Yoga Evolves With Us: Finding My Own Path as a Teacher

When I first started practicing yoga over 24 years ago, I was traveling, uncertain where life would take me. Yoga was something I carried with me, an anchor in the unknown, a quiet practice that felt like home, no matter where I rolled out my mat. I had no plans to settle down. I was going to keep moving, keep exploring. But then, as life often does, it surprised me. I fell in love.

That didn’t change my love for yoga.

But over the years, my yoga practice changed with me. When I became a mother, yoga was no longer long, uninterrupted practices, it became something I squeezed in between nap times, something I returned to in moments of exhaustion or chaos. My practice softened. It became about survival, about grounding, about keeping a piece of myself while navigating the incredible, all-consuming journey of motherhood.

And now, as I step into another evolution, navigating menopause, embracing new rhythms, redefining strength, my practice has changed again. I have changed again. And this is what I wish more people understood:

Yoga is not a rigid path. It moves with us. It evolves as we do.

The Modern Yogi & The Social Media Trap

If you look at Instagram today, you’ll see a thousand versions of what it means to be a “true yogi.” Some accounts tell us that yoga should never be sold, that it should be free and accessible to all. Others preach that to be a yogi means to live a certain way, to eat a certain diet, to practice only traditional postures, to dedicate your life entirely to the teachings.

And then there are the aesthetic yoga pages, the ones with perfect handstands on the beach, poetic captions about enlightenment, and an effortless glow that suggests this is what yoga is supposed to look like.

It’s easy to get lost in it all.

It’s easy to sit back and think, Am I doing this wrong? Am I not yogic enough?

Because here’s the truth; I don’t live like a monk. I lift weights. I fuel my body in the way that feels best for me. I don’t wake up at sunrise to meditate every morning. I am a mum, a wife, a woman, a friend. I am living a full, messy, real life.

But does that make me less of a yogi?

What Yoga Really Is

I don’t believe that yoga is about fitting into a mould. It’s not about following a checklist of what makes a “true yogi.” It’s not about performing enlightenment for social media.

To me, yoga is how I show up in the world.

• It’s how I treat others.

• It’s how I honour my body and my energy.

• It’s how I continue to learn and grow.

• It’s how I create space for people to reconnect with themselves.

Yoga is not about how it looks. It’s about how it feels.

Teaching From the Heart, Not the Algorithm

I don’t teach yoga to build a brand or gain thousands of followers. I don’t dream of running a yoga empire or being an influencer. I teach because I love it. Because I believe in it. Because I know, in my heart, that yoga is for every body.

Not the most flexible body.
Not the most spiritual body.
Not the “perfect” yoga body.

Every. Body.

A Love Letter to the Modern Yogi

So, to the yoga teacher who wonders if they’re doing it right, if they’re “yogic enough,” if they’re sharing yoga the way they’re supposed to, this is for you.

You don’t have to fit into a mould to be a yogi. You don’t have to be vegan. You don’t have to live a minimalist lifestyle. You don’t have to dedicate every waking moment to your practice.

Yoga is not about perfection. It’s about presence.

If you are teaching from the heart, if you are holding space for others, if you are honouring your own practice in a way that feels authentic to you, then you are exactly where you are meant to be.

So let’s drop the pressure. Let’s stop comparing. Let’s remember that yoga is something alive, something personal, something that evolves as we do.

And that, that is enough.