Level Head It

I was asked by Yoga Leggs if I would like to write a blog on my Yoga journey, I thought it to be a great idea, especially as I am not used to writing blogs and better at verbally offering my experiences and wisdom. Also I have great admiration for Becki the company partner of Yoga Leggs, an empowered woman, kind and softly spoken with a solid business model in the final hurdle of being launched at the time we met i.e. Yoga Leggs. I was a newly trained prenatal pregnancy yoga teacher and she was my student, a beautiful blossoming mother to be.

I didn’t realise it was going to be hard to write my Yoga Journey, I have already deleted two drafts which didn’t really offer the reality of my journey, more flowery words and the blah blah blah of how amazing this and that.

So I am going to get to the point, the start of my Yoga Journey. Practising Yoga on a personal level for 10 years on and off pre Yoga teacher training, I was ready to take this ‘Yoga’ to the next level to fully understand why it made me feel balanced, calm and clear headed, more so than ever during a challenging time of my life.

After a failed small business, screwing up financially and entering into my 30’s in a job which wasn’t doing much for me, I was pretty much feeling the blows of this loss especially to my self-belief, my mind was a busy chaotic place which I found very hard to tame at the time. During this challenging time I attended a yoga class regularly by a lovely and encourage teacher Donna. Donna’s class really offered a time of calm for my mind to rebalance, also a physical outlet of creative expression. I am forever grateful to Donna who encouraged me to start my Yoga journey through the teacher training when I came to her with my shy interest of wanting to know more.

From there, I bravely began the Yoga Teacher training. On the first day the course teacher asked each student why we were there and my answer was ‘I have a busy mind, I would like to understand through the tool of yoga, how I can balance, calm the mind, to breath through this’. I would like to add that I was not looking for a solution for my deeper inner anxieties or problems (which I am aware many of us carry), but more of ‘how can I, through Yoga support this, go through the motions, ease this. How can I offer compassion.’

Many people who know me, I can imagine still to this day probably think I started this full on Yoga journey because I enjoy fitness, yes I do, I am a true believer of keeping physically fit and healthy, however as you have read, I did this for my mind, my soul if I dare say.
So through the roller-coaster ups and downs of teacher training, of complete despair when learning the philosophy, my inners thoughts of ‘why the hell have I not ever known this until now it could have really helped me in the past’ to epiphany’s of small achievements – understanding the basic anatomy, the spiritual-philosophy side and conquering the tough discipline/physicality of Vinyasa flow. Best of all was learning to practice Yoga on my own at home, bringing creativity, a natural flow, inner strength and enjoyment.

So a few years on after successfully passing two yoga teacher training courses, allowing interest of keen students and teaching opportunities to come naturally into my life, I can truly say that my mind is more calm and more balanced than ever, offering a clarity of who I am and what I desire to be, I work on this all the time. The biggest gift from all of this is that I can now offer others through the tool of Yoga some calm, balance and clarity, whether it be through the physicality, breath work, visualisation or philosophy of Yoga. I can empathise and relate with the stories they have to tell with the stresses and anxieties of life affecting them on a physical, mental and/or emotional level and I take this on board to feed into my lesson plans carefully crafted to their needs.

Finally, I can leave them with my teachings/understandings to allow them to get stronger and to find their own journey.

Thank you for reading.

Paula

paulaamani4@gmail.com
 facebook.com/levelheadit
 instagram.com/level_head_it