In India, yoga is a very broad term that refers to any practice that helps cultivate a greater sense of self awareness and understanding. Most of the yoga practised in the West is based on sets of physical positions and breathing techniques that, whatever the style, are all traditionally referred to as hatha yoga.

My teacher Diane Long studied for 23 years with the late Vanda Scaravelli, who was a student of three of India’s best known teachers. The yoga teachers BKS Iyengar and TKV Desikachar, and the philosopher J Krishnamurti. Scaravelli taught ways of bringing more awareness to what is happening inside us as we practice, which encourage the body to unravel into yoga positions from within rather than having to be pushed or pulled into them from without.

One of the difficulties of learning yoga is the temptation to stretch further into positions than our body is yet able to be comfortable in. However satisfying this might feel, it can create tension, disturb our breathing and have an un-grounding effect on the body. Paradoxically, as we learn how to push less, our bodies can find ways to work harder and deeper, as those areas within us that are weakest and tightest learn how to release and realign.

Working in this way also helps cultivate a more meditative awareness of ourselves. As we learn how to be where we are, rather than trying to get somewhere that we aren’t, we become more sensitive to our experience of each moment which is, in itself, both restorative and transformative.