Thinking of taking up yoga?

New Year is traditionally a time to set fresh intentions and make positive changes in our lives. For many, this means a concerted effort to improve one’s health through diet and lifestyle changes. 

It is a popular time to take up yoga. Of the enquiries I receive there is a common lamentation: “I’d like to start yoga, but I’m not flexible enough.” This is a classic conundrum, identifying the desired result (increased flexibility), held back by perceived personal limitations. 

I admire the courage of anyone who tries something new, it is challenging to our status quo when we move out of our comfort zone into the unknown. New Year is a time to step out boldly and embrace the new. 

Your decision to attend a yoga class is your first step to a more flexible you. Remember that a host of other benefits will follow, such as a calmer mind, improved sleep and digestion; inner peace and deep contentment may also follow!  

Participation in group yoga gives us an opportunity to face our fears that we are not good enough, that we need to compare ourselves to others. We can let go of that as we experience the class as a safe, supportive environment to explore our personal responses to the postures and the breath, letting go of competition and judgement and enjoying the presence of the other students, sharing our yoga and ourselves.