of a yoga practice too, is that you are invited to play like a child. The further I get in my yoga teacher training, the less I worry over “proper alignment” … it’s become more about moving intuitively. Experimenting and laughing when I fall, so I get back up again and try again. Resilient.
As I practice listening to the body, I can hear more clearly the request for an extra stretch here or there. I understand too, that my hesitation to hold a Warrior II stance, is due to my tendency to pick the flowy poses – and that I do indeed need to override the self here – and practice some strength building.
Curiously and compassionately.
Meeting the self.
With Love.
So yeah, social media is fake. But yoga is not.
If you’re wanting to start a yoga practice but you’re not sure where to start – book a free 15 minute consultation with me on my website. I am always thrilled to talk yoga! 💗
Thank you for joining me for another blog pose this week. I hope that with each article here on my corner of the internet, I can share some of the light that I soak up from this practice. ☀️
Wishing you a sunny long weekend.
Happy Easter to those who celebrate. 🐇
Wtih Love,
Esta
with love , Esta 
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