Yoga, religion, spirituality. Can they go together or are they completely different?

Yoga, religion, spirituality. Can they go together or are they completely different?

A long term Yoga student of mine, following the recent ‘lock down’ contacted me to say that, (as have many of us, during this peculiar process) she had done a lot of inner reflecting and soul searching and had, as a result, converted to Christianity. As a result of this decision, and again after much thought and thorough consideration, she felt that she could no longer practice Yoga in any form, largely because of with Yogas’ links to Hinduism.

What type of Yoga is it?

What type of Yoga is it?

I cannot tell you how frustrating I find this question! I get asked this a lot, and my response is usually ‘its Yoga’. Which is possibly not that helpful. I know that this question is usually asked in compete innocence. There are so many so called ‘types’ of Yoga being offered that it is no wonder people are confused. So I thought I would try to explain things from my perspective.

Yoga, keeping it real
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Yoga, keeping it real

I was introduced the other day as ‘A yoga teacher, and a person.’ How refreshing. All to often it can feel that because I teach Yoga I am apart from the regular members of the human race and that I should somehow float just above the ground and glide rather than walk as I am so serene and pure.

Who are we really?
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Who are we really?

We are generally seen as our roles or places in society. How often do we meet someone new and the initial question is always ‘what do you do?’ How often do we respond with our current (not necessarily chosen) job role or profession and not say what we actually do?

The Orange Jumper
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The Orange Jumper

Its all about perspective. Optimist I am, I am also human. I do have days where I don’t feel so great, but  most of the time I know what I need to do to feel ‘better’. Isn’t that the case with most of us? We know what we need to do to feel good, but we feel almost guilty for doing it.