'Yoga: Its that feeling you get when you're on holiday, that ahhhhh'

AMAZING! this is the feedback that was shared with me this week from a lady who has just started yoga for the first time.  We sat and talked about 'life' for about ten minutes and how we never hold onto the stillness, we avoid it, make excuses for it, leave it at the bottom of the list, or don't even add to the list at all! Oh Noooooooo  (putting head in hands here) our modern day living is pushing us into the wrong spaces where we can't breath or don't breath, we hold on, we panic, we expect, we surge, we judge.............. yet all we need to do is BREATH.  STOP.  'Hit the pause button on life' is one of my favourite sayings.  My simple question was 'How did you feel last week after class?' and what a great response: 'It's that feeling you get when you are on holiday, that ahhhhhh'.  Often when we take a break away from the busy schedule and business of everyday hamster wheel life we start to feel much more relaxed, our worries are left at the airplane door or at the airport, or even at home. You allow yourself to stop, to become aware of your surroundings, real awareness of time and space kicks in as you settle into life feeling a sense of 'freedom' and ahhhh.

So the big question is how we can replicate this feeling whilst chasing our tails day in, day out?  One woman in a recent mindfulness workshop said 'After sitting and breathing I feel like everything has slowed down, like I have more time'.  She went on to explain that her mad hour in a morning was getting so stressful, leaving the house without breakfast or a drink, arriving at work with her head 'all over' and feeling generally out of control.  She started to make time to be still, for a few minutes each day, just breathing and practicing being 'in the moment'.  So many days down the line she started to notice how day by day things were getting easier, she felt more in control and calmer, eventhough she had the same amount of tasks to do in the same time.  She eventually had time to sit and have a cuppa!! nobody came in and stopped the clock.  It was her MINDSET.  The practice of stillness creates more stillness in the mind.  It makes room in a cramped up space. The brain fires up and re-wires itself (this is scientific- its been proven!).  


Your life starts to be less frantic because YOU feel less cluttered, you can experience true stillness and this bleeds out into everyday life.  This is why I always say doesn't begin and end on the mat, yoga hasn't finished when you leave, its magic continues because you've created space, your cells have been changed, your chemical make-up, you will subtly start to see and feel and notice the world around you differently.  The fact is we have no control over our outside world, other people, situations but we do have control over our breath, our thoughts and our speech. The integration of stillness in our life can help us transform from stressed, anxious, troubled to happier, lighter and balanced if we just stop, pause and breath more effectively.  Yoga is a great way to really bring yourself truly into the now and be in your own body and nowhere else, that one hour or so does its work for many more hours after, and over time life isn't so hectic and there can be more space and freedom, like being on a holiday and taking the time out. NOTICE FEEL BE.  

Get in touch if you are inspired to start yoga, meditation or want to learn how to breath! 
Namaste