Pillar Wellbeing - The Power of Yoga - "It's a Practice, not a Skill"

The Power of Yoga - "It's a Practice, not a Skill"

Words By: Sharia Johnson

The yogi is described as a practitioner of yoga. There is no right or wrong, no yoga body, no ultimate yoga pose, there’s no destination in yoga (well, that’s for another piece). It’s on-going work of the self and as continuous discoveries happen you begin to grow within your practice. It has the power to reveal so much within us but it takes patience, commitment and dedication. When you remove the barriers of ‘this’ or ‘that’ and replace them with ‘perhaps that today’ or ‘this doesn’t work for me right now’ you give yourself the freedom to explore what you need and want in that exact moment, becoming more present and conscious with your mind, body and soul.

Consistency is where the practice evolves, it’s how you stretch the possibilities of what you’re capable of and also understand your limitations. We’re not just talking about physically either - you begin to notice when the mind goes stagnant or perhaps the heart sends you some signs of emotion that you’re able to sit with and digest. Showing up for yourself consistently will eventually become a ritual that you can’t do without and it can show up for you in different ways. Asana (the physical practice), Dhyana (meditation), Pranayama (Breath work), the list goes on… Once the consistency lands you start to discover what’s for you. Do you enjoy a more dynamic practice? Or perhaps you prefer to take it down? If you already have quite a physical working life. Perhaps you enjoy meditating in silence or maybe you like sound or a voice adding some sort of distraction? And this does not have to stay the same, your practice is ever-changing, like life. The more present we can be whilst practising the louder we can hear ourselves and our desires, tune-in to that and don’t be afraid to switch things up. The possibilities are endless.

The consistency of the practice will pay off in how your practice shows up for you, the practice is no longer stressful or demanding as you settle on the idea that it is ever-changing and it can look different day-to-day as you stay tuned into what you need. The play on discipline comes into this as you can easily fall into ‘I don’t need this today’. However Satya from the yoga sutras of Patanjali which translates as truthfulness, will keep us honestly aligned if we are practising the entire yoga in it’s wholeness.

My one piece of advice when trying to deepen your practice is, love what you do. Love the practice you commit to, even if you’re not very good, because 1 chances are as you commit to the practice you’ll get better or at least you’ll start to feel better about your practice.

The yogi is a forever student, the growing and learning never stops and it will keep showing up differently. The practice may become more graceful, purposeful, perhaps feel skilful but it remains a practice.