Mental Health Awareness Week

It’s mental health awareness week in the Uk & today I’m so excited to share my @stillingthewaves Yoga for Anxiety workshop with so many of the students I’ve loved working with this year @tribeyoga My friend @mera.safar recently asked me the most insightful questions in an interview for a film project. One of the seemingly simplest lead to the most interesting conversation. How does yoga make you feel?

My answer is that it makes me feel whole. It helps me to let go of all the stories I reiterate to myself about the ways in which I’m broken. It brings me home to my body, away from the fears or uncertainties of my mind. It really truly does.

But before if can do that... first it has to make me feel uncomfortable. Maybe a little restless or agitated or exposed. Yoga does NOT always feel peaceful, but staying open & present in the moments of discomfort, not closing in & contracting... it is how the transformation starts.

Yoga does not always feel good, but as Pema Chodron writes, nothing ever goes away until we learn from it. Yoga is the practice of awareness, creating space for us to process & learn.

Today’s workshop at Tribe yoga will be equal parts theory & practice. Our first hour will draw on contemporary research, yoga philosophy & personal experience. Anxiety was my path to yoga & from a young age I had panic attacks. As a teacher, I’ve really tried to focus my learning on the nervous system & supporting others anxiety over the last 10 years. We will look at the physical interplay of the body & anxiety and draw on yogic frameworks for understanding the self. We will then explore different practices to initiate a calming shift in our state of being. Can’t wait!

Thank you to each & every one of you joining me today 🙏💛

📷 @yogawithpiper