“Can I do yoga?” “How do I start with it?”

“When should I do Yoga?” “How do I become good at it?”

There may many questions that cross one’s mind when one thinks of yoga. People are concerned about their bodies, the benefits of yoga and well, even with if yoga is for them.

In many cases, the recent decade has seen Yoga become a physical, mental or spiritual, or even trendy, attribute of modern lifestyle. But, there are many who fear the practice for its misjudged connotation as a form of gymnastics that requires strength and flexibility. Many times, people say to me, ‘ah, I can’t do yoga, I’m not very flexible’. I’ve also had some who say, “I have a bad back, I don’t think yoga is for me’, and ‘I hope I’m not too old for this.’  It is true, strenuous poses such as the handstand and headstand and the deep stretches such as the pigeon and splits constitute an essential part of yoga practice, but they just constitute ‘a part’ of it. The common hesitation of trying yoga in fact, is just a hesitation of trying something new, the hesitation of a pre-existing notion that to be able to do yoga, we need to be flexible and strong. The basis of our judgements is often limited to our own personal knowledge, and the only way to expand our knowledge is to allow our judgement to be flexible- to be able to adapt our judgement with first hand experience. When we actually allow our mindset to be flexible and our will to be strong to give in to new experiences and change; that is true yoga. One doesn’t need flexibility and strength to practice yoga, yes, these skills will help one attain the more difficult asanas; in truth however, yoga allows one to attain flexibility and strength.

Then there are some people who still regard Yoga as a practice having religious connotations with Hinduism. Yes, Yoga has its roots from Hinduism, but that is only because the early sages came from the land of the Hindus, and well, they happened to be Hindus. In no way does Yoga advocate or negate any religious beliefs. In simple terms, yoga’s philosophy, on the face of it, is about holistic health of the body and mind and on a deeper level it is about respect, compassion and love, all of which resonate with its literal meaning, ‘unison’.  To me, Yoga means the coming together of bodily functions, from physical attributes to thoughts, conscience and mind to achieve a sense of inner harmony and peacefulness. It is the means to achieving unison and well-balanced health of physical, psychological and emotional states and strengthening these parameters interconnectedly in order to reach oneness with one’s own lifeforce, the breath.

Technicalities apart, the point is, it does not matter where one comes from, what views and beliefs one holds, what one looks like, what conditions one might have, or what one eats; anyone can practice yoga. The day we simply step on the mat, that is when our yoga journey begins. It does not matter whether it is the morning or evening, one has to find a time that they feel most comfortable. It is often said that practicing in the morning is the best, and though this may be true for some, I know that I love to practice in the evenings, that is when my body feels completely open and my mind is at ease. I do sometimes change the routine and practice in the mornings just to understand my body more, but it doesn’t change that my evening practice overtakes my morning practices by a lot. And so, the journey begins with understanding your body bit by bit. One then continues on with finding a routine for practice be it daily, alternate days, sometimes a week or month; we just try to make yoga a habitual part of our lives and that is when we know that we are heading in the right direction. Finally, becoming good at yoga, whether it is in achieving the more difficult asanas or going into longer and deeper meditation, comes from self-practice. The more we spend time with and on ourselves, the better we will be at attaining a form of understanding and awareness of and peace and love with ourselves.

Finally, here it is, the simple truth about beginning a yoga practice – wear something comfy, get a comfy mat and just get started!