Yoga & The Power of Intuitive Movement

Photography by Sarah Halwani

When I first discovered yoga, I didn’t have a very healthy relationship with working out. I would workout at my campus gym, spending time on the treadmill or eliptical and lifting weights not because I enjoyed it and it made me feel good, but because I felt like I had to in order to find happiness with my physical appearance. I had been curious about yoga, and eventually made my way to a free yoga class on campus while I was studying abroad in Switzerland… I was instantly obsessed.

After that first class, I felt amazing… so rejuvenated and relaxed. I went back to my dorm and started researching and reading every article I could find on yoga… the history of the practice, the different styles, anything. From there, for the rest of my time in college, I made yoga part of my routine (mostly finding videos online because I was a broke college student and couldn’t really afford to practice at a studio!) but still spent time at the gym because again, I thought that was what I “had” to do.

After college, this pattern continued… but living and working a real job in New York City, I was finally able to start taking classes at studios regularly, which really started to “open the doors” for me. Not only did I feel great physically, but I felt shifts starting to happen in my mental and emotional state, too. And not just because I was seeing the “results” I was looking for, but because something deep inside of me was changing, too… something that I couldn’t see, but could feel. Yoga was starting to become so much more than a way to get in shape for me… it was truly starting to become a lifestyle.

Part of the reason this shift happened, and one of the many reasons I love yoga so much that I decided to become a yoga teacher, is because yoga gives us the permission to move intuitively. Unlike other forms of physical fitness, yoga gives us options… to go deeper if we can, pull back when we need to (and also teaches us to know the difference) and gives us so many options in between.

Yoga invites us to be present on our mat, listen to our body in the moment and move through our practice based on how we’re feeling now. Not how we felt in class yesterday, not how far we think we should into a certain pose and most importantly, not based on what the person next to us is doing. It’s all about moving in a way that’s best for you, right here, right now. It gives us the permission to make the decision that’s best for us, for our body. It recognizes that the teacher may know how to cue a pose or sequence safely, but that the students are each their own true teacher, and for that reason, they should make the final call in whether or not to do or not do a certain pose.

I always tell my students that my instruction is really just an invitation, and to never do anything that doesn’t feel good in their bodies. That they could sit in child’s pose or lay in savasana for the entire class, and that would be perfectly okay with me if that’s what they truly needed in that moment. But I also invite them to push themselves. To find their edge. To go a little further than they think they can, but to pull back and soften if they move past the “good hurt”.

Intuitive movement isn’t exclusive to yoga! It can be pushing yourself a little farther than normal on a run. It can be taking a day off to recover. It can be opting to stretch or go for a walk instead of going to your normal high intensity workout. It looks different for every person, every day. I think that’s pretty freakin’ amazing.

But… the intuitive movement that happens on the mat (or during another workout) isn’t even the best part. In my opinion, the best thing that happens when we learn to listen to our bodies and move mindfully is how this translates off of the mat. In yogic tradition, the physical practice, or asana, is only one of the eight (yes, eight!) limbs of yoga, which means that the benefits we see and feel during a class are only the beginning.

Learning to move intuitively through the postures and sequences helps us to move intuitively through our day-to-day life. Yoga shows us that it’s possible to tune in and ask for guidance from ourselves, and know that our intuition, that gut feeling, is almost always right. It teaches us to be less judgmental and show ourselves more compassion. Most importantly, it reminds us to meet ourselves where we are at now and find acceptance with the present, while still being able to set goals and move forward from a place of love rather than self-loathing.

So, I’ll leave you with this: Listen to your body, it knows what it needs better than you do. Listen to your gut. 9 out 10 times, it’s right. Be gentle with yourself. Give yourself time and space to just be every now and then. Don’t judge yourself when you need some downtime (from anything). The more we listen, the more we slow down, the more we will learn.

xo,
Kelsey