om mind
leg behind my head again’ Wendy’s version
of living her yoga.
It takes bravery to step up and step out
and get real. Whether you’re feeling like a
fake because you only go to one yoga class a
week; maybe you’re pretty sure your hands
are never going to get acquainted with your
feet; or in the time between being on your
mat you get jealous of people on Instagram/
eat meat/binge-watch ‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race’,
know that yoga doesn’t care.
Yoga cares that you are kind to yourself
whenever you remember to be. It cares that
you get on your mat when you can, and work
with your body and mind with compassion
and gentle focus. Your practices are there,
waiting for you, to help you remember that
you contain the same spark as that which
brought this whole crazy world we’re living
on into existence.
So you can’t get on your mat for an
hour’s practice every day? So what? Our
asana practice is there for our body and
breath to get connected, and to give us the
opportunity to move our muscles and focus
our attention. Why not go out and do that on
a run, or take a lunchtime walk, or just pause
and stretch and breathe when you’re waiting
for the kettle to boil.
Making choices
Think that seething with rage as the
pointy woman pushes in front of you in
the supermarket queue makes you less
of a yogi? Nope. It makes you human.
Next time you’ve got nothing to do, delve
into Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. It was written
thousands of years ago, but the human
conditions it talks about are exactly the
same as ours today. Use what your asana
practice has taught you – that all feelings
pass, and that there’s a space between
feeling something and reacting to it during
which you can make a choice.
Take great delight in pouring yourself a
large glass of something boozy at the end
of a hard day, but think that means you can
never show your face in class again? First
of all, most of your students (and possibly
your teacher) are probably doing exactly
the same. Of course, if you’ve got a serious
problem with how you use alcohol (or any
substance) in your life then get really real
and find the support you need to deal with it.
If it’s a happy habit, first of all be
clear about why you’re doing it and if
it’s genuinely because it enhances your
enjoyment of a lovely meal, the comfort of
your sofa, or the conversation with joyous“he truth is that my real ingernails are bearing the
brunt of all the things I’ve been doing to portray
something that just isn’t real.”
friends, delight in and savour every sip.
Before you start you can give a little mental
‘thank you’ to the humans who made it,
the ingredients used in it, and the fact that
you’ve got the opportunity to enjoy it.
Yoga is an amazing, world-altering,
life-enhancing way of living our life. But
at the same time, it’s all too easy to get so
absorbed in it, we lose sight of the fact that,
for most of us, we’re still living in the real
world too. Of course, if we want to feel the
mind-blowing, five-star, enlightenment-
here-we-come experience that yoga has the
potential to be, then we have to decide how
much of our real life we’re willing to sacrifice.
But I believe there’s a middle path. For
those of us on it, our journey is of no less
worth or wonderfulness than those who
have taken a different approach. Our path
is our path, and there should be no reason
for us to be trying to convince ourselves
(or anyone else for that matter) that we’re
someone or something we’re not. The
growth and development of a daisy is just as
beautiful, mind-boggling, and beneficial to
the world as that of an orchid.
Whatever flower you choose to be, be a
real one. You’ll smell nicer, for a start.Meg Jackson is the founder of Real Life Yoga –
a movement to help real people bring a little
(or a lot) of yoga into their real lives. Join her
online for a 28-day yoga journey and go from
Zero to Yoga Hero. Visit reallifeyoga.net to
discover more and sign up.