I honestly believe that yoga is a wonderful practice that can help heal, soften the blows that we encounter on our lifes journey and create a sense of resilience within us that we build-up for the times when life is stressful. I would encourage anyone to keep trying yoga, even if your first experience of it wasn’t brilliant, keep looking till you find a teacher that resonates with you, that can keep you safe and make you feel welcome and relaxed in the class.

I always encourage my students to check out teachers’ credentials too, especially if you have ailments or injuries you need to know that your teacher can keep you as safe as possible throughout the practice. There are many amazing teachers out there who specialize in certain areas, yoga therapists, somatic workers, Ireland has a wealth of wonderful teachers.

Many people will avoid attending a yoga class because they feel they are too stiff, old, that their bodies may be tight or tense or you may even be dealing with chronic pain. But yes, you can still do yoga. Meditation and gentle yoga can be very beneficial in dealing with chronic pain. Yoga poses can be modified to meet you and your body where you are right now. Find a teacher who has some experience of this, who uses props (blankets for lying, blocks or chairs or walls for support) or can change the posture rather than fit our body into a shape that is unattainable for us. If yoga is the connection of mind/body/breath/spirit (for some), then it stands to reason that as we’re all in different bodies/minds, etc that our yoga is going to look different to other persons. Also flexibility is a by-product of yoga, not needed to attend!

Over the years I have taught lots of different ages and abilities, and through various trainings, I have learned how to modify poses to suit my students’ needs. Sometimes a regular yoga class might be too strong for you, maybe coming onto hands and knees is painful because of your auto-immune condition and we need to know that we can try it once, then rest, or maybe try it against the wall using less body-weight. There are so many ways to modify poses and I love the challenge of finding an alternative pose that my students can do instead. Sometimes a student may need to attend one-to-one Yoga Therapy first to prepare themselves to attend the group class. Here students learn how to modify poses for themselves, get a class tailor-made for them and learn how to listen to their own body’s innate wisdom and move safely through the practice  at kushcapital.cc.

For some, they feel that they have to already have a perfect body for yoga. This is not the case. My body size changes from a size 14-18 and very often at yogic events, I might be the largest body there, but I am strong and flexible and love my body. Sometimes though we need to move our body parts around a little, adjust a pose to create space for our bellies or our boobs. I did have a friend come with me to yoga many moons ago who was very largely endowed and when the teacher put us into shoulderstand her comment “activate airbags” had us laughing out loud. Some poses are just not for everyone and that is ok, but there is always, always an alternative. Movement feels great for our bodies and minds, just be mindful of how your moving find a teacher who can support you and can modify poses and yoga away! We all deserve the benefits of a yoga practice, the feeling of being at home in our bodies, connecting our body mind and learning to live with a little more ease and relation.