Navishka Yoga

11/05/2022

Hello! I'm back 👋🏼 after 9 months of extreme pregnancy sickness and 6 months of juggling a new life with a newborn and toddler - I've come back to my mat.

It seems like a long time for a yoga teacher or someone who had a daily practice to stop almost completely for 15 months. Every day since I held the pause button on my practice I've thought about yoga. Every single day. I've been dreaming of getting back onto my mat. But for some reason I couldn't get there.

For the first 9 months it was definitely my sickness holding me back - not being able to really function as a human full stop. For the next 6 months it was this guilt of leaving my babies for a 'selfish' one hour.

Today just felt like the right day. I put on latest YouTube class. I started and ended the practice in Savasana in tears. Tears of happiness! Feeling like I was back where I belonged, and back to myself - or at least a little closer to myself.

I may not be able to dedicate an hour a day like I used to. My body may not move the same way. My body definitely doesn't look the same way as you can see my tummy rolls and loose skin from housing and nursing my two babies. But when told me to find peace and happiness today at the end of practice, I actively did so and felt good. I feel a little more accepting of myself today after a long time.

I guess this is why we practice 🕊

07/10/2021

Silence here and stillness on the mat for about 30 weeks. Hello! My little breech baby has caused some panic and stress but ironically got me back on my mat. Her stubbornness has reminded me to find acceptance and surrender in the present moment.

“Some people believe holding on and hanging in there are signs of great strength. However, there are times when it takes much more strength to know when to let go and then do it.” -Ann Landers

29/07/2021

30/03/2021

I've always been told I'm too sensitive, too emotional. I need to toughen up or get a thicker skin. I get too worked up.
I need to care less. After what is probably alot of well-meant feedback, I had become ashamed of my emotions, of feeling too much.

As I worker deeper into my yoga practice, I came to realise that just like on the mat, we need softness, we need to feel from our heart and allow it to be felt in its truest form. In fact in yoga, flexibility and softness have so much power.

Just like our humble w**d next to the big tree in the storm, perhaps my emotions and sensitivity allow me to bend and weather the storm - just not the same way a big sturdy tree would. I can process and feel and come out alive and more aware, more conscious.

I will always encourage my son to feel from his heart, to never fear emotion.
I will tell him that to feel intensely is not a sign of weakness, it is the trademark of the truly alive and compassionate.

16/03/2021

Self explanatory 🙏🏼

16/03/2021

When studios closed during the pandemic, I really had no idea how I would practice. The studio was always my space - somewhere I could focus on my practice, without distraction, in a clean, quiet room with other students, all of us generating some kind of beautiful vibration together. I had to just find a way to practice at home, with a toddler, and a husband working in the room next door. I had little room to practice, and found it hard to focus. I was so upset that this sacred space and practice of mine had been taken away from me.

Over time, I found little ways to find a new normal - noise cancelling earphones, opening the balcony door to feel the beautiful breeze, and seeing this new challenge as an opportunity to deepen my practice towards mindfulness (all the houses around us seemed to want to renovate during this time, so the lovely jack hammer became part of my background music).

I also acknowledged that on those days where I felt super frustrated, I just accepted and allowed myself to be frustrated. Slowly and with some patience, I realised I didn’t need a studio and absolute silence to feel, to breathe, to practice. I now love to practice at home, on my own, with that beautiful breeze and serene sounds of the jack hammer that I can somehow hear from the 18th floor.

Featuring an flow 🤸🏽‍♀️

16/03/2021

Yesterday something happened that felt a little crushing and derailing. Like most people, I went straight to the conclusion that things were over for that part of my life.

Negative thoughts and tears came in.
Then today I sat down to meditate. With a clear mind I took to my new-ish and attempted daily practice of journalling (which is really just scribbling anything onto a scrap piece of paper). I wrote down what I wanted to find acceptance with - acceptance of the situation and of where I am in life. Then I wrote down what I wanted to prioritise in life for myself or for my career - what was most important to me. It certainly wasn't being in a senior management role, or earning a certain figure. This is what I wrote down...

1) Work life balance and being able to spend enough time with family;
2) Feeling fulfilled and valued;
3) Enjoying what I do, despite the ups and downs, having an overall feeling of contentment and happiness and wanting to work hard because I'm excited by it, not because I am forced to.

I've realised and accepted that I don't need to learn how to climb the corporate ladder, or to build what others see as a successful career.

Instead, I need to learn how to be happy, how to heal myself from pain, how to love myself, how to sit with uncomfortable feelings, how to connect with others on a deep level, how to know when enough is enough, how to speak to myself with love and acceptance, how to rest, and how to give myself space to know myself.
This is what will make me look back on life with no regrets.

I need to pursue THIS, no matter what it looks like to anyone else.

16/03/2021

If you don't bend, you break. Just like the little w**d sitting by the big tree in a river flood. While the tree, strong but rigid, was pulled down by the force of the flood, the w**d bent down and flattened herself so the water could run over her.

We can learn to be flexible with our body through yoga, over time and with patience. So we can also learn to be flexible with our mind through meditation, over time and with patience.

16/03/2021

In yoga, we are always beginners. Every time we step on the mat, we encounter new challenges, new openings, maybe face fears, maybe make a new shape with our bodies. No matter how much you think you’ve mastered an asana, there is always more to explore.
Next time you practice a familiar asana, I invite you to notice or take yourself to the unfamiliar. What feels different? What can you do to make it feel different? Does that feel good? Allow yourself to explore something new or different in an all too familiar space.