Awareness in yoga is much the same, but it’s a self exploration. Centered at the core of any yoga practice, it’s all about what’s going on in the parts of your body and mind that you can’t see, but you can feel.

Consider the word pranayama. A word used to describe the various yogic breathing practices. The word prana translates to “life force” and yama means “control”. So, when we see controlling the breath as our means to control our life force, it’s clear just how powerful a practice yoga can be.

Some rules are meant to be broken, but when it comes to yoga, proper alignment isn’t one of them. Not if you want a lifetime of yoga practice, that is. The physical postures have been developed over many years to bring about maximum benefit, whilst also protecting the body throughout the practice.

You may be surprised to hear that your core is more than just the vanity muscles poking through your belly, making “engage your core” a more complex instruction than you might first think. It’s a collection of muscles and tissues from your abdomen, groin and lower back. Basically, all the stuff that’s used to manipulate your spine.

Testing our body through yoga helps us get an idea of what we’re capable of, and where our limits lie. It’s vital that we do this in order to find growth in our practice, but we’re tracking a constantly changing beast here. You may have pinned it down yesterday, but you can’t guarantee it’ll be in the same place when you go back there.

Check in with yourself regularly to enjoy the experience and smile (the cue to raise the sides of your mouth towards your ears is always helpful), and be sure to make time for the kind of yoga that brings you the most joy. If that’s 30 minutes of rolling around on your mat in Happy Baby pose every Monday evening – go for it!