How I created my own practice.

This is a blog is about how I created my own practice and not necessarily a blueprint for everyone to follow. Each person is individual and will arrive at their own practice via different routes at different levels and for very different reasons. Maybe you want to work on an inversion, maybe you want to meditate, maybe you don’t have access to a class or can't afford to go? Perhaps, like me, your circumstances change.

Right at the beginning of my yoga journey one of my teachers, Sharon, created and taught me my own practice to follow at home. It was a basic sun salutation series with a few other goodies thrown in. Although I didn’t realise it at the time, this imprinted this basic flow in my memory. Doing something, yourself is different from merely following directions. Something shifted and I stopped my own practice and went to class.

Koh Tao being a holiday destination means that islands population is very transient in nature. Everybody moves on and this is true of many yoga teachers too. As a resident wanting to practice this can get a little frustrating. I might have 2 months practicing with a teacher and then they leave. That student and teacher relationship has to start again. Only when creating my own practice did I realize that there was a benefit to this. Not only did it give me a tremendous resource out there to answer my questions but also it had exposed me to different styles which I was free to incorporate or not. This is going to be invaluable to me should I choose to teach yoga.

With this foundation, I had been fortunate enough to expand my learning on a daily basis with classes lead by Cynthia and Julia. I was actually just at the point of wanting more. In fact, I even asked Cynthia where I went next… her answer was to start my own practice. Hmm…even though I was doing an intense practice, practicing at home seemed like hard work but that’s a lazy mental reaction rather than physical. Of course, as I said earlier, it's easy to follow a class…..no mental exercise required in terms of what comes next…

While contemplating this and how I would change my schedule to suit, the universe stepped in and sent us packing to visit family. Now I had to get off my asana and do it. With my yoga teacher training course looming there was no way I couldn’t practice and besides it had become such a part of my life it would’ve been like letting part of me go.

So really I was very lucky, I had the tools necessary to get on my mat and play. I found inspiration on Instagram. Taking part in challenges showed me different variations, prep postures and reminded me of forgotten goodies too. Youtube provided an excellent resource when having difficulty with a posture, trying to remember a transition or even incorporating something new. Plus I always had the opinions of all those teachers I had practiced with to fall back on too.

However, you come to it and what you do with it, creating your own practice gives you the chance to have that time to connect with yourself each day. Have fun….

#myyogapractice #asanas