Eight Yoga Truths You Need To Know 

You may imagine that, as a yoga teacher, my practice is always zen, floaty and beautiful. Let me tell you, it’s not! Sometimes it’s messy, angry and distracted. There are days when I have no focus, can’t balance, feel weedy, my inner critic is yelling, my mat too damn slippy! 

The first truth of yoga is this:

1 When you most want to get off your mat and never come back is when you most need to practice.  

Read on for more yoga truths…..

2 Yoga is about the good and the bad

Yoga makes us feel amazing and transformational BUT it also cultivates a clarity that brings the challenging and difficult parts of life into sharp focus. It sometimes feels like yoga makes things worse before they get better. These rising emotions are an opportunity to grow, learn and stay on track.

3 Whatever you bring onto your mat – self-doubt, criticism, judgment – is just stuff

It’s not fact, truth nor permanent. See your stuff for what it is and don’t get caught up in it. Ask, is what I’m feeling/thinking nourishing or distracting? Act accordingly and let go. This is as much part of the practice as the postures.

4 Your mat is a microcosm of your world

This little strip of rubber is a safe place to test out new ways of being and doing, to become aware of habits and tendencies and try something different.

5 Practice is everything

We first learn this with our physical practice: doing a new pose can be challenging, but with repetition it gets easier. It’s also true for the healthy attitudes and behaviours yoga can teach us. Have courage. Be bold. Learn to let go. Be kind to yourself. With consistency and effort, these new ways of being start to embed, feel more natural and find their way into you both on and off the yoga mat.

6 HOW you practice is much more important than WHAT

Effort and ease are equally important. Of course we want to build strength and flexibility through work and dedication. It’s equally important to be honest in your practice and respect your body’s boundaries. Play your edge but let go of over efforting. When we let go of the idea of how something should look and focus instead on how it feels, we open ourselves up to the real benefits of yoga. If it’s only about the shape that’s not yoga, that’s ego.

7 It’s all about the breath…

Without focus on the breath, it’s simply stretching. Conscious breathing focuses the mind, calms the nervous system, increases awareness, lowers your heart rate, reduces blood pressure, relieves anxiety. I could go on. Just breathe. 

8 None of us (especially me) remembers this stuff all the time:

All of us are bat-shit crazy some days – full of self-doubt, unable to balance or focus or deal with distraction. You are not alone, and you are no less of a yogi for it. This is a yoga practice, we do not need to be perfect.

And when you can take your yoga (and all of the above) off the mat to the difficult, messy parts of your life that’s what it’s all about – that’s when you are really doing yoga.