“Yoga means a reconnection. It’s connecting to you, the real you.” These are the words of yoga instructor, Eniko Zsemberi. Believe it or not, yoga started off as a hobby for Eniko too.
According to statistics from Yoga Earth, around 300 million people regularly practise yoga but the famous myths of ‘I’m not flexible enough to start yoga’ or ‘I don’t have the time for it', makes it easy to get in the way of our progress of the practice.
Eniko believes that it’s a form of exercise that will allow us to not think about everything else that is happening around us but agrees that it’s easy to go into it with different expectations.
Eniko said: “Yoga has a great value in us being able to experiment and observe what’s happening within us.
“You meet yourself in the process.”
Yoga myths are an easy way of distancing ourselves from the practice and it can be hard to distance ourselves from the misconceptions, some of which include it being 'time-consuming', it only being suitable for young people and that we can perhaps learn it through books, and perhaps this may be true for some people. However, with there being such an increase in social media, it can be easy to compare our progress to others and to believe that it’s only for those who are ‘spiritual’ or ‘flexible.'
Eniko said: “I believe yoga is for everyone, you just need to find the way it works for you.
“Sometimes I feel like it’s a misunderstanding and a misconception and not knowing what you’re getting into.
“If you’re open to everything, you might have a better experience but just because you’ve had one bad class, it doesn’t necessarily mean yoga isn’t for you.”
Yoga is a spiritual practice, not just a physical practice - it could be easy to go into it with different expectations. Yoga can play a significant part in controlling our mental health and allows us to observe the feelings within us.
Eniko said: “I know that many people think that yoga is more about the physical practice but that’s not necessarily what yoga is.
“It’s not just a physical practice, it’s always been a spiritual practice that has tied together meditation, self-discovery and self-development.”
Allowing time to go towards a spiritual practice is important but not everyone is necessarily ready to take that step in their lives and dedicate specific times for mindfulness. For those who are, expecting yoga to 'fit in' with your schedule will not work. For a hobby to become a habit, it has to be done regularly and it is the same case for yoga practice.
Eniko said: “Yoga is a spiritual practice and not everyone is at that point in their lives where they are ready to face themselves in that way.
"They are not ready to fully immerse with yoga because there are so many other obstacles in their lives.
“People think they can fit yoga into their free time, just like everything else.
"If you don’t make it into part of your life, then it won’t make it easy to establish a practise.”
Anybody can stretch their bodies and allow time to be with their thoughts, but it takes organisation and dedication. It’s up to ourselves on what we want to take from yoga as we all know ourselves best and what will work for us. Yoga is for everyone and the mental health benefits that can be taken from the practise is unmatched.
Have a go at Eniko's beginner's yoga tutorial made for hush.
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