MIND Intelligence:

The mind is the ultimate yoga challenge. Let’s be real - practicing control of the mind is hard. For me, it’s the hardest part of the yoga practice and journey, and the part I find the most rewarding when you can master it. Or, at least, have better control and a healthier relationship with your mind.

In ‘The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali’ it quotes that ‘yoga is the science of the mind’. Let that sink in for a while. Like, really sink in. Go grab a cup of tea, sit on the sofa and notice all the thoughts that crept into your mind during those 6 minutes of making a cuppa and sitting on the sofa. How many thoughts did you control vs thoughts that aimlessly crept in and took over your conscious mind . . .I bet you can’t even count how many different thoughts crept in! I told you this part of yoga is hard! :)

Further still, the book quotes:

Yogas citta vrtti nirodhah (translates to: yoga = yoga, citta = of the mind-stuff, mind field, vrtti = modifications, nirodhah = restraint)

In the above sutra, the goal of yoga is explained as restraining the mental thoughts that rise up, and if you can control the rising of the mind into ripples, you will experience yoga.

Ultimately, we have to guard our mind with what thoughts we let in, and don’t give those thoughts the power they think they deserve. Easier said than done I know. This is where I come back to my WHY (to be strong and confident on & off the mat), applying it here in this instance as reminding myself to be strong whenever doubtful, negative and harmful thoughts creep in. Just because these thoughts creep in, doesn’t mean they are real. So, why give power to those thoughts? This WHY of mine has helped me with many ’negative’ situations such as losing a job, arguing with friends / family, losing a loved one and so on. This is why you need to find YOUR WHY and connect to it through your yoga practice.

BODY Intelligence:

This is the part of yoga that everyone sees as the physical, also known as asana practice. Each posture we do on the mat is a called an asana. Trikonasana (triangle pose), Bakasana (crow pose) and so on. Ideally we should practice the physical asanas daily. But again, let’s be real, sometimes there just isn’t enough time in the day - things pop up and demand our attention. This. Is. Ok. How many of you have heard a yoga teacher say NOT to practice daily?! Ha! Because as much as we should get on our mats daily, we also need to recognise the other demands that our daily lives bring to us, and accept that sometimes we just don’t have the time (or energy!) to carve out 60mins of the day to practice.

Gelong Thubten’s speech on ‘A Monk’s Guide to Happiness’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1gY7RWE48U&t=6s hosted by Action for Happiness beautifully describes meditation is made up of three things: breathing, noticing, and returning. Over and over again. And if your physical asana practice is a moving meditation, then notice the journey of your breath returning over and over again throughout your yoga class. Same can be said for returning to your physical practice when life has been too demanding and taken you away from your practice - you return to your mat and move and breathe, connecting to your body and noticing the beauty of your yoga practice. This for me, is my WHY . . .

SOUL Intelligence:

Oddly, this part for me, took a while to figure out. And still figure out if I’m honest. How do you connect to your soul? Are you that connected with what drives you, makes you happy, warms your heart, and fulfils your soul? Seems odd to answer with a ‘No’. But if we are really honest most people drift through life aimlessly doing the 9-5, climbing the career & property ladders, settling down and having children - but why? Mainly because that is what society tells us we should be doing. But surely, only if it fulfils your soul and makes you happy, right?

I fell into that 'society' trap whilst growing up, and whilst I loooooove my other job of designing shoes and experiencing the success of every promotion and better job I’ve had in my career, yoga has taught me that there is more to life than just the 9-5. Should I be settling down, getting married and having children like my twin sister and older brother, after just turning 38 years old? No, not if it doesn’t fulfil my soul. . .yet! Again, I come back to my WHY and remind myself to be strong in my life choices to go against the grain and do it with conviction!

Yoga Journal’s blog post titled, Soul Mate (https://www.yogajournal.com/yoga-101/soul-mate) guides us to ‘having compassion for yourself and to learning to sit with and observe your feelings. With many feelings, the impulse to turn it into a behaviour is so strong that you're already in the action before you've even reflected on the feeling. . .by deliberately not acting it out, you're forced to be with the feeling.’ Once we learn to slow down, take our time, feel what we need to feel, and connect to our soul, we can then connect to our soul mate (or so I’m told!). . .still trying to figure this one out too! But hey, that’s why it’s called a yoga practice! :)