I constantly get asked by curious students how I started teaching yoga and why I have continued to teach for more than a decade. When I was younger, I used to tell people that I was drawn by the spirituality and the mysticism of the practice. But now, being older and a lot more realistic, I tell people that I found yoga by accident and stayed put on the mat because of the feelings of self-worth and self-love it infused in me. Yoga has been a challenge to every negative and self-depreciating mindset that I have held, and continue to hold, against myself. I grew up with chronic depression, and the ironic part was that I didn’t even know that until much recently. I now see the dark places that I could have landed up in if I hadn’t been practising and teaching yoga. Depression is characterised by severe hopelessness, sadness and a general feeling of worthlessness. How and why it is caused varies from sufferer to sufferer, but there is no pick-me-up on this planet like a holistic workout involving mind, body and spirit. The ability of the human spirit to transform and bloom, in spite of the circumstances that surround it, is truly remarkable and worth diving into. For those of us who live with depression, Simhasana is a wonderful practice that promotes deep breathing and relieves the sense of heaviness that engulfs your body and mind. There is no restriction on who can practise it and when, but if you can’t sit on your heels, sit at the edge of a sturdy chair.
Simplified Simhasana (The Lion Pose)
Come onto all fours on a yoga mat.
Bring your feet together and keep your knees apart.
Gently push your hips backward and sit up on your heels.
Place your palms shoulder-width apart on the ground, with the fingers pointing backward.
Your body will be leaning forward slightly. Open your chest by pushing your shoulders backward.
Gently arch your back.
Lift your head up and backwards. You will feel a further opening up of your chest.
Close your eyes and breathe deeply.
Open your eyes and look at your eyebrow centre.
Stick your tongue out and chant the sound “Aaa” loudly 5 to 10 times.
