Yoga for Beginners: How I've Begun My Yoga Journey

I've always liked yoga, but never got really into a practice. I've done it every once in a while throughout my teens and into my 20's, but never kept at it long enough to see any real improvement. Lately I've been looking into different ways of alleviating stress from my life, and thought it wouldn't hurt to give yoga another try. I'm so glad I did, because now I'm absolutely hooked!

 I thought I would write up a little guide to help anyone else in a similar position to myself. Whether you are wanting to get into yoga for the first time, or are like my and coming back to it with a bit of prior history; hopefully this can help you a bit along your journey!

 Instructional videos are a great place to start. You can buy these from just about anywhere that sells DVD's. I don't have any to recommend over the others as I haven't watched one of these in years, but it's really just personal preference. It really doesn't matter what one you watch, as long as it's designed for beginners. Another route you can go (which has been my favorite) is watching yoga instructional videos on Youtube. There are so many different people out there offering videos, it's just a matter of personal preference in who's you enjoy more. I'm personally a big fan of Yoga with Adriene. She has all sorts of different videos for people of all levels. Whether your looking for an easy morning practice, or yoga to help with a certain issue; chances are she has a video for you.

Another things you can do it look up poses on your own, and create your own practice. Just do a google search for 'Yoga Poses' and you will come up with all sorts of results.

The biggest thing to remember in whatever practice your doing, is to listen to your body. If something hurts, your either doing it wrong or are not advanced enough to be doing it. Remember: YOGA SHOULD NOT BE PAINFUL!! Don't be afraid to modify if need be!

My last piece of advise is consistency. Try to take a bit of time out of each day for your practice. Even if you don't feeling like it I promise, you will feel better after you've done it!

Good luck my friends on your yoga journeys! For any of you experienced yogi's out there, let me know if you have any other tips for beginners!

Fear

Music has always been something deeply important to me. I often feel a strong connection to it, and through that use it as a way of expressing myself. I’ve also loved singing since I was small. Tonight I went to see Sarah McLachlan in concert. I’ve loved her music for as long as I can remember. It’s been my constant companion through my highs and lows, my deepest struggles and mightiest accomplishments. To say it was an amazing experience would be an understatement. Something about her music touches my soul like no other, in almost a spiritual way. I found myself in tears though different moments in the evening, as topics were touched on that are near and dear to my heart. There were only two songs I didn’t know well that she played this evening, and funnily enough they both contained the messages the struck the strongest chord with me.

The first was “I won’t fear love”. I think this is something we all can relate to, at least all of those who have experienced any sort of heartbreak. When this happens, a person is generally a mess. I know I am. And it’s human tendency to avoid the things that hurt us. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me sort of thing. Especially when it comes to love, a person does become fearful after we’ve lost it. You expose your soul to another person, let them see all of the dark places you keep hidden from the rest of the world. And then to have that cruelly snatched away. It’s enough to make anyone fearful.  But we mustn’t let fear prevent us from loving again. Love is beautiful and joyful, the best feeling in the world. We need it to survive and thrive. So you would be doing a disservice to yourself by preventing these feelings from happening. Sure you might end up getting hurt. And it may very well be horrible. But the romantic in me truly does  believe that there is someone out there for everyone, and we must keep trying (and potentially failing) until we find that person. Because when we do, it will all be worth it in the end.

The second phrase which really stuck with me was “I fear I have nothing to give”. Again, with the fear! It really can be our biggest downfall as people, to give into the fear. I know when I’ve been feeling down, and at some of my lowest points, this was a huge fear of mine. During that time I described myself as feeling like the shadow of my former self. I isolated myself for this exact reason: the fear of having nothing to give to the people around me. I couldn’t keep light and positive energy inside of myself, let alone extend that to other people. And who would want to be around me in that state? Relationships regardless of the kind are a give and take. But the brilliant thing I’ve come to realize is, we always have something to give, even if it doesn’t feel that way. Even if it’s something as small as just your presence, you always have something of value to share with others.

A New Beginning

Hello internet!

I have to be honest with you, this isn't my first attempt at a blog. In fact, it’s not my second or even third attempt. I’d get excited, post for a few weeks and then eventually lose interest. In theory I should have enjoyed what I was doing. I’ve always been a bit nerdy when it comes to anything writing related, and I was choosing to write about topics I liked. But as it turns out, that is where my problem was: they were things I liked, but didn’t love.

This time, I've decided to do things a bit differently. I’m going to write about what my true passion is these days; which is everything to do with living a wonderful, magical, love filled life. I’ve just recently began to come out of a dark period in my life (which I’m sure I will elaborate on at a later date), and am so energized by anything that helps me to live my best life possible.

I want to inspire other people to do the same! Heck, maybe I can even create a little community here of radical self-love and happiness. And wouldn’t that be wonderful! Even if I can help one person bring a bit more light into their lives this will all be worth it!

So what you expect from this space? A little bit of anything and everything. From my new found love of yoga, to things I find inspirational I plan to use this as a place to document it all. So if you’re reading this, welcome! I look forward to having you along for the ride!

xx Nicole