Mary’s Story

For as long as I can remember I’ve been drawn to yoga, but also saw it as a bit of a hippie cliché. Surely doing stretches on the floor isn’t real exercise? I certainly didn’t think that there was any scientific backing or real health benefits.

When I began to fully embrace yoga and understand the 5,000 year old discipline in its entirety (turns out the movement- “asana”- is only 1 of the 8 limbs of yoga), my mind and body started to transform. I maxed out my overdraft by going on an intensive 100-hour yoga teacher training course in Italy and it was the best impulsive decision I’ve ever made. Every day from 6am we had hours of physical practice, breathing exercises, chanting, meditation, anatomy, physiology and philosophy classes. Despite it being extremely challenging, it trained my mental and physical self-discipline to new levels and I gained an invaluable understanding of how my body and emotions work. I think this self-awareness is something everyone can benefit from as it is a huge factor in recognising and managing stress.

Yoga is my favourite sport because I can tailor it to exactly what I need on a particular day. If I have a lot of energy, I’ll do an intense flow which has me sweating and my muscles aching. If I have a lot of anxiety, I’ll do a slow-paced session with restorative postures and meditation. Sometimes my daily practice will be to just sit and do breathing exercises- it’s still yoga and there’s no need to feel guilty for not having an intense workout. These exercises- “pranayama”- are amazing because when done correctly, they engage your parasympathetic nervous system, putting the body into a state of rest so it can focus on digestion, as opposed to the sympathetic nervous system (“fight or flight”) which we tend to overuse these days, leading to chronic disease and burnout. 

Of course I still regularly experience anxiety and stress but I’m much more aware of it and forgiving to myself now. Through my practice I try to let positive or negative emotions come and go without judgement or attachment. I love that there's still so much left to learn- I can’t wait to go to India next year for more training, and to be able to share it with other people through teaching when I return!