How do we live our best lives?

This niggling question urged me to leave a career that I loved in 2016 to re-examine my priorities. Back then, I would practice yoga everyday before work at 7am; I didn’t know much about the benefits of yoga then, only that I always left class feeling more centred and less anxious. On hindsight, yoga was the perfect reprieve from my 17-hour work days.

The magic of this practice got me increasingly curious, and as chance would have it, I made it to New York for training with Strala Yoga that year.

Strala exposed me to a new way of being and doing things that chipped away at my rigid ways. It inspired me to unlearn my habits of tension, and of linking pain to gain.

One of my favourite discoveries from training is realising that moving away from an aesthetically pleasing alignment, is totally okay! As Bernie Clarke, author of Your Body, Your Yoga, writes: “We don’t use the body to get into a pose—we use the pose to get into the body.” It’s been a recurring sentiment amongst the mentors whom I’ve had the privilege to learn from—Strala founder Tara Stiles, spine researcher Dr. Stuart McGill, Yin Yoga specialist Jo Phee and Amber Sawyer who’s been a huge resource for all things women’s health.

Today, I’m still learning how to go through life with ease, and hopefully some grace. Multiple times a day, in both the big and little things, I try to be purposeful about letting go of tension and choosing to be well.

My mat has since become a place for joy and exploration. This hasn’t always been the case—yoga to me wasn’t always about being well, in fact, it's seen so many iterations:

• Recovering-from-runners-knee yoga

• Curious-about-yoga yoga

• Escape-from-work-anxiety yoga

• Nail-all-the-poses yoga

• Move-to-feel-good yoga

It’s taken time, lots of experimenting and a big perspective shift to get to where I am today—both on and off the mat. There’s no more obsessing over results. Instead, I’m learning to savour yoga and life every step of the way.

The best thing about this journey so far? Discovering a better, more fun way to positively impact people. And at the end of the day, all I hope is that I’ve made someone’s day a little bit more special.

Keep practicing!