Apparently, this is a popular search on Google, and as someone who’s been practicing yoga for twenty-five years, let me say, yes! Yoga is VERY boring if you are uninterested in who you are, what makes you tick, what’s blocking you, what you do when you feel afraid, confronted, or challenged, the quality of your inner voice, the state of the relationship you’re having with yourself which impacts all the relationships in your life, and whether you’re able to offer up your particular gifts in this lifetime, or not so much. If those things are not interesting to you, then yes, yoga is super boring!

If, on the other hand, you find those things compelling, then yoga is the LEAST boring thing I know. If you think you’d like to shift some things about the way you’re moving through the world, take a compassionate look at the stories you may be telling yourself which might or might not be true, heal some very old, very raw places within you that lead you to make choices that bring you heartache, then yoga is going to be very interesting to you.

The Biggest Misconception about Yoga

I think people who worry that they might be bored in a yoga class are the people who have misconceptions about what yoga is. Do I have to be ultra-spiritual and wear mala beads and chant while playing my sitar in the forest eating nothing but chia seeds all day with my ankles tucked neatly behind my head, and a beatific smile on my face? Um, nooooo. Anyone who describes himself or herself as “ultra spiritual” has gotten lost along the way. They may have taken a turn on “I Take Myself Way Too Seriously” Lane, and hopefully they’ll find their way back to “Let’s Get it Together” Road, because that’s what it’s about. Yoga is a practice that is all about coming home to yourself.

What Yoga Really Is…

“Svadhyaya” means self-study. If you want to feel comfortable in your own skin, you can’t be a mystery to yourself, right? If you want to figure out what fulfills you, makes you feel inspired and of use, gives you that reason to bound out of bed in the morning feeling grateful for another day, you can’t be stuck in the quagmire of your past, or the litany of things you might fear about your future. Yoga is a practice that trains us to be present and engaged with the moment, with the now of your now, because there really isn’t any other time. It teaches us to breathe steadily, creating a foundation of calm. It gives us the tools to be responsive instead of reactive. It teaches us to be patient with ourselves, and others, because most of us are just doing the best we can. Yoga, if you practice all eight limbs, is a way of being and of moving through the world with ease, grace and strength. Yoga teaches us not to think we’ve got it all figured out even if we’ve done triangle pose a million times, because we’ve never done it before in this moment. Yoga teaches us to listen deeply, and to be curious about our process, instead of attached to a particular outcome.

There is no handbook for life, no hack that’s going to tell you everything, no red pill or blue pill that’s going to determine your future. However, there is this amazing practice which is the best system I’ve found for living life in a way that feels good, and offering up the very best of yourself. If that sounds boring to you, you should definitely not click the link below. Otherwise, want to try it with me right now?

Sending you love, and wishing you peace!

Ally Hamilton