Beyond the Stretch: Yoga & Me

I have been practicing yoga for close to quarter of a century now, initially introduced to the rigid dynamic sequences of Ashtanga yoga in a hot steamy studio in the middle of Hong Kong’s nightclub-fuelled Wanchai district. That’s where I first felt a real sense of community (or Satsang in yogic speak) as my yoga tribe nurtured one another over morning practice, coffees and often evenings out.

As I began to delve deeper, I soon realised there was so much more to the practice than creating the hot, endorphin-fuelled sweat and keeping myself physically toned and fit, as somehow my mind started to calm, just a little and I began to rely spend more time with the like-minded community at my studio. Now, home in Ireland, my practice is a rich blend of flowing vinyasa yoga, peppered with Kundalini movement meditation and mantra that moves me more on an emotionally energetic level.

Time Tested Benefits

Originally practised in Northern India as a spiritual ritual to help nurture inner harmony and higher consciousness, the Sanskrit word yoga is broadly accepted as meaning a union of our physical, mental and spiritual selves. But for me the word means so much more. There’s something deeply powerful and distinctively grounding about yoga that I haven’t found with anything else and the older I grow the more its rich philosophy resonates and I know that with regular practice I sleep sounder too with heaps of scientific research to support this. Regular practice has also been shown to reduce stress levels too with numerous studies reporting the benefits of breathwork and meditation in reducing stress and anxiety markers.

Yoga Teacher Training

The main reason I completed my 200-hour teacher training in Dublin’s The Yoga Room in 2018 was to dig deeper into yogic philosophy and weave these timeless teachings into both my (almost) daily yoga practice and my life at large. And as I delved, the layers or sheaths began to unfurl, opening a path towards better health and some inner peace. To quote celebrated yoga teacher and author Donna Farhi: ‘This down to earth, flesh-and-bones practice is one of the most direct ways of meeting yourself.’ And this it continues to do.

Guided by the right teacher (not necessarily the one with thousands of social media likes as some of the best teachers don't even use social media!) a connection is made and you know you are in safe hands.

Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to experience the guidance and wisdom of some of our most gifted teachers in the business, often in pristine locations from Northern Thailand and Bali to Australia, Italy and home in Ireland and through all of this a like-minded community has been nurtured alongside my practice and knowledge, as this coming together opens both heart and mind.

Satsang

Prior to our world of workshops and retreats, the Satsang that yogic sages refer to - the wise company historically associated with enlightened teachers - was how these teachers shared their knowledge and practices and now as the global pandemic has made human connection so alien, with few live classes and workshops, it is ever more relevant today.

Yogic Wisdom

Morning Yoga at the stunning Ananda in the Himalayas

In my view one of the wisest and most gifted yoga philosophy teachers is Michael Mc Cann, who I was privileged to study under during my teacher training in Dublin. A true ‘satsang elder,’ just sitting in his company letting his profound knowledge and rich stories seep through my body nourishes my soul like no other. Michael’s deep well of wisdom is becoming more widely available now with regular satsangs through the new online portal MySatsang that I recently created with fellow yogi and skin expert Tara O Rourke from SaolBeo in Dublin.

Yoga Sanctuary

At home, my kitchen is my early morning sanctuary. With mat unfurled, I sit with myself, the rising sun and the chatter of birds. I breathe and breathe some more. I follow my own logical sequence of asana (movements) depending on what my body needs at the time, or I log onto Glo and practice with one of my favourite teachers online (eg Jason Crandell for physical precision and strength, Kia Miller for Kundalini and Amy Ippoliti for vinyasa flow amongst few others), along with my favourite personally curated All Woman playlist.

Both my husband and I succumbed to coronavirus at its early stages, he far more seriously than me, with post-viral complications persisting along with a stint in hospital. After seeing him off through the emergency room doors at 6am one Thursday morning in early June, I subconsciously rolled out my purple mat in the kitchen, sat cross-legged, breathed, centered, practiced a few internal quiet mantras and almost on autopilot, flowed through the asanas to open and ground me for a tough day ahead.

Sound Healing

Over the past months I have started to explore the power of sound and mantra, through online workshops ( Sally Kempton is one of my favourites), sound baths and Vedic chanting, all of which have left me seeking more. Having reported on wellness in global publications for the past 15 years or more, I firmly believe that sound healing and mantra is coming centre stage in wellness as, after all, every cell in our body is quantum energy and we are finally starting to tune in to our innate vibrational frequencies to rebalance wayward energy in the body.

Home at last

Yoga 2020 is a global multi-billion-dollar business of celebrity-led classes, clothing, food, super pricey leggings and too many insta-worthy backbends - much of this is so far removed from yoga’s true ethos. Those of us deeply entwined in our practice know yoga’s real power goes well beyond the hashtags, as former criminal lawyer and psychotherapist Jeff Brown highlights in his book Grounded Spirituality: ‘Yoga brings us back to our roots, back into our bodies, back into all that makes us magnificently human. Home at last.’

One of my favourite poses is Wild Thing (or Camatkarasana in Sanskrit). In yogic speak it translates as the ‘ecstatic unfolding of the enraptured heart’ and just as it says, the pose instantly opens and frees my body to the positive energy of the universe, bringing to mind the line from one of yoga’s guiding Hindu scriptures the Bhagavad Gita: ‘Curving back within myself, I create again and again.’ This feeling is within all our reaches, if we just take the time to practice.

Most people have no idea just how great their bodies are designed to be, yet every time I get on my mat, I know I am capable of great things, both during my practice and in my life. With regular practice I invariably feel more rooted in the present, physically stronger and more grateful for my body. And the real genius is that you do the practice and suddenly the practice starts to do you – making you what you are in your life.