Yoga is a "me" zone without the ego...
The moment you step into a yoga room and roll out your mat on the floor, you know that you are stepping into a neutral zone or more precisely a “me” zone where all the postures that you will take if done properly under the supervision and guidance of your yoga instructor will be therapeutic and beneficial for your health.
The space of your mat represents the space that you have made in your schedule to take care of yourself.
The aim is to let yourself indulge in the movement and the breath with no judgement whatsoever about yourself, about the others around you.
All you have to do is listen to the teachers cues, focus on them and focus on your body and breath. And if you close your eyes, even when moving the experience is even stronger.
Going to a yoga class has nothing to do with going to the gym for a workout!
If you practice without ego, with no sense of competition and the idea that it is OK to take a block or two, it is OK to use a strap to help you grab your foot, it is OK to go into child’s pose if you feel exhausted and cannot switch to the next Warrior III, then you will see yourself as an amazing person caring for her body and her mind.
When I did my first teacher training in Montreal, my teacher, Hervé Blondon, always said to us that the most advanced yogis are the ones who do not push themselves and are OK to back up while doing a forward bend for instance because they know they might hurt their lumbar spine otherwise. They are also the ones who use the props and do not take it personally… Well, this is what yoga is about!
The art of yoga consists in knowing when to push yourself and when to accept that you cannot go any further and it is OK!! It is the “not too much” concept again.
So, a yoga class is a place where you will be able to feel and discover your body, your muscles, your tendons, your ligaments.
Also, you will be able to feel your body opening up when relaxing and focusing on certain particular parts of your body.
It is a place where you will discover a lot about yourself, whether you are resilient or not, whether you are ego-driven or not, whether you accept challenge or not and so on…
You will also realize that the body is definitely dependent on the mind, that will lead to the conclusion that you are the conductor of your own life and no one else!
Finally, when you step into a yoga class, know that you are ready to embark on a journey into your body, into your mind, you will spend at least an hour traveling on your mat like good old Aladin on his carpet... For the time of the class, you will forget about your worries and be gone somewhere else.
This is the magic of YOGA!