Yoga teachers are finding out they can succeed and serve by differentiating themselves with unique offerings or, as is the case here, finding a niche and focusing on that. I’m excited to share with you my recent discovery, two incredible and fun teachers who are concentrating on hypermobile yogis.
You know who they are, the hyperflexible ones who can forward fold till the cows come home. I’m one of them. But, with everything in life, all isn’t rosy for those that seemingly can do anything effortlessly. Those wild poses that may appear to be easy for someone on the mat next to you might actually be in serious trouble of limiting the years they will practice yoga in a way that is building a strong mind, body, and spirit practice because they were born with extreme flexibility.
I found UK based Celest and Adell via Instagram and sent a quick Q&A because I’m just loving the wise, yet fun, amount of valuable tips and tools they are sharing online.
Meet Adell and Celest:
SS: How did you get interested in/started on your yoga journey?
Celest: I walked passed a yoga class and was mesmerised by all the bodies moving together. Trying yoga I realised it was a lot harder than it looked, but by then I was hooked.
Adell: Honestly Instagram and celebrity culture helped a lot! Knowing so many of the movie stars were doing yoga, and then seeing all the cool things people were doing on Instagram, I went into yoga thinking it would be both fun and healthy. And it was! But it became so much more than just physical fitness and health.
SS: How does being hyper flexible help and challenge a yoga practice?
Celest: It means we can get into any pose and make any shape. But we tend to hang in our joints which is harmful to our ligaments. This results in pain and wear and tear of the joint surface.
Adell: I really believe that there are more benefits than drawbacks. I'm not gonna lie, being naturally flexible takes a huge portion of the work out of many asanas! But the two things I deal with and have dealt with are pain in the joints, and fatigue. I know without a doubt when I've pushed myself too far, and it sucks! Because I want to keep going, especially when I see my less bendy friends carrying on in their less bendy way, but I know I have to hold back. But that's all part of what yoga gives us -- the opportunity to rise up through challenges, to allow discomfort to be our teacher, to connect body and mind.
SS: How are you helping with that?
Celest: We are educating people on how to stay active in their muscles, so the joints don't have to endure excessive strain. We also want to show people that it's just as cool being strong as it is to be bendy. Finally, we love teaching people to control their range of motion. It's one thing making a shape with your hand holding your leg in place, but can your leg hold itself?
Adell: It's just a practice of taking each day as an individual journey. Experiment with movement, breath, pace, to get to know what my body needs each day.
SS: What has yoga taught you about yourself?
Celest: It's taught me to be PATIENT.
Patient with progress, myself and others. It's helped me focus and stay centred when I'm nervous and it's given me a community of people I love!
Adell: Wow...so much. Probably the biggest thing is that mind-body connection, the ability to recognise where the body's limitations end and the mind's stories about limitations begin. It's taught me how to recognise my ego, and know that I can set that aside if it's not serving me.
SS: What has yoga taught you about life?
Celest: That everything comes to an end. Letting things go is ok. Nothing lasts forever :)
Adell: Impermanence; that nothing is ever permanent.
The challenging times and the easy times, the struggles and the fun, they will come and they will go, no matter what. And that I can be excited about discomfort, because discomfort is where we learn and grow.
Are you super flexy and need help? I know I still do. I simply thought all the praise I was getting for being able to touch my toes was incredible, all the while not building all of the necessary foundational blocks to really care for my situation long term.
Learn from my mistake(s).
Two ACL knee surgeries later, I’m wishing I would have met a yoga teacher who knew I was hypermobile. I simply didn’t know I had an unusual situation. If you can’t find help in your own neighborhood, thanks to the wonderful world of online connection, you can also connect with Celest and Adell on Facebook as well:
Namaste,
Stephanie