Practicing Yoga — My Personal Journey. What is Fab And What Is Fluff

Yoga has become something I truly value and cherish as part of my daily lifestyle today. Through Yoga I have discovered the journey of learning how to really breathe for relaxation, how to be truly present, and how to find rest in both my mind and body. It has been a formative and profoundly important journey.

I wanted to write a personal entry about my journey. I don’t yet know how regularly I will write on this subject or on Medium at all, but if just one person finds this blog and is inspired to try Yoga to really augment and improve your life, then I’d be very happy!

I came initially to yoga through the need to improve my mental health and convenient form of exercise that was mobile and not too much fuss. I was looking to find something that I could fit between auditions, work, and travel. Something that would add value to my life and help me anchor myself.

Acting and producing is a relentless sort of lifestyle. It’s all too easy to fall into unhealthy mental and physical routines — or a total lack thereof. Something was missing in my life. Something that would help me create a feeling of calm and give me clarity. Something that would help me avoid burnout — which I feel is a very real concern within the entertainment industry (among many others). For me, yoga represented something totally different, and it has become a huge help in balancing both my physical and mental health around my professional schedule.

My previous fitness journey

I’ve always been sporty — tennis and swimming have been part of my life for as long as I can remember. But I wanted something for the long-term that I could fully master — and feel good while I learnt how to do so.

Like many people, I’ve had my struggles with anxiety, battling against low self-esteem. More often than not, this left me with relatively severe insomnia and a negative view of life, the future and everything it holds. So, it was important to me to find a discipline that would actively help me deal with these problems. It was important to me to learn how to become less negative in terms of my thought patterns, and of course, that would support my working lifestyle.

My aim was to find a sport or discipline that would help me become more confident at work and in my home life. I wanted in particular to find a way to deal with the stressors of my life without freaking out.

Yoga seemed to offer me all of the above, with the promise of learning how to be at peace with myself. Every choice we make can help to define your future, even if it’s just in a small way. I’ve found that yoga is an excellent place to start in bringing into your life practical ideas of self-care.

So, I looked for a local place to learn yoga, and ended up at Camden triyoga.

Hesitations / Presumptions

I have to say that I went into my first yoga class with a whole host of preconceptions and expectations. Would everyone already know everything about yoga? Would I stand out as a newcomer? Do you have to chant or meditate? Do you have to be super flexible? What if I get it wrong — will people notice?

All of these thoughts almost put me off the whole idea. But I decided to try, and from the first class I was reassured that yoga is absolutely not about being competitive or ‘the best’. That’s totally not the point.

Losing these preconceptions was my first step on the road to truly understanding what’s fab about yoga. It’s easy to be put off the whole thing by endless videos of contortionist level yogis online or worrying about wearing the right clothes or being as flexible as the next person.

None of this really matters, and none of this is really a part of yoga — it’s what I call the ‘fluff’ of yoga. All the stuff that really doesn’t make any difference. Of course, if wearing nice yoga pants makes practice more appealing, then there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

But my point is that my journey into yoga has shown me much more profound insights than who can do the fanciest poses or display the most flexibility.

How Yoga has benefited my life

Yoga has helped me train my mind to be more present. Learning how to truly be present in your skin and in the moment is invaluable for improved mental health and to keep burnout at bay.

Following simple, honest, and truthful instructions for both the mind and body helps you to sharpen your focus. This has helped me personally alleviate stress and anxiety and improved my insomnia.

Yoga has also taught me that I really am in control of my own destiny. Through self-care and self-compassion, I have learned that my mental and physical wellbeing is under my control and not subject entirely to external forces over which I have no say.

In more prosaic terms, yoga has helped me to improve bad habits and learn how to live well. Knowing that your practice is good for your body and mind is extremely satisfying and reinforces me to face whatever challenges may come throughout the day.

The fitness aspect of yoga is also a huge plus. I’m more toned and more flexible, but more than this, yoga became the launchpad to get involved in lots of other kinds of sport and fitness.

I have much better posture now and feel that my whole body regularly receives the compassion and love that it deserves when I flow through a vinyasa.

Above all, yoga has helped me become more patient and kinder to myself and others.

Ignore the fluff and embrace the fab

If you’ve ever wanted to try yoga but have found yourself intimidated by the overwhelming online content that makes it out to be unachievable and only for elite athletes, ignore all of that fluff.

How far you can bend, whether you can do the splits, the endless TikTok challenges and the expensive overpriced clothing… all of that is fluff.

Yoga offers an opportunity that is rare in this overconnected, constantly stressful world. It’s an opportunity to take time to connect with your instructor, the other people in your class but above all, yourself.

Learning how to accept things as they are, while nurturing and caring for your body and mind, is an extremely effective way of boosting the quality of your life. We all live with some kind of stress. And we all have the chance to take control of the way that we think, the way we react to external events and the way that we want to shape our future.

I’ve completely embraced the fab in yoga and have found it enormously beneficial for so many reasons. In fact, I’m now training as an instructor and intend to continue practising for the rest of my life.

Until next time…