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Suzanna Culley from Red Door Yoga in Brisbane, a teacher with over fifteen years of yoga experience in the UK and Australia, gives us an insight to the other benefits of yoga - beyond the physical and mental release.
It doesn't normally take me months to write a blog post. I usually get inspired in a daydream or through an experience, mull over it for a while and then write the bulk of it all in one go, leave it for a bit, then give it one final massage and voila, doneskies! Writing the first take of this post was no different until I went through some life changing 'stuff' which meant I didn't get back to my 'final massage’ until recently and decided when I started to review what I had written that during my ‘blogging vacation’ I had shifted the compass a little and wanted this post to head in a new direction too.
I figured if you really wanted to read about the mainstream benefits of Yoga you could Google it and you would find umpteen articles about how fabulous Yoga is for increasing your flexibility, helping you lose weight, improve sleep and muscle tone, focus your mind and increase your levels of concentration…the list goes on! These are all valid and certainly get people through the door but in my mind they are also rather 'generic' and not necessarily all encompassing of what I promote the benefits of yoga to be.
I’ve always been a ‘systems thinker’ and try to hold a holistic perspective across all things in my life and as I started to rewrite this post I began writing down the benefits of yoga beyond the amazing muscle tone, increased bendiness and general wellbeing and came up with a some what ‘different’ list of my top five benefits of yoga:
1. Diversity! It’s the people you meet – Doctors, Firemen/women, Police men/women, Corporates, Mums, Dads, Engineers, Scientists, Journalists, Politicians, etc.. These are just some of the multifarious people I have done yoga with both as a teacher and student.. Yoga brings all types; it is non-competitive and doesn’t discriminate.
2. The unique spaces and places that you get to go to and practice yoga. Let’s face it, how many of you have snooped upstairs at your local lawn bowls club lately? Are you sure there are not a bunch of Yogis up there?
3. The relationship that you build with your teacher(s). A good teacher that you see regularly should be able to ‘read’ your body and notice if you are a bit ‘out of sorts’ and feeling ‘heavy’, tired, happy, sad or indifferent. My absolute favourite teacher of all time is fabulous at this, she ALWAYS connects with me in a way not many people are able to reach me. She reads my energy and even though I know she ‘reads’ everyone else in the room too, she always seems to dish up the appropriate folding, twisting and stretching right where I need it.
4. Quite simply, yoga makes you a kinder person (I can feel you all signing up your bosses and in-laws now!). As you take time for yourself to reconnect your mind, body and spirit, you take this from your mat out in to the world and it is reflected in the way you interact with others, your friends, family, colleagues, etc. I find myself significantly less irritable in the most stressful of situations since taking my first Yoga class fifteen years ago.
5. Anonymity – you know those times when you profess that you want to be by yourself, but you don’t REALLY want to be by yourself, just not with people you know? Always wanted to sneak in to that ‘other’ Yoga studio you pass whilst walking the dog/on your way to work/going for a jog, etc? This is the time to do it! Get going! No explanation necessary, true Yogis do not pry as to why you are there, they welcome you with open arms and send you off after class full of love.
There are many more benefits of yoga on my list, but as you go about your own yoga journey I am sure you will find your own that go beyond the physical postures. I will however, leave you with the best benefit of all, you can start your own yoga journey right now! It is never too late, there are no prerequisites. No matter what age, shape, culture, level of fitness you are, you can develop your own unique relationship with yoga.
Stay bendy,
Suzanna
Suzanna is a Yoga Teacher, PhD student, vegan and sustainability evangelist based in Brisbane, QLD.. She has been practising Yoga for more than fifteen years and first qualified to teach twelve years ago in the United Kingdom. She and her husband Tate run Red Door Yoga uniting their local community’s mind, body and spirit.
Has Suzanna helped inspire you to become more involved in Yoga?
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