Sooo some exciting news. It is International Yoga Day! This is a special day celebrated on the 21st June 2020. It is the longest day in the Northern hemisphere and down under, the shortest day in the year. I love the day because of the focus on peace and harmony.
In a world unstuck, yoga offers some peace of mind to counter the chaos. It certainly helps me.
Read about International Yoga Day here!
To celebrate this day, I am keen to share and break some yoga myths in the process!
Who is yoga for anyway? Yoga is for anyone and everyone who would like to practice. Yoga is not a religion and is a place to land on the mat and offer meditation and movement for people irrespective of age, income, religion or gender.
When I first started, I did think ‘I have never been to India, what right do I have to practice yoga?’. The more I have learned and practiced, the more I have found a home on the mat. A person very unlikely to embrace this practice because I am used to a fast paced advertising life, love vodka, fast food, partying and a woman with little to no willpower! Or at least I used to be in the advertising game gulping down Friday night drinks and as for willpower – I am still working on that one!
Why yoga? Yoga is an embodied practice. Meaning that you combine breath and physical movement and can choose if you move into a dynamic practice or a restorative practice. You are essentially getting out of your brain and into your body with a yogic practice. Yoga can support people with:
– Developing strength
– Developing physical fitness
– Building flexibility
– Supporting athletic endeavours e.g. Gym, triathlons, swimming
– Calming the brain
– Releasing through deep layers of the fascia tissue and muscles which helps with muscle recovery and physical mobility
– Offering depression and anxiety relief (which was the case for me when I started practicing consistently)
– Deepening spiritual connection
– Improving focus
– Becoming a more conscious and kinder human (hopefully!)
I see yoga as sitting in a similar family or healing modality as Tai Chi which offers conscious movement. Yoga has the potential to promote health and healing overtime with a consistent practice. In India and Australia, governments are recognising the potential for yoga to heal and support people and have put funds towards supporting yogic healing, like Trauma Sensitive Yoga.
Yoga myths
– Yoga is a religion: I don’t practice or teach yoga as a religion. That is not how I was taught or have experienced yoga. That said, yoga is a spiritual practice stemming from Vedic Science or wisdom. The vedas provide lessons or ancient teachings that have supported people for over 5,000 years. Yoga is vast and unfortunately I am unable to cover it or even begin to cover it in one blog post. Please do click on the link above for more information!
– Yoga is for flexible people: No, the mat does not care about your flexibility level. I have been practicing for years and can’t do the splits or handstands! I am a work in progress.
– Yoga is for fit people: No, that’s not the case.
– You have to be vegetarian to do yoga: No, I am not vegetarian. I have cut down on my meat intake and definitely become more concious with my eating, but I am not a perfect eater.
– You need fancy clothes or equipment for yoga: No, definitely not. A towel or mat and flat surface is perfect for yoga at home 🙂
And they are the myths I can think of now. If you have any questions, please comment or send me a DM! I am here to break yoga myths one at a time!
Lastly, I am wishing you a very Happy International Yoga Day. Wishing you peace, today and always!
Roxy xo
What a cool post! Happy International Yoga Day! I never knew you could drink vodka and eat meat and practice yoga!
Happy International Yoga Day!
🙂🌎