Michelina, a Keyleader at Rideau Centre, was happy unrolling her mat in the back corner of the yoga studio alongside her water bottle and towel. She enjoyed yoga

Recently, when she attended Ichih Wang’s Vinyasa Flow class, Ichih encouraged her to move her mat to the centre of the room and her perspective changed in more ways than one.

move the mat

When I originally moved my mat (with Ichih’s helpful nudge), I was nervous. I was pushed out of my comfort zone and I lost the safety of my mediocre back corner spot. It turns out that it was just the push I needed to enjoy Vinyasa Flow.

When a beginner takes a yoga class or a yoga vet takes a certain class for the first time, it’s easy to take our hearts out of our practice if we’ve rolled our mats down in the back. Slipping out of the posture to try to see between the rows of Downdogs, stressing to hear an instructor leading with a quiet voice or watching those around us instead of doing yoga ourselves, can all be the result of bad mat placement.

By moving to the middle of the room, we put ourselves at the centre of the flow. We join the group and use their experience and strength in the poses to create our own tempo.

centre of the yoga studio ≠ centre of attention

When I moved into the middle of the action I was originally afraid of being watched and judged. Dressed from head to toe in my favourite lululemon gear – how dare I not be able to hold side plank like a pro?!

“No one is looking at you, don’t worry,” Ichih assured me. “They are all going through their own trials and tribulations, internal worries and physical challenges. While they are mid-practice they don’t even know you exist.”

Hold the pose, and if you can’t hold it any longer, take a deep breath and tell yourself you are strong and able to tough it out for another 3 seconds. Be proud of what you’ve achieved (be it one minute in plank or 30 seconds) and then surrender to the joy of child’s pose.

Pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone can be as simple as moving our mat or as intimidating as trying a new style of yoga. Do one thing a day that scares you - how are you going to challenge yourself to gain perspective?

Above: Elise Riddall, our People Resources Manager, with her little one.

I was reading a fiction novel the other day, and in it a wise old Irishman said: "It's not that youth is wasted on the young, but that the young waste youth!" That got me thinking. Is this true? I'm sure that no one sets out to deliberately waste their youth, but somehow all of us find ourselves getting old and wondering where our youth went.

So how do you make sure that at the end of the day, you can look back and say you lived life to its fullest potential?

One way is to make today count for something. This is a quote someone recently shared with me: "This is the beginning of a new day. You have been given this day to use as you will. What you do today is important because you are exchanging a day of your life for it…let it be something good". – Unknown

Do something today that scares you. Do something today worth remembering tomorrow. It doesn't have to be big.

Another way is to just slow down a bit. We seem to always be rushing onto the next phase of life, and we miss what's going on in the moment. Once it's gone, it's gone, so don't miss it! Learn to be present in the moment. Otherwise, you may find yourself wishing you hadn't wasted your youth. (Youth is relative, by the way.)

Country Western music artist Trace Adkins has a song out right now that says it pretty simply: "You're Gonna Miss this". Check out his video at: http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/TraceAdkins/Youre-Gonna-Miss-This--58666527