Most of us come to yoga to improve our physical appearance, build strength, increase flexibility or address a pain we are battling with somewhere in our body. Usually there is one friend who keeps telling us about the virtues and benefits that she is experiencing from yoga, so isn’t it about time we gave it a go?

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It usually doesn’t take long for us to begin feeling changes happening in our body, they may only be minor, but they are enough to keep bringing us back to our practice.

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Sometimes we may even sense a new feeling of calm and peace for a few moments while we hold a pose or briefly while lying down at the end of class, during savasana. Often this is a fleeting sensation which takes us by surprise, for a moment that little voice is silent. It’s enough…we want to experience that silence again. We have begun to feel yoga at a deeper level.

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Yoga teaches us many lessons – what we experience on the mat is carried with us through our day. We connect with our breath as we move into, out of and hold poses.  Making that connection with our breath off the mat, teaches us to calmly deal with situations where previously we may have over-reacted and spoken words we wish we could take back. Knowing we can hold a pose while we feel a level of discomfort, teaches us to be comfortable with discomfort. We also learn to be content in moments of unease. Our yoga mat is a great place to begin to feel compassion and love for ourselves, accepting and honoring our limitations at any given moment, while embracing new achievements, perhaps feeling more space in our body or our heart centre.

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Yoga shines bright light on our darkness.

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Gratitude and love to my teachers, their teachers and the wisdom teachings.