Keeping it personal – my top 5 reasons why I practice & teach yoga …

prayer hands
In gratitude

Plank poseI know if you “google” or research the benefits of yoga online or at your library, you will find thousands (I mean 100s of thousands) of websites, books, studies, and opinions.  I’ll keep it personal and share with you my top five reasons why I practice and teach:

  1. Connection to My Body – I’ve tried all sorts of other “activities” and sports in my life and while I enjoy them, yoga is like no other.  It leaves no stone unturned so that my practice mobilizes my joints, (even my toes), strengthens and lengthens my muscles, develops my balance, deepens my core strength and has given me a gateway back to the wisdom of my body – a path to my intuition.
  2. Conscious Breathing – Nothing fancy here, I’ve just developed a more mindful, slower, and deeper breath that I can turn to even when I’m not on my mat to help me deal with stress and remain centred (even while driving or in the grocery store line up)!
  3. Confidence – I still can’t believe sometimes that I walk around in yoga pants!  I just feel so much more comfortable in my own skin!  Yoga has challenged me to come face to face with all my insecurities – physical and emotional.  Slowly, one at a time, I have learned to let go, accept vulnerability and even become at ease with it.  I’ve learned that there is nothing wrong with not being perfect and I’ve come to love being human instead!
  4. Community – The yoga community is so welcoming.  I have met some of the most amazing people, side by side in a class, at teacher trainings and workshops and most of all in our classes.  I feel so honoured to lead people through their practice.  Our community is filled with people from all age groups and all walks of life, our practice is our common ground.  I’ve witnessed amazing friendships develop and well, we laugh much of the time too!
  5. Commitment – I have always been a bit restless, (I’m a Sag) wanting to try this, taste that, travel here, and I’m often tempted by new and exciting opportunities.  Yoga has been my anchor.  While I still have the desire to learn and grow, my practice has given me the discipline that I have so wanted and needed allowing the other parts of my life to whirl around – I remain centred.  This commitment has grown in strength and spread to my art and my life as a mother, business partner, and wife.

If you simplify all of the above and explore a little deeper, you will find that they all lead back to the same message; knowing myself better, being confident with who I am and what I have to offer and ultimately having the strength and courage to share.

Namaste

Marlene

 

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175 Pike Road, Gibsons, BC V0N 1V6, Canada

By Marlene Lowden

I'm an abstract artist and a down to earth yogi. I live on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Canada.