Turns out, it’s not about fitness goals or touching your toes. Teacher and owner of downtime.yoga, Rachael Down, explains why we need to stretch our thinking of what yoga really is and start living better.

• Why yoga?
• Surely it’s just another exercise fad?
• How is it different from other workouts?
• Yoga isn’t about touching your toes

I’ve always enjoyed moving my body. From gymnastics and dance to hiking and snowboarding, I turn to exercise as a way to express and move through the changing currents of my life.

My commitment to yoga began as a root to finding myself. A place away from the reflections of the mirrored bar in ballet, a space to detach from the comparisons of others. Like Aladdin’s magic carpet, my mat is the spot I can ground myself on, the place I use to check in with myself and distinguish the external from my inner workings. It’s a tool for mental and physical health; a practise that encourages awareness and a route to building strength and flexibility, while incorporating the wondrous simplicity of the steadying breath.

It adds a depth of self-sovereignty and patience I have not experienced within any other sport. That’s why I’m here and writing this today. Whether you’re new to yoga or a life long student, I’m grateful that you’re reading this.

I hope this post and my teachings will offer you a glimpse of the passion and empowerment yoga has brought to my world as well as inspire you to start where you are and try the ancient traditional Indian techniques and tools that help create space for you.

I began yoga while scattered. I didn’t sleep well, I found it difficult to concentrate for even short periods, I had no focus.

My yoga practise was one way to get me out of my depression. Get me moving. Pausing those thoughts and just being me for that time.

Then it became a necessary part of my daily routine. The one healthy axis to my mental and then physical health that would keep me living. I didn’t know it then, but yoga would be lifeline in the years that followed.

Why is yoga different to other exercises or fads?

Primarily, I think it’s the fact that it keeps you rooted to the present moment.

Once you learn to let go of comparing yourselves to others, what you used to do, previous events or times ahead, you are free to concentrate on the here and now.

Downtime.yoga

My asana yoga practise was the first space I had where I allowed myself to be.

It was tough. And it still is challenging. From day-to-day niggles, thought, mood and mind fluctuations to where I’m at in the menstrual cycle, where I have physical stiffness or lightness; the variables are constant and ever-changing. But that’s part of the game. That’s part of the fun. It’s true, the 8 limbs of yoga don’t change. Just you and your perception. Then your heart rate, your cells, your wellbeing. Your posture, your poise, the way you walk into a room. Your patience, your relationships, your connection with yourself and then others.

Yoga teaches perseverance. Awareness of where your body is at that exact time, what it can do in that position and in that angle and how by using the breath and taking a pause, you can calm, adjust and stretch further than you’d ever have hoped.

My favourite classes don’t have fancy names, expensive incense or all the glitz and glamour. There’s no need for the gallant studios or posh yoga mats and accessories. No, the classes that truly touch my soul are the ones where you lose all consciousness of space, time and society.

Instead you focus inwards and tune in to your heart beat, your breath, your alignment, your abilities. And then, just like a puppet or a wifi controlled doll, you surrender to it. Allowing yourself to be guided into positions, postures and mindsets you didn’t know existed.

---

And then there’s the calm. The space. The clarity. That’s the reward, that’s the aftermath. 

The practise and the real challenge is consistency. Making the commitment to yourself to keep turning up. To return to the mat and to yourself. Through this, you see and feel the change. It’s gradual, it’s routine, it’s rewarding. 

Unlike all the other workouts and physical practises I’ve tried and committed to – gymnastics, spinning, weight lifting, running, cross-fit – the physical changes are a byproduct. And by focusing on where you are in the here and now through the practise of aligning your mind with your body and breath you’ll create health. You feel your wellbeing. You’ll sculpt your legs, tone your arms, carve out that six pack. And without the obsessive desire that’s driven by the ego of wanting to look a certain way. Without the jealousy of not having this, not being like that. You’ll develop strength that’s equal to your flexibility and in the process create the body and mind you’ve craved and seen without the need for photoshop, surgery or force.

You’ll want to eat well and not as a means to an end. You’ll eat fresh, appropriate portions because you can finally understand and listen to your body’s signals. You feel the tensions and then you can stretch through them. You’ll notice the hunger and satiate it. You’ll learn the difference between eating to live and living to eat. You’ll find pride. You’ll practice patience and appreciation. You’ll understand gratitude. You’ll start noticing that you are enough, you are worthy and you are complete. Right where you are, right in that moment. Right where you are. 

For me and millions of others, yoga isn’t about touching your toes. It’s not solely about how you move your body and it’s certainly not limited to the asanas or positions that you put yourself in on your mat. Yoga is the whole package. It unites all the aspects of yourself. It’s unapologetically inclusive. It’s whole, it’s holistic. And it’s why you need to experience it yourself. 

If there’s one gift you could give yourself, one resolution you could make to avoid the anxious depressive cycle, it’s to step away from the propaganda of diet culture and step onto the mat. 

Yoga is the route to your best self. Take the first step and book a class to see and experience it yourself. You won’t be disappointed.