I never thought of myself as a ‘Yoga kind of Guy’, whatever that means. Everything about me or at least the things which I identified with were fun, cool and if they were a bit edgy that was all the better. I’ll be honest if it made me look cool well that made it better still. Skateboarding, snowboarding, mountain biking, riding motorcycle’s and the life styles that went with them were my thing and still are, but you can feel pretty banged up after over quarter of a century of that. One way or anther I ended up at a Hot Yoga class taken by some guy called Ed. It sounded kind of extreme, so you can see the hook. I dabbled in it, nothing serious, but this he did say one thing that stuck in my head, “those other things will pull you apart but Yoga will put you back together”. Despite those words of wisdom I still just kind of ended up drifting off, because after all… I was not really a yoga kind of guy.
In 2015 over the space of three months my life changed unimaginably. I felt like I had been hit by an emotional wrecking ball, and I was in pieces. It’s strange how the human condition allows you to appear so calm and unaffected on the outside whilst in turmoil on inside. I had no option but to keep moving forward but I let my physical and mental wellbeing slip.
Around that time, that guy Ed (remember him) opened Yogafurie right opposite my new house, literally across the road. With those words “Yoga will put you back together” ringing in my ears I headed across and enrolled for my hot yoga meal deal, as many class’s as I could eat in 30 days …I don’t even remember how much I paid. From that point onwards without really understanding why I suddenly become a ‘Yoga kind of Guy’.
For the first year or so it was all about the physical changes, all about getting back into shape, reversing the middle age spread. It was great to start to feel good about myself again, at least on the outside, but the inner conflict still dominated. My internal dialog was incredibly unforgiving, and self-destructive. It was only when I finally became able to marry my breath with my movement that I began to experience what yoga now means to me. At first it was short calm spaces, free from the constant chatter of my conscious mind, restful and restorative. As the frequency of these increased so did my curiosity, what exactly was this thing ‘Yoga’. It had to more than just a sequence of beautifully designed postures, so I started to study.
Over the next 12 months my practice increased as did my understanding of it. The peace I felt started to become more common place in my everyday life, and the process of showing compassion to myself finally began. Forgiveness and understanding through breath and movement, who would have thought.
On January 12 th 2018 I started my teacher training at Yogafurie under that guy Ed. It was my 50th Birthday. It has been incredibly challenging both physically and mentally, but ultimately enormously rewarding (that’s another whole blog). Its taken a lot of understanding from those who I love and no small sacrifice and for that I thank them from the bottom of my heart. Its with incredible pride I start to teach my first course at Yogafurie in November. I never saw that one coming.
To me yoga is a guide to inner exploration and a framework to be able to understand your personal experiences and I wish to share that with others. It’s ancient but its teachings are constantly being repackaged and resold by ever generation. So my choice is to return to the source.
Namaste James
Contact James@samadhiyoga
Link to facebook and Teacher Training Course details
