Beginners Mind

Beginners mind is a happy mind.

Those who put too much pressure on themselves are afraid to try anything new in case they fail.

Perhaps you learnt this as a child, when pleasing the adults in your family was a necessity, perhaps the fear came later.

But nobody begins anything as an expert - we are all beginners at some point. The truth is that you will be robbing yourself of so much joy and experience, if you continue to keep yourself locked inside a box that you have complete control of and inside which resides only those things that you can already do.

Beginner’s mind is a mind that is happy to fall over.

Beginner’s mind is a mind that is happy to be humble.

Beginner’s mind leads even experts to understand that they still have so much to learn.

Beginner’s mind is freedom and gives you the opportunity for so much joy.

Be brave enough to fall flat on your face once in a while.

Do something that you are rubbish at, but that you love and judge your progress only by the size of the smile on your face.

Come to your mat every day with a big open space inside you that is willing to be filled not by your already-knowing, but by the great mystery of life and the possibility that your greatest happiness is yet to come.

Sarah x

Prana: Yoga Life Force

Yoga practice gets your energy moving.

In yoga, this energy is known as prana and it is the foundation of all life, the subtle life force energy that flows through our bodies and animates our living world.

The Sanskrit word prana is first found in the Chandogya Upanishad text 3,000 years ago and was further refined and described in later yoga texts and teachings.

Most yogis have had an experience of prana - it's the way your body loses sluggishness as you practice; or the way that you sometimes bring jangly anxiousness to your mat and replace it, through breath and movement, with grounded calm.

It is said that prana gets stuck within our bodies, and this leads to spiritual stagnation: instead of blooming into the creative humans we were born to be we get plagued with inertia, doubt and restriction. These knots are known as granthis and the practice of yoga clears them.

The aim of yoga is to increase the amount of prana within your body so that you become shining, well-balanced and calm. The aim of yoga is to clear all the granthis and to live a confident life of self-reliant peace.

Our practice not only teaches us how to increase this energy, but also how to contain it within. If we are not disciplined, we lose prana all the time and everywhere. We become embroiled in commotion, inner and outer and we become exhausted, with no time for the important things, sometimes we become unwell.

Think of your body as a permeable vessel and imagine your prana stimulated by your yoga practice (breath and movement), imagine actually drawing prana within yourself as you practice, whilst also moving your body and breath in order to release old stagnant prana and release it, untying all of those knots. Imagine holding all of that energy within you then as you move through your day, your week, your year, your life.

This concept of prana is easy to witness in a teacher that seems to embody a powerful sense of compassion and calm; it is there in the grounded smile of the Dalai Lama, or the powerful righteousness of Martin Luther King. It is in you too. All you have to do is learn how to build it, move it and contain it within.

Sarah x

What is it that you need?

What is your yoga practice for? This is a good question to ask yourself as you come to your mat to practice at home. This simple question, when considered quietly and with focus will lead you to understand and to give yourself exactly what you need from your yoga practice on any given day.

Sometimes, it will be right to push yourself beyond your previous boundaries, to test your courage, your strength and your flexibility, to attempt asana/breathing practices/meditations that you have previously found challenging. On other days, it will be more appropriate to move slowly and mindfully, or to sit quietly to meditate on something familiar, even to read something inspiring instead. The trick is in understanding your differing needs and over time you will learn how to respond to them appropriately.

Some people find it hard to motivate themselves to get to their mat at all, and once there the feeling that they don't really know what they are supposed to be doing and can't remember any of the poses leads them to give up easily. But some cat stretches, a standing forward bend, savasana, or some simple breathing practice (of the 'I am breathing in; I am breathing out' kind) is sufficient to lead you to your intended outcome.

Other people find it hard to believe that 10 minutes of gentle stretches constitutes a worthwhile yoga asana practice; that yoga should be 90 minutes of sweat and hard work, or nothing at all.

But I have come to my mat for 90 minutes of hard work and for 10 minutes of very gentle stretches and emerged feeling more whole, more happy and more centred from both.

Every yoga practice should draw you nearer to kindness, focus, gentleness, strength, serenity, peace and joy. It should always bring more ease to your body and mind. But how you get there will differ from day to day. Sometimes you will find your centre by working hard; sometimes you will find it by giving yourself gentleness. Remembering that no yoga practice is a waste of time, is a way to approach your mat with a kind attitude every time. With a kind and gentle attitude towards yourself, you simply can’t go wrong.

Sarah x