My Seven ‘make it through the day' foundations - part three - Movement ~ Yoga

​Do you even bend? 

I would love to say I am a chilled-out yogi but this is another one of my foundations that I used to have a love-hate relationship with. I have been doing Yoga on and off for years and still gonna go with I’m a beginner but a conversation with a good mate of mine and his words on Yoga was ‘your future self will love you for it’. OK! Well, what future Kylie will love is what I need to do! So, let’s do the work. 

So, this yoga journey has taken me down many paths and I have quitted and started back up again for years. During this time I truly thought it was only about one thing and it was the poses. Could I bend?, could I balance? and do I look like those glamorous pictures on social media whilst doing it? Ummm hell no I do not and I cannot. 

Where does one learn about yoga without committing financially to a centre? Well, a couple of yogi books later and I did have the inspiration to take this journey. I needed to try and find the love that others had. Yogis seemed really damn happy, laid back, got their shit together and making themselves a priority – talk about self-care!– I did get a total girl crush on Rachel Brathen aka Yoga Girl, and even one of my soldiers attended one of her events. I did not feel like I fit in that group either though. So where were my people? Yogi wannabes like me? 

On my hunt to find my people; I remember one event, it was Palm Creek here in Townsville and I would say a collection of wonderful hippies attended this event. So you camped, listened to music and did free events – one being yoga – these amazing people were so lost in it – Not worried if they were the look of yoga, they breathed, they swayed, they closed their eyes and they truly seemed in love with it. Was this it? Was this what I wanted! Was this my family? Ummm no – I just wanted future Kylie to love me for this Yoga decision. Can’t Yoga be cool without hippy pants, dreadlocks and lots of swaying to the mother earth? 

Forward on my journey, I did Yoga in Afghanistan there was this amazing American soldier yogi who would take classes for us. She was the vision of a perfect example of a well trained physically fit soldier! There were no yoga pants, dreadlocks or anything remotely that way. Her classes were structural, informative, and honestly, I could not stop staring at her muscles… total new girl crush. Was this my people? Ummmm nope – I needed somewhere in between. 
The next chapter took me to a studio in Townsville,  I am truly lazy and needed accountability and some damn guidance. I liked someone telling me exactly what to do. Well, this was new territory and I fell in love with Yoga. What I learnt was that I needed a yoga instructor that I connected with. Der! Seems like an obvious observation now. My yogi life changed when I signed up with Lighten Up and I met an instructor Michael (he is not aware of this and one day he might read this and smile). His voice, calmness, thoroughness, ease and grace made me fall in love with yoga. The little corners of my mouth turned up and every time I would visit his practice did I feel this. I learnt the lessons of how to breathe, why I was on the mat, what my intention was everytime that I sat down on my mat. Damn you could say I was crushing big time with this wonderful amazing man (again I should point out I never spoke to him about this….lol).

I was blessed, it was not the poses! It was breathing.. making time for me, self-love and care and seriously future Kylie was going to love this. Yes, this was the love chapter in my yoga book. I got lost in each practice and I did not count the minutes until the workout was over. I still wonder if it is a different journey for everyone and does everyone feel this way. The moment my feet touch the mat and it could be 5 minutes or an hour I am happy and something now that is part of my daily ritual. 
So this journey took me from the studio to my deck at home, hotel rooms, beaches and honestly where I needed a moment for me. A time to truly feel grounded. I found that the strict schedule did not work and sometimes I needed that flexibility. I once again found a girl crush and love Yoga with Adrienne on youtube channel. She is so my people, I love doing yoga with her each morning. I love my space and my timings but I feel at a loss if I miss it. 

I want to get some more time in a studio to build back to that 90 mins yoga sessions. I feel I got a bit lazy with my home practices ranging 5-30 minutes and I have so much more to explore with this journey. I still can't do all the poses and I do not look like any pics on social media but I now love what I do. 

I have shared this love with my daughter and selected friends. My goal is to get my man to join me one day! I can see us pulling out our yoga mats as we travel the world trekking! ​
Namaste!