Each time you come into your yoga mat is different.

Some days you will be centred and focus. Some other times you will feel all over the place.

One of the points of doing yoga is to recognise what’s happening and realise that we have a choice.

Your experiences are always unique, whether you are practising alone from watching a video, on a live Zoom class or in a physical class with other students.

How you react to things, what your behaviour is, on and off the mat, will be shaped by those experiences.

Your yoga practice can become a safe place to notice things and make small changes.

How big or small can this be? Let me give you an example, I have been teaching yoga since 2013 and I love it.  As a teacher, consciously or subconsciously, I follow the example of other teachers I had to convey important information. Recently I realised that my way of doing this was a bit serious.

My ‘this is important’ expression made me feel it as a bit of a rigid thing and it might have stopped me exploring with a sense of wonder.

Now I try to find a smile and through it, I can find a better way to connecting with my body and my breath and finding a more playful way of teaching and practising.

You can learn to let serious or negative thoughts come into your mind, identify them, and then let them go. You can then find serenity in having done your best.

Next time you step into your mat, put the intention of surprising yourself by challenging a habitual reaction and see what happens!

Let me know if you’ve done it and what have you discovered in the process ;o)