GUEST BLOG WRITTEN BY EDITOR AND ROCKET YOGA TEACHER VICTORIA WOODHALL (@victoriawoodhall)
January 09, 2024
New Year, New You!
Credit: www.victoriawoodhall.com
MAKE YOGA A HABIT FOR 2024
Thinking of getting into yoga? As with fashion, it took me a little while to find my yoga ‘fit’, but once I did, it set me on a positive path for life – and I hope you’ll join me on my January Yoga Reset course.
For years friends and colleagues suggested I try yoga; I wore my stress on my sleeve and this was their polite way of telling me to do something about it. As a young journalist, I didn’t have the tools to manage what we’d now call my mental health, and I was teetering on the edge of burnout. Back then, 20 years ago, there weren’t as many types of yoga on offer, but when I stumbled upon a dynamic flow class, I walked out a different person. It was the perfect remedy to calm my racing mind. While I hadn’t a clue what I was doing – I certainly couldn’t touch my toes – I hadn’t thought about work, or been lured into anxious thought loops, because moving in new and challenging ways demanded all my concentration.
Over the years, I’ve seen how yoga not only gets you stronger and steadier physically but helps regulate your emotions and calm your mind too. Most recently I’ve been teaching chakra yoga (see right) which is just one of many ways yoga can help you tune into you and help you feel better in your body. It’s the perfect adaptogenic practice: if you’re anxious it can help calm you down. If you are feeling low and lacking in energy it can give you a boost.
Instagram might lead you to believe that doing pretzel poses equals being ‘good at yoga’. Let’s scotch that myth right now! Flexibility is not an entry requirement - although things will soon start to shift on that front. Flexibility comes as a by-product. The most important thing is how it makes you feel. If you can move and breathe, you can do yoga and I hope that if you’ve been meaning to try it, I can help you fall in love with it. I promise you will feel your energy begin to shift in the very first class.
DISCOVER CHAKRA DRESSING
One way we can balance out our energy in yoga is via the chakras. But what are they? In yoga, they are spinning energy centres (chakra means wheel) situated at ‘hubs’ in the body that correspond to nerve plexuses – areas of major organs where there is a lot going on! Each corresponds to a different aspect of ourselves and has specific poses and a specific colour. It’s said that surrounding yourself in that colour, or even dressing yourself in it – can be a way to energise that aspect of you too.
We have paired the 5 major chakras and their colours with items of our Autumn/Winter Collection:
Join Victoria's 4-week online Yoga and Nutrition Reset in January or read more at victorialwoodhall.com (no yoga experience necessary)!
