When Comfort Feels Like Freedom

Photo by the ever amazing @Paulfrophoto

It's amazing how yoga can transform your body image. In the last 30 years of practice I have had 3 babies and many different body shapes. During that time I have played with photos of all sorts with Paul Fro. From pregnancy + my kids to crazy yogic ones we entered into competitions. All fun and games.

But honestly the truth is that over all of these years, yoga has taught me how to love every single shape my body has taken. It is part of life. This is why I was able to get in front of the camera regardless of the body shape.

I'm lucky that yoga has created a body that does life in a fun way 3 babies later. Age is an idea. The oldest yoga teacher was 110yo. There are plenty of miles to cover, and I plan on them being fun. Start learning how to use yoga to support this amazing vehicle you will have for the duration of your life. We are designed for health. There are no 2 days that are the same. As I say on repeat, "Work with the body you woke up with". Form a relationship and be friends with it. Then one day you may want to fly with this amazing vessel.

There’s a moment — rare, quiet, unmistakable — when you stop negotiating with your body.

You’re not adjusting.

You’re not correcting.

You’re not asking, Is this okay? Do I look right? Am I doing it well enough?

You’re simply there.

In that moment, something softens.

And something else lifts.

This photo captures one of those moments for me — not because of the shape, the balance, or the strength, but because of the absence of self-consciousness. I’m not trying to look like anything. I’m not trying to prove anything. I’m not bracing against myself.

I’m at home.

Body Image Isn’t About Liking What You See

It’s about trusting what you feel.

So much of what we call “body image” is actually about control:

controlling how we look

controlling how we’re perceived

controlling the parts of ourselves we think need fixing

Yoga, when practised honestly, invites something very different.

It asks:

What happens when you stop managing your body… and start listening to it?

Strength Feels Different When It’s Not Performed

This isn’t the kind of strength that tightens or hardens.

It’s not the strength of “holding it together.”

It’s the strength that comes from:

knowing where your weight belongs

trusting your centre

allowing your arms to open without guarding

There’s a lightness that appears when effort and ease coexist.

A feeling that isn’t quite flying — but isn’t bound either.

When the Body Stops Being an Object

At some point in practice, the body stops being something you look at

and starts being something you live in.

In those moments:

the mirror becomes irrelevant

comparison loses its grip

the inner commentary goes quiet

You’re no longer a body being judged.

You’re a body being experienced.

And that changes everything.

Comfort Is Radical

Feeling comfortable in your skin isn’t passive.

It’s not complacent.

It’s not giving up.

It’s radical.

In a culture that constantly asks you to improve, refine, shrink, tone, or fix yourself, comfort is an act of trust. A refusal to keep negotiating your worth.

Yoga doesn’t give this to you overnight.

It builds it slowly, breath by breath, moment by moment — as you learn that your body is not the enemy.

Maybe Flying Was Never the Goal

Maybe what we’ve been longing for isn’t escape.

Not transcendence.

Not leaving the body behind.

Maybe it’s this:

To feel so settled inside yourself

that you forget to hold back.

So present that effort turns into play.

So embodied that freedom feels ordinary.

Not flying away —

but landing fully.

And realising that was enough all along.