Sonder Yoga

It's not about touching your toes...

I think this puts a lot of people off trying Yoga. There is the idea that you need to able to bend yourself into a pretzel to be 'good' at Yoga. It's absolute BS! But Yoga does help improve flexibility with consistent practice and patient. I'm hypermobile, so Yoga has helped me build strength and control into my ligaments and tendons. As flexibility isn't necessarily something you 'see' like abs, or a PB in running or deadlifting, and in an world of looking good, it can fall down the list of priorities for people...but it is vital for long term health and mobility. ​

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The evidence backs this up too. Flexibility naturally declines with age — by around 10% per decade once you're past the age of 20 — and reduced range of motion is consistently linked to higher injury risk across sports, from golf and rugby to gymnastics and football. Athletes with better mobility through the hips, spine, and shoulders tend to move more efficiently and place less strain on the joints around them, which is part of why so many professional sports teams now build mobility work into regular training. Yoga won't make you injury-proof, but building flexibility is a sensible, low-risk way to support whatever else you love doing — walking the fells, running, cycling, or just everyday life.

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The breath is doing more than you think

I get it, it's a bit weird for someone to tell you to breathe. You're breathing right now and not even thinking about it. But the problem is, most of the time we're only using a small part of our lungs, and chest bringing. Shallow, short breaths. But slow, deep, controlled breathing has been shown in research to increase vagal tone and lower cortisol and heart rate — all signs of a calmer nervous system (yay). A meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials found that breathwork meaningfully reduced self-reported stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms, with slower styles of breathing showing the most benefit. So that long exhale you're guided through in class isn't just a nice moment, your nervous system is doing real work and will thank you after.

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A quieter mind

We are busy busy bees, rushing from work, kids drop off, appointments, the food shop, cleaning, driving here, it's constant, our minds are whirring with the to-do lists. In Yoga we call this noise 'chitta' or 'monkey mind' but when was the last time you just stopped? and tried to just observe this noise? A randomised controlled trial run by Oxford University, looking at yoga's meditative and breathing elements, found measurable improvements in mood and reduced perceived stress — with the effect growing stronger the more people practised. It's a nice reminder that consistency matters more than any single "perfect" session.

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Backed by more than just how it feels

I can see in my own body and mind the positive effects Yoga has had on me, but it is reassuring to see that western medicine is now backing this up through studies. The NHS itself recognises yoga as beneficial for people with high blood pressure, heart disease, aches and pains (including lower back pain), depression, and stress, and it's increasingly offered through NHS social prescribing schemes across the UK. A detailed UK-wide survey of yoga practitioners found significantly higher wellbeing, lower perceived stress, and lower BMI compared with the general population, along with more positive health behaviours overall.

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There's also evidence for heart health — a review of yoga and cardiovascular studies found it can help reduce risk factors like BMI, cholesterol, and blood pressure, and may improve blood vessel health over time.

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And in one small but fascinating study, researchers found that while grey matter volume normally declines with age, this pattern wasn't seen among long-term yoga practitioners — with certain brain regions actually larger in those with more years of practice.

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A complement, not a replacement

Sometimes people think that if you're a yoga teacher, you only do Yoga Asana. That's not true (or healthy) Yoga was always designed to sit alongside other healthy lifestyle choices; so weights, cardivasuclar movement, a good diet, sunlight, social interaction. All of these things ARE YOGA. For me, I do my yoga alongside hiking, cycling, weights, pilates and horse riding. Yoga supports all of these movements, and all of those movements support Yoga. 

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Yoga is a wonderful complement to a healthy lifestyle, whether you're a fell runner, swimmer, walker or bikr — but it isn't a replacement for medical treatment. If you have a health condition, it's always worth checking in with your GP or a specialist alongside your practice.