What we think we know about Yoga, at the start, is usually wrong and biased. I say so because I misunderstood Yoga when I came across it.

Picture a 17 year old girl who had left her home country, the Republic of Benin, to relocate to cosmopolitan London city, in order to study and live. Study what though, that was the question. For a few months, I frantically ordered university brochures that came through the post in their shiny, glossy covers and showcased pictures of happy to be students living on campus, having found their way in Life. I didn’t know what I wanted to study, I knew I was creative, and was interested in being active, and that I wanted to have my own successful business by the time I hit 30, at the very latest. I had it all planned, whatever it was, it was going to be tactical and great. So I scanned websites, glossy brochures for inspiration, signs, and whatnot.

I often caught myself wanting to go down the road of a practical certificate or diploma in fitness and maybe top it up with a degree in nutrition. “Become your own Boss”, “Change a life, become a Personal Trainer”, ” Dance to Music Diploma”, all these unequivocally stirred something in my heart, I could picture myself in about 5 years time maximum the owner of a gym or Fitness Centre, for sure. Why? Because I liked fitness, lifting weight, cardio, “looking fit, being fit”; I understood it. I mean I trained, and I could relate to the happy people in the pictures, who looked out of breath, sweaty, toned, with slabs of abs, full of energy and vitality.

There was a section I systematically did not bother with when I was looking up subjects to learn, and after so many years, I sincerely laugh at my younger self. That section was “Become a Yoga Teacher”; Yoga for me at the age of 17 was not “cool”. And the pictures in the brochures were pictures of older Caucasian women split in two on a mat, looking straighter and slimmer than anyone I’d seen. I just did not relate with what I thought was a bunch of bendy people cutting shapes or wanting to look like Indian gurus. I mean how could this be fitness, they weren’t even sweating! Nah, nah, Yoga was a “white people thing” and it was honestly not my cuppa tea. It didn’t feel like a real sport, a real practice.

For someone who had the privilege of growing up with spirituality as an ideal and was initiated from a young age to meditation, you would have thought that I was better placed to be interested in Yoga. Needless to say, I ended up the conventional way of studying a “proper” degree in Creative Industries…whatever it was I enjoyed it, but my profession is in Human Resources, yet again fitting the cliche of “what you study won’t necessarily be what your job will be about”. I missed the boat, I did. There aren’t two ways about it; I’m not sad about it, it’s a reality and I did what felt right for me at the time at which I did it. But, I missed the boat. And why? Because of misconceptions about Yoga but also how it was, and has been, represented for a long time.

What is Yoga: Yoga is a 5,000 years old philosophy, a code by which to live, free of ailments of the mind, body and soul. It is a spiritual practice that is enhanced by the physical practice called asana. The practice of Yoga in its whole form allows a yogi (male) or yogini (female) to attain Union with the Higher Self and therefore Freedom. To fully understand what Yoga is, you’ve got to try your hand at reading Patanjali who basically is an Indian sage who took the time to compile what yoga is and gave the world a step by step guide on how to liberate ourselves from pain and who we think we are – the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali are a collection of 196 Sanskrit sutras on the theory and practice of yoga.

Yoga is not religious, although it refers at times to God, this is more in the sense of the ultimate Higher Energy, the Universe. And if you’re not into this cuckoo concept that there may be a spiritual energy out there, then Yoga can still be for you, because it allows for personal growth inwardly and outwardly, regardless of your beliefs, religion, gender, race and what we’ve decided to be a label nowadays. Yoga is inclusive of all things.

Asana is the “exercise” part of Yoga, the one that keeps us physically fit ( I sang that in my head), because we like to move it – move it. And asana is most of the time the only part that people understand Yoga by. The Headstand, the Big Toe pose, the Wheel, the flying in the air pose and so forth. What we have forgotten in the globalisation of such a traditional way of living, is that asana is also the sitting pose, and lying down pose. I am not saying the above quick intro to Yoga would have swayed my biased 17 year old self, but what I am trying to say is that Yoga is so much more than a far away practice that a select group of slim looking people do, breaking into impossible poses whilst not sweating.

Yoga isn’t for flexible people: yoga is for everyone who wants to make space and time for the betterment of their selves, physically, emotionally and mentally.
Yoga is not less than, or rather Asana practice is not less than a 45 minutes workout of Legs, Bums & Tums. I am biased, but I will go on a limb here ( pun intended) and say it could be more than. A well defined asana sequence can get even the fittest athlete in sweats in 20 mins or less.

Asana practice requires a level of fitness and this level can be built up to either beginner, intermediate and/or advanced levels. Just like any other sports. Asana practice is based on sequences of compound exercises that effectively work multiple muscle groups at the same time; you can increase the intensity either by staying in the poses for longer or shorter periods of time.

What’s even greater I feel, but again I am biased, is that asana practice or Yoga in general helps us link our breath to our body and movement. I mean yes, that is pretty much a natural thing, but when was the last time you watched your breath and noticed the goodness it brings to your body, as a cellular level.
And this brings me to talk about the dreaded M word; yes, we’ve tried it, some stranger told us to close our eyes and quiet our mind. Easy for them to say, and also what’s this business of sitting in an uncomfortable seated position for hours… Meditation. Yes, it can be a challenge, although scientifically proven, the practice of meditation truly helps alleviate anxiety; you can quiet your mind, it is possible, and it helps your brain function better.

You don’t have to sit for long hours in a Lotus pose, you don’t have to close your eyes if you don’t want to. All you have to do is allow your own self to make the first step, and breathe. And with focus brought on your breath, comes the rest. Meditation can also be chanting mantra. Again, that is the beauty of Yoga. It is truly inclusive and you can make it your own.

Back then I didn’t know nearly enough about Yoga, and it was not represented to me the way I see now it should have been represented – what we tend to lose along the lines of marketing to the West, is a truly inclusive practice. I had cast Yoga aside when I was 17, and understood it as something for flexible people. I was good at being flexible, I dabbled in the arts of gymnastics at school, but other than that, what else was it. That was back in 2005, we didn’t have Instagram yet. Maybe if I had seen people like LaRuga on those brochures, I would have bothered a bit more.

14 years later, here I am, a qualified Yoga Teacher and I thank the Universe for granting me such a gift. Because that is what Yoga is, a gift.Discard what you think Yoga is and give it a try. And if you have given it a try already, and it wasn’t your cuppa tea, then don’t banish the idea, give it another try because from one human being to another, it truly is worth the time and try.

But hey, I am biased I guess.