Why do I practice Iyengar Yoga?

The short answer is it makes me a better person.

Here is the long answer.

I have been practicing yoga for almost 30 years. It has kept my attention.

“Yoga is a light, which once lit will never dim. The better you practice the brighter the flame.”

BKS Iyengar

One of the greatest appeals yoga has to me is its ability to alchemise negative energy into something positive. Participating in a yoga class can completely change your mood, perspective and energetic state. Albert Einstein explains how “energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be changed from one form to another.” In my experience, yoga changes us from one state of being into something better. Yoga is an upgrade in every way.

“The light that yoga sheds on life is something special. It is transformative. It does not change the way we see things: it transforms the person who sees.”                               BKS Iyengar

There have been many times when I have got on my mat, overwhelmed by thoughts and feelings relating to life and by the end of the class these all-consuming emotions have been transmuted. It seems to me this works in several directions. Simply being present and mindful can turn the volume down in one’s own head, as in class the focus must be on the instructions. There is a lot to think about during a lesson. When we are focused and present there simply isn’t the mental space to think about your thoughts. Not all noise in the head is bad, in fact its normal, its just not always helpful if its incessant or demanding and constant. We all need a break even from our own minds from time to time.

Another explanation for how energy is transmuted through asana is that the body becomes the focus not the mind. The world is geared up to keep us in our heads; we are consuming information constantly. Google how many thoughts on average we have in a day and, spoiler alert, it’s a lot! Our brains weren’t designed to be this ON all the time.

When the body feels calm and safe the mind takes permission to settle and meet stillness. Ironic that we find stillness in the mind through movement of the body. I have found much truth in the adage ‘if you wish to look after the mind, take care of the body and if you wish to take care of the body, look after the mind’.  As we know they are interconnected, we cannot begin to separate them.

What happens if I don’t practice?

Sometimes it’s when you don’t do something that you realise how much it gives you. When I don’t practice, I feel my body is like ill fitting clothes. Uncomfortable and niggly. It just doesn’t sit well. After a good stretch I’m back in my body, energy flowing, mind clear and focused. Muscles, skin, bones, organs and cells, recalibrated, refreshed, realigned. A return to the better me where I’m at home in my skin. I feel I belong again, there is more freedom and space in all aspects of myself.

Post practice one has received a huge energetic upgrade. Poses carefully sequenced can burn through dullness, heaviness and inertia. Old stubborn habits of the mind are less set in their ways, often a new perspective will come, especially after a headstand, when you literally look at life from a new angle.

I have known classes that shake off unhelpful moods and emotions, with the same enthusiasm and vigour as a wet dog shaking itself dry. Gone and forgotten, as if by magic.

When I first come to yoga it was a purely physical practice. I was there for my body. I now practice first and foremost for my mind. The physical benefits are wonderful, but the mental benefits are life changing.

“Yoga allows you to find an inner peace that is not ruffled or riled by the endless stressors and struggles of life.”                                                                                                                       BKS Iyengar

After what has felt like an interminable and insufferable grey UK winter, spring is finally stirring, full of promise for life’s resurgence. Yoga’s light has been there through the long dark winter. I am grateful yoga has got me through dark times. It has got me through some very excellent times too. It seems that with a regular practice yoga builds an inner strength and ability to hold the extremes of life with more capacity. More room for joy and laughter and love and on the other end of the scale more capacity to hold the pain and suffering that inevitably comes with being human.

Where else can you get all these benefits from as little as just one hours practice a week?

The peace within Savasana

Corpse pose, Savasana, notably one of the hardest poses, the one where we let go. If you’ve ever experienced even a glimpse of the peace that exists within savasana that will get you coming back for more. My teacher trainer told me for some people who come to your classes this could be the only time in their week that they experience this momentary sense of real and deep peace. I’ve never forgotten her words or the value that these few moments can have. The world desperately needs more peace and maybe savasana is the place to start.

Yoga through my decades

The reasons I practice yoga have changed over time as has my body, but regardless of my age or stage in life, yoga has always offered something invaluable.

In my 20’s, the young woman trying to work out her place in the world, uncertain, lacking confidence and experience. The confidence I gained on the mat when I could do handstand gave me confidence off it. My 30’s, conceiving, growing a baby, birthing a baby, raising the babies. My 40’s, the mother and wife who starts to feel tired and wonder where all that energy she took for granted was hiding and if it would ever return. The grieving sister who doesn’t know where to turn to with the pain of her loss.

Through these significant life stages yoga has been a constant companion and teacher. Always relevant, always supportive.  Yoga is here, ready and waiting for anyone, at any stage in any condition.

Yoga has been in existence for an estimated 5,000 years. Which makes my lifeline look like a drop in the ocean. Simply put, yoga is a gift for humanity. It has certainly gifted me with countless blessings. Becoming a yoga teacher has been such a joyful journey, sharing this with others is a privilege. I get to witness the benefits bestowed upon those who come to yoga, and bring these ancient teachings into their lives, some not yet aware of the sparks of divinity that are waiting for them.

“Yoga is the golden key that unlocks the door to peace, tranquillity and joy.”     BKS Iyengar

As I hurtle towards my 50’s, I don’t know what the next few decades will look like, but I will most certainly be taking my mat with me.