Aging with yoga

What yoga has offered me has changed over the years with the demands of health and lifestyle. Yoga supported me with stress relief during my single life of career and partying in my 20s, to being a busy mum with teenage boys and family and work demands, and everything in between. ​

 
My body has changed, my energy levels have changed, the time I've had available for yoga has changed, but I've never given it up, as it gives back so much more than I give to it. 
 
Amongst all this change in my life, my practice has remained consistent. The postures and breathwork don't change that much, a posture or technique here and there to address specific needs. There are things I'll keep doing as long as I am able, because they work so well for me, keeping me as healthy as possible, stable, with a clearer, more grounded perspective on what's important in life. 
 
What changes the most is how I do my practice. I might take the postures slower - increasing the physical intensity with an extended breath, making more demands on my body by lingering in the hard bits. Or I might use a mantra to accompany the movements, and ease back physically to enable spaciousness to arise in the face of feeling overwhelmed. Occassionally I'll just do lying poses, some breathwork and savasana if I'm feeling poorly. 
 
My framework was set by my teacher, Paul Harvey, and remains pretty stable. I have a set practice that works, and offers a reference point for how I am. It took consistency and an experienced teacher to get me to that point, and my job is to keep showing up on my mat. 
 
The rewards of consistent practice are lifelong, and riding the rollercoaster of life becomes a lot more fun along the way. 
 
Here's to another year with yoga by my side