‘How do I feel?’

How do I feel right now? That is the question.

Ask yourself this, before yoga, during yoga, after yoga, at any time of the day. Sit, breathe and tune in.
Thank yourselves for your courage to walk in and take your first yoga class; to keep it up once you have started.

Practice Self-care
Take care of yourself. Care for your body and mind. Mind what you eat, how you sleep, the company you keep. Everything is connected.

Yoga is a holistic practice that honors this connection. Show up at class, do your practice, in a yoga school, at home, while you are cooking, walking, interacting with people. Yoga isn’t only asana practice on the mat.

Teacher support

Even when your teachers are great for you, don’t forget that you are doing the work. Listening and applying what you learn is what is doing it for you. You will feel the rewards of what you put in, even if the road is not always easy.
Your yoga teachers are also on a journey, their practice enables them to share with you what they are learning along the way.

Teachers might have different backgrounds, yoga therapists, psychologists, artists, engineers. They can support you, but they are living their own truth. You are walking your own path, not their. Stick to your truth and know it is right.

You are central

You are central to your practice. Do not be swayed by overload of information about yoga styles, and stuff that makes you feel you are lacking. Stay steady and use your intuition to feel when a teacher or yoga school is right for you. Make sure that ‘yoga’ is really what you are practicing.

If teachers are not paying attention to the breathing and respecting your uniqueness in body and mind, chances are you are simply performing exercises. If teachers are pushing you to express poses in a way that does not feel right, you may want to think again about where you are practicing.

Our bodies are as different and as varied as our histories and energies. Find a school where you are given guidelines in your practice that are appropriate and helpful for you.

Participate

There is no good or bad yoga practice day, even if you feel that sometimes! There is simply the practice you show up at and participate in. Whether you do it at home or in a group situation, in the end you’ll be applying what you learn in your everyday lives.

‘How do I feel?’

Ask yourself ‘How do I feel?’ often. After a yoga class, during the day, before you go to bed.
Maybe you weren’t asked this enough by people around you, as a child, as you were growing up, now. ‘How do I feel?’ You are the only one who knows the answer. Move from here.

Listen

Practice self-observation, tune into sensation, experience how you feel. Let it be. Rather than criticize or judge yourself. Observe how it is. Growth only happens from the place you are right now.

Courage

Courage is living, listening to your own feedback, acknowledging what is there, and deciding where to go from here. If you feel vulnerable, note that what feel is an imperfection is a growth point, and therefore your strength.

Yoga is you

You already have your yoga, a point where your uniqueness is in balance. Practice is the action of moving back to balance.

Choose a school where you not only enjoy how the yoga is taught, but where you experience the teachers are genuine and competent to create a safe space and guide your growth in your practice.

Your practice is a vehicle for growth. A tool for you to voyage deep within yourself, discover how you are, transforming not only your relationship to yourself but how you relate to others.

Turn up, practice, stay true to yourself.

Article updated 21 Nov 2023

(Yoga Therapist Natasha Gunn leads the programme at Hot Yoga Eindhoven and Art Awake Yoga)