Why yoga…… that’s an interesting question.
There are many reasons I started studying yoga. It all stemmed from the desire to create a peaceful life, not only in my life but in my friends and family around me.
The journey first started with kind of a spiritual awakening, a sudden sense that everything that was in my life already couldn’t be all that there is. I felt there was more than this 9-5 day in day out slog or at least something that might compliment my time in my free time. So to begin with, I studied self-development and that really did go well for a while. I was doing great in my work life and my self-confidence and esteem blossomed, but still I was just dealing with what was right in front of me. I was in a job I had been in for quite some time and doing the work in self-development I started to realize that my job was actually quite a stressful one. I had done a lot of study into spirituality and the art of being happy.
I wanted to teach everyone that their lives needn’t be stressful or just too much, but I had to go about it in a delicate way. Confronting someone with your new found spiritual awakening can sometimes be quite overwhelming, I’ve witnessed it many times. So in order to get other people on the right path, so to speak, I had to find another way. A way to set the cogs turning on their own and this is when I stumbled upon mindfulness…..
Amongst many other different studies this was the most prominent. It was an excellent start being able to completely stay in the moment in everything I did. Yoga came after a while.
I was in France at my sister’s wedding and one of the other guests noticed I would go of in the morning and do my daily practice.
After I had finished she approached me and asked if I taught at home and that if I didn’t then I should, then it all clicked into place. It seems quite obvious but at the time I was striving to build upon mindfulness, the cogs started to turn and that was it. I was hell bent on becoming a yoga teacher. I studied everything I needed to before I researched which yoga resonated with me the most. I chose kundalini tantra yoga.
A philosophical spiritual approach to teaching people mindfulness, meditation and yoga.
Focusing on the major practices of yoga instead of just the asanas (Postures)
Vayus
Koshas
The Eight Limbs
Etc.….
This ‘style’ of yoga doesn’t suit everyone and is a deeper practice of yoga, a dedication, a mindset, a lifestyle and a catalyst of beautiful, spiritual transformation in mind, body and soul.
I wanted to teach more than the physical benefits you get from having a regular yoga practice. I wanted to teach the calm, the space, the reason behind the asanas; behind the breathing, behind the meditation, behind the lifestyle and in a way that would best fit in with what we are bombarded with every day in every experience we have around us. A lot of people remain blissfully unaware, and that’s fine, but for those that know deep down there is more, and are searching for something more fulfilling out of life, yoga is a start.
It centres the mind and is especially effective before practising meditation. You draw the mind into the body and experience every posture, every breath, every expanse and every release.
There are many styles of yoga, some are more advanced and some are very basic, but it is also subjective. Some may find asanas difficult, and may even think they are doing it wrong, but if you are in a yoga class, even if you are just sat there you are taking part in yoga. Some may find meditation difficult, but if you are trying, you are training your active mind to let go and embrace the calm and in turn create a sense of well-being in and out of the class.
Hatha yoga is a posture (asana) based yoga.
Yoga Nidra is deep guided meditation practice.
Restorative yoga is a form of yoga in which the body is propped up by bolsters, cushions, blankets and blocks allowing gravity to do all of the work as the body releases into the poses.
Ashtanga yoga is a movement-based yoga incorporating asanas into flow and moving the body all the way through the session.
Kundalini yoga is a chakra energizing yoga designed to raise kundalini energy from the base of the spine, Muladhara up through the chakras to Sahasrara the crown chakra creating a sense of enlightenment.
Yin yoga is a slow-paced style of yoga as exercise, incorporating principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine with asanas (postures) that are held for longer periods of time. For beginners, asanas may be held from 45 seconds to two minutes; more advanced practitioners may stay in one asana for five minutes or more.
Here at the Reset Button, we offer Hatha, Restorative, Yoga Nidra, and Yin Yoga classes. Coupled with pranayama breathing exercises and a mindful based in the moment, in the ‘now’ style of yoga.
Unfortunately, most of us live in a world of our own where upon external sources put pressure on us to do, listen, objectify, consume, worry, stress, self-judge and judge others. This takes us very far far away from the now, either living in the future or the past. So, in turn never or hardly ever being in the moment, in the now because to be honest, that’s all we ever have, this moment.
Everything you’ve ever done you’ve done happened in that moment, maybe you were present, maybe you weren’t, having a yoga practice, cultivating a mindful approach to everyday life and having a meditation practice helps you to appreciate this way of living, you start to ask good questions, you spend time with yourself instead of constantly being distracted by social media or the tv and be comfortable doing so.
A regular practice in any of these three things helps you begin to learn more about yourself and your body. You start on a journey even if it’s just for the time you’re in the class, your mind gets a break your body gets replenishment as you consciously move through the asanas, that harmony of a calm quiet mind and a body that’s moving in such a mindful way at the same as consciously breathing , leaves the body and mind feeling relaxed and revitalised.
Then hopefully at the end you take this mindful approach with you everywhere throughout the rest of your day, week, month, year, lifetime!
To attend our classes is the best way to find out if this approach yoga is the way for you.