Finding Freedom: releasing from what binds us

Finding freedom - releasing from what binds us

One of gifts of being away for a whole month is that I had time to think really think. To reflect on what matters and to practice yoga by myself, for myself. Sitting on the deck of a boat at dawn, staring into the Indian Ocean is a pretty special place to meditate, to breathe and to feel connected. More than anything it reaffirmed something deep within me: I truly love teaching yoga. And I love the community it builds practicing together. So I'm back this month with renewed energy, fresh inspiration and full of ideas.

During the many hours in the quirky Sri Lankan minibus, I kept returning to one question: “if I only have 6 months to teach people yoga, what would I want them to learn?” You might be surprised to discover it isn’t the technique of any particular pose. I would teach people

• how to breathe;
• how to smile and let go;
• how to move without force;
• how to speak to your nervous system;
• how to feel ok with your emotions and
• how to cultivate gratitude as a habit.
• The sum of these things is awareness and befriending oneself.

Over the next few months, I am going to share this journey with you as though we are creating chapters of a story together. We start at the beginning, laying the foundations as if they were characters in our novel; work through a series of different physical narratives each month, eventually weaving it all together in a balanced practice by autumn. Along the way we will gently explore some of the psychological and emotional aspects of yoga.

This month our theme is freedom.

Freedom through movement. Freedom through breath. Freedom through learning to soothe the nervous system rather than constantly driving ourselves forward.

“Releasing from what binds us” is really an invitation to notice the things that quietly hold us captive.

We are the lucky ones - we’re not at war or bound by poverty; we dwell in a free country with liberty to live our lives as we choose. Yet somehow we can trap ourselves within our own limits. The limits of our opinions, our fears, our self image, playing out habitual roles in worn out relationships at work or at home, until, pretty soon, we’re on the relentless hamster wheel of habit.

It is said that once we get to 35, humans get resistant to change. We slowly start drawing in the boundaries of our world, limiting our possibilities - just a little at first, until almost imperceptibly, our lives have got smaller. Smaller feels safe. The mind likes nothing better than security. We hold onto things that make us feel safe, even when they no longer make us happy. Clinging destroys courage. Sometimes safety comes at the expense of aliveness. We end up living a reduced version of ourselves without ever consciously choosing it.

If travel broadens the mind, movement frees the mind.

One of the most unforgettable things I did in the Maldives was a snorkel safari. Twice a day I experienced the wonderful feeling of floating, weightless in warm crystal clear water with seemingly endless visibility. Floating over coral reefs and walls, within shoals of colourful fish, encountering turtles, dolphins and sharks, I was surrounded by nature. Literally I was immersed in it - not separate from it, part of it. Totally engaged. Wondrous.

It made me ask: how often are we immersed in the beauty of our daily lives? How often are we fully awake to the beauty that already surrounds us?

Returning home, I was asked what I liked about coming back. The question surprised me because it made me realise something profound - if my life isn’t aligned to whom I am becoming in this chapter, I have the power to change it. And so do you. The first step is to stop and ask yourself "What do I really want from life? What would make me happy?"

Sometimes what stands in the way of living a beautiful life is not inability: it is fear of change. Making decisions gets harder as we age. There is more to lose. But interestingly, people rarely dislike all change. What we usually dislike is change imposed upon us. The changes we choose for ourselves can feel liberating, expansive, and deeply energising. They present opportunities for personal growth. We just need to get over the fear of the unknown.

It reminds me of the lyrics from one of my favourite songs by Savana:

Fear is just courage waiting to be known.

This is one of the reasons yoga matters so much. Yoga is a scientific and an emotional process for creating change. It is a moksha, or liberation practice. It helps us to build awareness through physical movement, through breath work and through connecting into our emotions. I prefer to think of it as moving towards a better version of our lives. Having the courage to free ourselves by being more expressive and finding liberation that helps us live a larger, more joyful life.

How does it do that? Our brain and body are inherently attached. A shift in one leads to a matching shift in the other. Feel something physically and you get a mirrored thought in the mind. Have a happy thought and you feel light, warm and energised physically. It works in reverse too. You can trick your mind and create emotions by choosing to a particular movement. Move your body fluidly and it will create freedom in the mind. This is the magic of the asana practice, it’s why we do the physical poses. The power of movement to change how we feel and thereby how we think, lies at the heart of what makes people return to the mat. They feel better when they do yoga.

Moving through a set of yoga positions, especially when one needs to keep up with the pace of the class, can be a hard skill to develop. Over the next few months I am going to teach you how. Flowing freely requires understanding the foundations of what makes us grounded and stable. In May our physical focus will be strong and flexible toes, ankles and hips. From these foundations, we will explore how to smile from the inside and find freedom.

What we learn on the mat, we take into life.