When life shifts, where do you find your steady ground?

Isla is one of my best mates and quite literally one of the most lovely people I know. I attend her weekly yoga class and there is a depth to her teaching that stays with you long after you leave the mat.

In my latest guest blog, Isla shares her journey from an intimidated 19 year old student to becoming a yoga teacher herself. But this isn't just a story about yoga postures. It’s a story about resilience.

By Isla MacLennan, Yoga teacher with 'Your Yoga'

My first foray into Yoga was to the Iyengar Yoga studio on Morningside in Edinburgh back when I was at Uni. I went along with a very flexible friend and felt intimidated by my ignorance of the postures and embarrassed by the hands on adjustments. And I’m sure there was incense burning and there were definitely “Oms” chanted. Back then this all made me squirm (not so now!) but my pal and I did go back. It’s now too long ago to remember what our motivation was, but I do remember finding something in it that resonated with me.

It was no more profound than that as a skint 19 year old! I barely knew myself back then, far less be able to pin point what these classes did for me on a deeper level.

From then on I’ve sought out Yoga through the various stages of my life - Pregnancy Yoga, Hot lunch hour Yoga in trendy city studios, “le stretch” whilst I lived in France, Hatha in cold village halls, Vinyasa flow classes, Kundalini with the most special of teachers Jen Gold in her Yurt, on-line Covid yoga, and finally my regular Ashtanga practice with Caroline Foster at the Yoga Den in East Linton.

It was with my Kundalini and then Ashtanga practices that the true magic began – or maybe that’s just when I really started to notice and become aware. Real shifts in my perspective, in my way of coping with huge life events became apparent to me. For the first time, with these special teachers the ancient wisdom, teachings and philosophy of Yoga was woven into their classes. And with that context and on my mat in both the Yurt and the Yoga Den, I had big moments of realisation that Yoga was helping me navigate life in a different way.

In February ’24 I became a widow. When my darling, funny Tom died, I lost my true soul mate and the biggest cheerleader of me. He’d said so many times that I should become a Yoga teacher. And damn it, he was right about that too! My own Yoga practice during Tom’s illness, then death, and in this continuing ache of missing him, is (together with the love of my family and friends) the most significant thing in helping me through. Still in the early days of my grief, I decided I absolutely had to be able to share Yoga with other people, whether they too are grieving, or trying to navigate all the other things this wonderful life throws our way.

I’m now a Yoga Teacher. My biggest wish and motivation is to simply hold space for people to feel safe, whilst I lead them through a class giving them time to reach into the postures, breath, mudra (hand gestures) mantra, meditation, and discover what resonates with them. There is a place, on a Yoga mat (if you have one) and in the breath, movement, stillness, community, perspective, patience, bravery that Yoga gives us, that allows each and every one of us to be ourselves.

Wherever we are that day, however we feel physically or emotionally, we begin to become aware. With that awareness and without judgement, we can notice, accept and pause. No pushing, striving to fix; just reflecting on the fact that we

are all part of a huge flow that is life. Realising that sometimes our best laid plans, will not come to fruition precisely as we’d so carefully planned.

Yoga philosophy fascinates me and I purposefully weave it into my classes. I could be a complete geek about it here, but I’ll not scare you all off! Plus, it’s such a huge span of ancient knowledge and Antonia asked me for a “Blog” i.e. a short accessible article, not a thesis. But humour me for just a few more minutes please?!...We’ll just take a teeny, tiny look into one concept…

In Yogic philosophy, and in particular in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (2000 year old texts) there is a concept of self-discipline known as Santosha, which translates (from Sanskrit) as contentment. Contentment is a state of mind. We, I think, need to consciously practice it. We should all try to have an awareness that greed, desire and need are an epidemic of our times. But, can we cultivate an attitude of contentment with one’s own current situation? This doesn’t need to be a blind acceptance of a situation, especially if it’s a crappy one! But the drive for

change does begin with an awareness of a current situation. In our lives, the mindset of contentment, with the knowledge and trust that change can be achieved if wished, but that change also happens regardless, can provide us with an inner stability in the face of uncertainty. An ability to stay steady and balanced throughout.

Thoughts around Yogic philosophy like this can swirl around our head in everyday life but can also be applied specifically to our time on the Yoga mat. The inner and physical strength which contentment can give to our Yoga practice, keeps us aware and accepting of where our own body may be on a particular day. We can avoid injury by bringing awareness, and then contentment. A contented mind is also more able to concentrate, as it isn’t being distracted by striving, coveting, complaining or looking at our more bendy neighbour (yes, that was me in my first Iyengar class).

That’s enough for now! I must be content with what I’ve shared here today and how it’s received by you all is out with my control! I do urge you all to find a Yoga class near you. Go along and give it a try. Leave all expectations at the door, just go as you are (no flexibility or fancy gear required) and begin to notice yourself - your body, your thoughts and emotions. Don’t judge, just notice. The physical practice alone will have numerous benefits on both your body and mind. If you wish to delve a little further into breath, meditation, mudra, mantras and some philosophy, there are some wonderful Yoga teachers out there also sprinkling these through their classes.

Go explore! For me, Yoga is more than just the postures, and if you can find a class where all the other lovely stuff is also explored, you can take little nuggets of exactly what you need on that day.

Thank you for taking the time to read this little Blog. Isla x

You can find out more about Isla and her yoga classes here.