Can Yoga Change Your Life?

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I am beyond obsessed with yoga, someone once told me that you know you are a true yogi when you own more lululemon tights than real clothes...it’s safe to say I am definitely one of those people, I mean honestly if you ask me to go to an event that doesn’t require active wear I’m really going to have to think twice before committing.

My non yogi friends and especially my family use to look at me with this expression of confusion, what do you mean you just spent an hour in a heated room trying to touch your toes? The next common question from my friends and family who haven’t tried yoga is why should I start, and how do I benefit?

Many of us come to yoga seeking change, whether it is less pain, more flexibility, weight maintenance, or a quieter mind.

For me yoga has changed my life, it has made such an impact that I am now lucky enough to have made my passion for yoga into a job (although it doesn’t feel right calling it that). I came to yoga for the physical side of the practice as most people do, it really is the only form of ‘exercise’ that has changed my body in such a positive way, but if you ask me it’s what’s going on inside that has really made the difference.

While moving and working the body through yoga is awesome, it certainly isn’t the only reason why this practice has stuck with me, and why it lights me up to share my passion with my students in Brissy and our overseas retreats.

I attended my first yoga class while I was working in the advertising industry. High stress, fast paced, you will literally get eaten up and spit out if you are not on top of your game or clawing your way up the corporate ladder. Its safe to say I was burning the candle at both ends, finding myself extremely depleted, and not the happy positive person I naturally am.

After dabbling in Yoga classes at studios around Brisbane for a few years, I finally started to get it. I allowed myself to relax in class and really listen to my teachers rather than worry about what I looked like in my poses, I actually started to breathe properly, I started to feel myself arrive in the present moment which was something so foreign for me always planning at least 12 months ahead in the industry I was working in which was continually keeping me out of the present.

The important lesson that I started to learn was not that my arms were becoming more toned, or that I could hold a lunge for longer, it was that I actually remembered how to breathe again properly, how to turn my mind off after a really stressful day in the office, and most importantly how to simply just chill out for a second.

So how is yoga going to change your life? Well its hard to say as every body is different, and what works for me may not work for everyone. But in order to see change in your life, you can’t just think about it, or hope for it, or wonder why your situation and patterns aren’t changing... Buy a yoga DVD, You Tube a beginners sequence or jump on Yogaglo and do it in the comfort of your own home, arrange a one on one session with a qualified yoga teacher (you can always book private lessons with me), or take the plunge and book yourself into one of our Temple Retreats for a week of rest, relaxation and mindful Yoga and Meditation practice (along with heaps of spa treatments and all things eat/pray/love).

I have been lucky enough to have this practice of yoga work for me in such a positive way and I haven’t met a person yet who regretted going to a yoga class, so what have you got to loose?