What Yoga means to me… By Jacqueline Wigglesworth
Ever since I can remember I’ve had a thing about Light, which to me means the energy that makes up and connects all things, the oneness from which we came and to which we will return, which is also the same light that shines within us; I’ve also had a lifelong love for nature, and I’ve always been inquisitive and loved discovering things, through books, travels, inspiring people and general life experience.
I have also always been an adventurous free spirit, and have lived and worked on 6 continents leading environmental and community based trips and visited over 90 countries, so I have gathered a wide experience and perspective on life both through travelling externally around this beautiful world and travelling internally through books, an inquiring mind and meditation.
Discovering yoga at age 22 somehow brought it all together. I remember my first yoga lesson well. I’d always been outdoorsy and sporty but yoga felt different. It challenged me yet calmed me, but it was the feeling I had at the end of the class, a serenity – as if floating on clouds, that really did it for me. I realized then that it was much more than just physical and that’s what made me want to explore it more deeply. The word itself means union. It unites the body, mind and spirit, it united my love of philosophy, spirituality, books, travel, sport, nature and evolving. Ultimately it unites you with all that is. It was, for me, a path to Light, and portable so perfect for a nomad!
For me, yoga is a wonderful tool to enhance every area of life. It offers something for everyone as it adapts to the individual and can take you at your own pace and as deep as you want to go, giving you a healthy body, a peaceful mind and an enlightened spirit along the way. It brings balance; balance of the masculine and feminine within you, strength and flexibility, being both active and passive. So it brings that elusive quality of equilibrium and it invites you into the present moment, a very good place to be.
Yoga is not so much something that you do, as a way of life. Navigating life’s challenges as gracefully as possible, embodying love, living each day expansively, cultivating positivity, making healthy life choices, being fully yourself and letting your unique light shine from within, being self luminous, are all part of a yogi’s life, both on and off the mat. So much of my life now is naturally infused with its gifts, from my morning meditations, to breathing deeply when stressed or during turbulence on a plane to calm the nervous system, from my diet to pursuing ways to live more consciously, in harmony with Mother Earth with kindness to all beings. Yoga is a blessing in my own life and I love sharing the many benefits it offers in an authentic, joyful way to whoever wishes to discover them.
Join Jacqueline at 5pm on Sunday 21st June for Ode to the Light on our Instagram live. For the full agenda visit here.