YOGA: FOCUS & CONNECT

I had a determination to rebuild strength, stamina and, to be honest, self-esteem, after illness left me having to ‘start over again’ in many ways. Needing to re-learn skills knocked me back time and again, yet I found myself in a yoga class half wanting to escape before the instructor arrived. For once, dithering served me well as the Instructor arrived and reassured me that I should just take my time and discover what I should practice. Just practice. Here was someone willing to share considerable knowledge, giving me less of a hard time than I was giving myself Not that it was easy, it was all new to me and not like I’d expected, but that was my first lesson. I’d gone with it because it felt right, sort-of! But positive challenges lay before me now and energy previously spent on frustration, anger and spiralling thoughts found new direction, developing focus, calm and peace allowing me to apply my mind to achieve my best – at each point – from my body. This brought a deeper realisation that I’d found a lifelong path of building and refining that feeling of wholeness that had been missing.

The philosophy, breath and stillness of yoga hadn’t been part of my preconception but here was a whole system that proved itself and I could make some of this work for me. My mind and body would attune like never before and I understand what violinist Yehudi Menuhin meant when he described yoga:

“Yoga induces a primary sense of measure and proportion. Reduced to our own body, our first instrument, we learn to play it, drawing from it maximum resonance and harmony.”

Now qualified to teach, I can share my experience and watch others enjoying their realisation that yoga is personal and can be a powerful ally throughout life – for every body.

RICHARD FEDORKO