When I hit the mat for the first time almost a decade ago, it was very much a love-hate kind of relationship. With the exception of a class or two in university, I didn’t have any experience with yoga.
I was taken to a Bikram class by a friend of mine and while I was intrigued to try yoga, Bikram wasn’t my style. The teaching style is scripted and I don’t love prolonged periods of time in hot rooms. To be honest neither does my curly hair.
It took some trial and error to find the type of yoga that’s right for me. As an active person who grew up on a farm, I was used to moving. As a respiratory therapist, I’m all about breathing well. When I found a vinyasa-style class, I was home.
The transformation was - and is - incredible. I started to feel better, be more confident, and have more energy. I’ve learned things that I didn’t even think I would know about myself and it is nothing short of magical. If that wasn’t enough, everything I’ve learned on that mat has translated to my life off the mat.
There is a yoga style that is meant for you. From vinyasa to Bikram and restorative to kundalini, there is a type of yoga that will resonate and help you to be a version of yourself that you didn’t even know existed!
Without further ado, here are the top three things that yoga taught me:
1. You can have extreme opposites co-exist within you and you won’t explode.
This seems extreme but it is the one thing that absolutely blew my mind when it came to yoga. I had been trying to hold it together - fitness, work-life balance and live in a way almost seemed like I had it all together. I thought I had to be one defined thing that fit in one defined box at any given moment. A respiratory therapist. A friend. A woman.
I know this is limited thinking but the truth is, it’s how I thought. I am one thing and that’s all I can be because it’s defined. I also thought I could only be one emotion at any given point. I’m generally a happy person and people knew me like that so I tried to hold onto and present this perspective at all times.
The truth is life isn’t one thing and holding myself to one definition isn’t feasible.
I remember standing on my yoga mat in a warrior II pose (virabhadrasana II) and I had mastered the lower body. I felt soooo strong but I was also at my edge and felt entirely like I was going to crumble. I knew that I wouldn’t fall out of the pose. If anything, I would flow out of it and so I let the feeling take me. Two opposite feelings were coexisting within the human I am and the space I occupy and I didn’t explode. I stood there and held both my warrior and the part of me that wanted to crumble and I gave them equal space.
To me, this is probably the greatest gift I’ve ever received. Shifting that mindset so that your feelings and definitions can co-exist even when they seem completely opposite. It’s what makes us the whole package and allows us to show up as our whole self.
2. I am, and my yoga practice is going to be different every day.
There is not a truer, more humbling statement about your yoga practice. I understood this about my yoga practice relatively early on thanks to a good instructor but it took me longer to apply this to myself as a person off the mat.
Showing up for your yoga practice is incredible because, with a little bit of consistency, you’re going to grow. Unfortunately, every day isn’t a step forward. Sometimes your warrior pose isn’t as wide or your tree pose isn’t as balanced. That’s ok! The beautiful part of yoga is that it is far more adaptable to you than you realize. You can shorten your warrior stance and still get all the wonderful benefits of the pose. You can lower your tree pose and still engage the same muscles. You can even choose a soft yin or restorative practice instead of a vinyasa flow.
Allowing yourself the grace to be different every day on the mat means that you’re honouring yourself which really is the practice of yoga and more so, the practice of connection or union with yourself (yoga means union in Sanskrit).
Taking this off the mat means that just because I was able to accomplish 30 things off my to-do list, doesn’t mean that I’ll be able to do it today. If I don’t have the energy or the mental well-being to support today’s tasks, that’s ok. Today can be different and I can honour where I am at and the energy I’m feeling. I can adjust my expectations. Just like listening to ourselves on the mat, we have to listen off the mat too.
3. My body is my best friend (if I learn to listen)
This is a challenging one for so many people. We have been taught to hate our bodies and constantly compare ourselves to others. If we can for just a second, let’s shift our focus and forget about everyone else. Let’s make ourselves the star of the show for a moment.
Our body is how we experience the physical world. It gives us feedback about our physical environment (temperature, air movement, sounds, textures, smells) but it also picks up on vibes. People call it different things - vibes, energy, emotions, intuition, etc. Whatever you personally call it, it’s that part of you that senses what you can feel rather than what you can see.
Our yoga practice connects us to our body and the more we develop that connection, the stronger our intuition (vibes, energy) is both in the positive and the negative. On the negative side of the spectrum, you’ll get that gut feeling when something is off or something isn’t right. On the positive side of the spectrum, when something is for you, you’ll know it. You can feel the difference in your body.
As you continue to practice this connection, you’ll start to notice that not only does it distinguish between good and bad or yes and no, it also starts to tell you what you need and give you subtle signs. You’ll start to feel what you need - a rest, movement, or maybe something like needing connection or alone time. You’ll actually feel this in your body. You’ll also start to hear those nudges of self-care sooner because your body and your breath cannot lie. It’s like one big truth detector. If you’re carrying stress and thinking “I’m not stressed. I’ve got this.” trust me, your shoulders will have more tension and your breath will be more shallow. You can also tell when you’re flowing with something or in a state of resistance simply by how you feel. Your body and breath will give you away every single time.
Our yoga practice tunes us into our body and our breathing which means we see and acknowledge these telltale signs sooner and can respect and honour ourselves. It takes a bit of surrender but the benefits of not burning out and having amazing health are totally worth it. I used to be notorious for trying to override it with this “I can do it!!!” mentality but the truth is it’s far kinder and easier to just listen and honour myself and what I need.
As a bonus, here’s the final thing that yoga has taught me:
It’s not about backbends, super flexibility, or inversions. Now I know social media tells a different story but here’s the hard yoga truth: yoga is about feeling at peace with your body. I don’t mean being super fit or looking like a cover model. I mean knowing and trusting that your body will support you and that you have that connection of listening and understanding your body and yourself. The fact that yoga can also make you fit is really just a side benefit. The true gift is that it simply makes you present and at peace in every moment.
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