As most of you already know, many years ago, yoga changed my life forever – just at a time when I thought I knew everything: people, myself and what made me “tick”, Yoga came along and taught me that I know absolutely nothing … in fact the book “ Sophie’s World” which I have just started reading reminds me on its cover:

“Wisest is she that knows she does not know”  Jostein Gaarder

And whilst initially I did not understand what this phrase, the more I practised yoga, the more I realised I did not know… and that revelation came with a sense of peace and not a sense of lacking …

Yoga is ancient … it has been practised for thousands of years and there is a reason for this:  It is for for everyone. Every colour, creed, size, age, sex and mindset ….. it is fully inclusive and can be practised standing, on a chair or even in bed….there is never an excuse to not do it and the more open minded we are, the more we will gain from it.

Yoga helps us understand exactly what we need in each moment to nourish our innermost self (our soul) and to do this it is necessary to know ourselves.  I ask myself “Who am I?”  “Who is Judith?” …. I am a mother, yoga teacher, sister, daughter, friend, grandmother… I am …!. I am….!    And in the silence of yoga I can disconnect from the rush and endeavour of life and all these preconceived “Judiths” … instead I can rest, feel at home deep within myself, listen, here, now in a constant presence and peace.  I realise that I am much more than these titles I have given myself …. Much deeper, not greater, but much more,  and part of something much more vast than the tiny world in which I perceived myself initially.

To truly live and experience life to the full we can learn through our practice, how to help our body and mind take advantage of every moment of silence and tranquility… to deeply  and authentically check in with how we are, not how we think we should be or how we want to be seen to be, but to be honest with ourselves, by being mindful – and learning to adjust our breath, body and sense of being to help ourselves in that moment. In this way we use our inner wisdom and help ourselves support our wellbeing, and become the person we are meant to be … .  To be really true to ourselves takes immense strength and wisdom.

As you usually hear me say at the start of a yoga session “Come out of your head and into your body”. Yoga  is all about feeling and not thinking … it takes time and a constant reminder that it is a practice!  In fleeting moments of silence an intuitive feeling can suddenly arise in our body, on the cusp of a  wave of a deep breath, a pause….. and then we begin to sense the answer to “Who am I?”  and “Why am I here?”

We can make life so much more meaningful for ourselves and others if we pause and reflect, take time to really understand, to trust, and be kind to ourselves.  The change in our energy and how we become will always have an effect on all those with whom we interact. None of us operate in a vacuum ….and everything we do, think and feel affects those around us.

“Listening with the ears is one thing, but listening to ourselves with our whole being and body is totally another”

Truly living is like a pendulum which creates balance … Health is a balance between life and death, everything has a balance … one of going forward and one of retreat.  There is no good or bad… “only thinking makes it so” –Yoga helps us to come into balance, to free up physical, energetic and mental blockages  through movement and breathwork and this in turn changes our chemistry, our brain and physiology. Can it be that perhaps nature brings us illness to help us solve a conflict that has been brewing for some time at all levels (emotionally, spiritually, physically, energetically and mentally)? – Perhaps next time we feel unwell, we can use our mindful yoga practice to listen deeply to our body and to what it is trying to tell us, and rather than searching outside ourselves and asking another person what has caused our dis-ease, we decide to go to our body and seek the answer there??

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.” Marianne Williamson