Choose Freedom

So why Freedom Yoga you may ask? Or you may not! But I am going to tell you anyway, so listen up!

For a start off, my last name is Free, so I thought it would be a  little play on words of sorts. Well not really a play on words maybe... a connection anyway! But more than that, for me yoga has signified freedom and that is what as a teacher I want to share with the masses. Alright, maybe not the masses just yet as I have only just started teaching a class and I have 4 students so far. But not bad considering I know nobody here. And they came back 2 weeks running so I am keeping my fingers crossed that classes will soon be packed and they will be hailing me the next Sharon Gannon before too long! Good to have goals, right?! 

Back to the name! 

In life we are constantly being pigeon holed: Lawyer, Red head, Alcoholic, Artist, Thinker, Mother, Hippy and on and on. I think we very often find ourselves constrained by the labels other people give us. I heard someone recently say, "Oh I am a Doctor. Doctors don't do yoga". What is that all about? What I wanted to shout very loudly into that persons ear as I shook them violently (but I didn't because I am a yogi and we are calm and gentle and understanding souls!) was, "Do it all, Try it all, be it all!" Reaching your true potential in life is about breaking out of that mould, discarding the labels and just going for it. And where yoga is concerned, there is not a specific body type, there is no particular profession, or religion or bendiness even that is required. Only an open mind and a willing body and you are off on the road to complete and utter enlightenment. 

And it is so freeing! 

There is no ego, no competition, no expectation. You are free in that moment to explore and discover and appreciate your very own, incredible  mind, body and spirit. And then after you have left it all on the mat, you can take it all with you! I know, I know I sound like I am contradicting but think about it. You can physically challenge yourself on the mat and then you take that physical body away with you and live with the incredible after effects. You are emotionally challenged and you take your heart with you, mentally challenged in class and you carry your brain out of the door and back into your day to day life. 

Yoga is a type of activity, a way of life, however you like to think of it, that is completely personal and allows you to be whoever you want to be. It teaches us to appreciate and love ourselves, to challenge ourselves but to know when to back off, to look after ourselves and keep ourselves balanced. Yoga, gives us confidence in our abilities as well as allowing us to accept our short comings. It unites us as whole and wonderful human beings.

Have I fired you up? Are you itching to get to a class...or at least turn on Fit TV?!

Namaste budding yogis!