The first question we got asked during our yoga teacher training was “what does yoga mean to you”? Now don’t get me wrong, I had plenty of reasons to why I practice yoga, but I couldn’t find the words to answer this question. It wasn’t until recently that I found the answer to this question.
Before I would have told you that yoga helps you to find some peace of mind, balance even, and besides being great for the mind, yoga also does wonders to the body. Apart from this I would struggle to explain the deeper meaning of yoga.
Note: Keep in mind that yoga could have a completely different meaning to you, which is ok. Yoga isn’t a fixed thing, neither are we, our perceptions are different, which makes us unique, yet the same.
Now, my answer would be quite different. The thing that transforms a simple gymnastics class into a yoga class is the connection to the breath, making it mindful. Working with the body to find resistance, while maintaining the breath, finding silence in the midst of a storm.
The mind and body will react to the postures creating resistance, some postures ask us to challenge ourselves and find our limits. Connecting to our breath helps us observe the body in these postures, what do you feel, and can you let it go?
In the end I can talk about this topic for ours, but you really have to experience it for yourself. You have to be ready to transform and grow. Because yoga isn’t just an exercise you do, a real yoga practice challenges us. You might even feel sensations or emotions you were unaware you had, stored deep inside ourselves.
So what does yoga mean to me? Yoga to me is a lifestyle that isn’t limited to the yoga mat, my teacher would say that “the real yoga practice starts the moment you leave the yoga mat”, to which I’d have to agree. Yoga has transformed my life, helping me to be present and aware in everyday life. It challenges me, shakes me to my core, and there’s a lot of resistance, which I observe, and ultimately helps me grow.
Yoga helps me to find balance at times where I have non. It helps me breath and flow through life and be present to experience life as it is. But most importantly it has given me moments of bliss which I experience during and after my practice.
Yoga to me is meditation in action, and I simple can’t keep this beautiful practice to myself, which is why I’m currently following a teacher training from Johan Noorloos at de nieuwe yoga school in Amsterdam.
Expect more yoga related blogpost from now on, where I’ll share my journey on and beyond the mat, going in depth on certain topics and simply sharing the practice I love.
One Love & Namasté,
A.J.
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