A Yoga Journey | The Positive Effects of Yoga
Yoga is not only good for the body but also the mind, and it is more important than ever right now to focus on your mental health. We spoke to yoga teacher and expert, Laura-Lee, who kindly shared her yoga journey with us
A yoga journey by Laura - Lee
Starting your own yoga journey can be pretty daunting, there are so many styles on offer, which do you choose? I recommend attending a few classes to find the style or styles that suit you, there is a yoga practice for everyone, no matter age, physical strength or current flexibility, it is a myth that you need to be flexible to do yoga.. doing yoga makes you more flexible.
I started my own journey with yogawithadrienne 30 days of yoga on YouTube, she is amazing and a great start to learn the fundamentals and basics of a yoga practice, it’s a way of stepping a toe into the yoga world. There are so many physical benefits to a regular yoga practice like increased flexibility and strength, relief from stiff joints, body awareness (proprioception) better body awareness leads to better posture, healthier joints and a healthier spine, improved breath awareness and lung capacity, destressed body and mind and improved sleeping patterns.
That feeling of accomplishment when you first catch a balance... Yoga is suitable for those who can not do high impact fitness routines like running and hiit training too. Many people start a yoga practice for the asana (physical) but also move onto the mind practice, myself included.
Yoga has helped me over come feelings of negativity, self loathing, anger, worries over others thoughts of me and more. Through the practice of yoga I became aware of my physical body but also the mind chatter: the thoughts that were controlling my everyday moods and how I was impacting my own happiness with these thoughts. A thought can be a very powerful thing and if you spend a lot of time thinking unhappy thoughts it has a huge effect on your mental well-being and feelings of self worth. I started practicing mindfulness.. which is the practice of being in the present moment.
Not focusing on the past and thinking of how I would have done something or said something differently, it’s the past it can not be changed or projecting into the future. I want this or I hope for that, the future is not yet written. Instead focus on the now, this moment which is the only reality we have.
By focusing on the past or the future we miss the present moment, so mindfulness can be:
Noticing your breath
The sounds around you
The leaves blowing on a nearby tree
The sun shining or a dappled shade
The breeze on your skin
The sound of your child’s laughter.
All of these moments are a gift and in a blink they too become part of the past. With mindfulness comes the practice of gratitude. Feeling a sense of gratitude for all the abundance you have in your life already is a wonderful practice, it attracts more happiness into your life and changes your mindset from one of wanting more to one of being happy with what you already have.
You can practice gratitude for the smallest thing, for me it’s my quiet mornings with my cup of tea, to the biggest thing. Getting to go on holiday or even hugging a family member in the current climate is something to be grateful for.
I have met some amazing like minded people within the yoga community, there is no ageism or discrimination, you are never too young or too old to start this practice.
Yoga is for everybody! No matter race, gender or age, it is the best thing I have ever done and I find so much joy in teaching this practice to others too. Thank you so much for reading
Love & light x
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