To quote Find Your Why Foundation: ‘life is like a hurricane…where would you prefer to be if life is a hurricane?’

Pretty strong quote, right? Notice how you feel in your body and what thoughts creep into your mind when you re-read the quote . . .For me, it took me a moment to compose myself. My body felt warm, and my heart started to race a little, but my mind was fairly calm because I understood it. Hell yeah, life is like a hurricane. Ups, downs, forward folds, backbends, twists, lunges, arm balances, inversions, headstand and handstands! That’s your life’s hurricane all wrapped up in a yoga class!

Ok, let me take a moment. Let you take a moment. How is your life? Like a hurricane? Especially during Covid-19? Right now my life feels very much like, well, maybe a whirlpool….but hopefully a manageable whirlpool. Let me explain a little about me . . .

•  3 years ago I moved into my first ever home after signing a mortgage (I’m now a homeowner and on the property ladder!)
  
•  2 months later I lost my job and got made redundant, (I design shoes as well as teach yoga!)
  
•  Enrolled in my yoga teacher training - completely chained my life and love it!
  
•  Managed to get anther design job part-time, meaning: I have, or had, the perfect balance of both my passions - design and yoga.  Part-time shoe designer. Part-time yoga teacher. Better work-life balance. Living. The. Dream.
•  Covid came and threw us all into a storm!
  
•  1 week into Covid lockdown, I lost my job and got made redundant - again!
  
•  I should mention within all of this, I’ve been investing into launching a range of yoga clothing that I’ve designed. And whilst investing money into it and getting production made, I’ve lost two well-paid design jobs, and lost two lucrative incomes.
  
• I should also mention, I’m soon to be 38 years old. After feeling a huge sense of ‘life is passing by too quickly’ on my 37th birthday last year, where last year was the hardest year ever, after suddenly loosing my mum to cancer, I now can’t even begin to think how I’m going to cope with my 38th birthday coming up in June…my first birthday without my mum.
  

Most definitely, Life. Is. Like. A. F***ing. Hurricane.

Buuuuuuut, with all this said and done, what we need to be focusing on during all of this ‘drama’ - my drama, your drama, the worlds drama, is our WHY. Why? Because without our WHY, without that connection you find with yourself and with life, it is so easy to get swept up into the eye of the storm . . . and guess what - you may never come out of it.

So, how do you connect to your WHY? Take a look at the below…

Step 1:

Understand the ‘The Golden Circle’ diagram and see how your WHY influences your WHAT and HOW.

Step 2:

Here is an example of a WHY: I come to yoga because I want to lose weight.

• Question: ‘why do you want to lose weight?’
  
• Answer: ‘because I want to fit into a smaller dress-size’

• Question: ‘why do you want to fit into a smaller dress-size?’
  
• Answer: ‘because when I’m thinner I’ll look better’

• Question: ‘why do you want to look better?’
  
• Answer: ‘because when I look better, I’ll feel better’

• Question: ‘why do you want to feel better?’
  
• Answer: ‘because when I feel better I can accomplish more, raise my vibration for myself and loved ones around me, and am ultimately happier’

Step 3:

Using this example, look back to the circle and now look at the HOW. HOW you feel better and more accomplished is by showing up everyday, connecting to your why, and working hard to lose weight.

Step 4:

Lastly, look at the WHAT. The WHAT is how you deliver that weight lose - in this case, through yoga.

Summary:

WHY: I want to lose weight

HOW: I do this be showing up every day, working hard

WHAT: I work hard through yoga

I hope this is making you sit up and think why you practice yoga. In fact, I urge you to sit up and find your WHY for your yoga practise. For me, my WHY is ‘to be strong and confident, on and off the mat’, because for me, it constantly reminds me to keep fighting, keep thriving, keep pushing, keep evolving. On the days I struggle to show up and have no energy, I come back to my WHY and it gets me on my mat. Not always. But most of the time. Yes, I’m a yoga teacher, but that doesn’t mean us yoga teachers practice all day, every day. People have this vision that yoga teachers must be completely stress-free and zen all the time, with their sh*t together. In fact, far from it. I don’t sit on a rock looking out into the ocean, practising 5 hours of meditation. I don’t sit and chant listening to sacred mantras. I don’t wake up, jump out of bed and come into full splits against the wall whilst straightening my hair with GHDs. What do I do? I practice yoga - when I can - on and off the mat.

So, who am I? I’m normal - just like you. And I use all the tools that are within each and every one of us - our breath, our body, our third eye and our intuition . . . and hopefully, our WHY. I use yoga as a tool to guide me through this thing called life. Through this hurricane. 

To quote Find Your Why Foundation: ‘yoga can provide you with techniques to teach you how to, at any moment, step into the eye of the storm.’

For more info on the lovely ladies of Find Your Why Foundation, Dr Cheryl Chapman and Dr Marion Bevington:

https://findyourwhyfoundation.com/finding-your-why-through-yoga/

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