What's In It For Me?

This past week I posed the following question to my students:

What keeps you coming back onto the mat, week in and week out?

If you're like many people, what initially brought you to yoga has changed. You might have stepped into your first class because you were curious; or you heard that yoga makes you more flexible; or that it helps to ease tension and lower anxiety; that you have back pain and need to improve your core strength and flexibility; or you might have thought that yoga could help improve your balance.

When I first stepped onto a yoga mat, some 18 years ago, I was simply curious. My practice began at the University of Melbourne where they offered short courses throughout the semester. One of those courses happened to be yoga and they were PACKED! Jammed packed in fact. I began to wonder, "why are all these people going to yoga? I've got to check it out".

At that time, yoga was completely foreign. Every pose sounded the same-blah, blah-asana. I realized that parts of my body were wound really tight (ahem...said my hips). My instructor, Murray, had a glimpse into my future and said, "Jayne, you should teach yoga..." to which I replied, "I'm not interested. I teach everything else. I want to just do yoga for myself".

That was my initial reason that I kept going back to the mat. But, 18 years later things have changed. Yoga now is the foundation upon which I choose to live my life. As my knowledge and practice has grown, the realization that yogic philosophy has given me the foundation by which I live moment to moment and day to day. It's evolved from being an activity that I did a couple of times each week to a way of life. And the funny thing is, is that I never would have anticipated this evolution the first time Murray uttered the words, "stand with your feet together with the crown of your head lifting to the sky".

My curiosity continues to intrigue me. Why do my students keep coming back to the mat? Here are some of their reasons:

1. "It reminds me to exhale. Before I started doing yoga, I had no awareness around how my breath moved. Coming to yoga reminds me to exhale".

2. "It keeps me strong both in body and mind".

3. "I walk in feeling one way and leave feeling completely different. No matter what is happening in my world, how busy or chaotic or stressed I am, the moment I come into class it all fades into the background".

4. "To be in front of a teacher. To receive and learn".

5. "To be with the energy of the group. I feel this positive vibration when I'm with everyone else in class".

6. "The feeling at the end of the class where you feel energized, as though you've expended energy and yet feel completely relaxed".

7. "My yoga practice is a sanctuary. When I step onto my mat, it's all about me with no need to impress or compete with somebody else".

8. "It connects me to that deeper part of me that I'm too busy to acknowledge when I'm doing my daily activities".

9. "To connect to myself, to my teacher and to my community of fellow yoga practitioners".

So, I'm asking you. What keeps you coming to the mat? If you haven't started your practice yet, what's keeping you off the mat?

I would love to hear what you have to say. Feel free to share your experience!