Authenticity

Authenticity, authentic, words we hear thrown around often nowadays, especially I have found, in the yoga world. Constant posts about ' the true self ' , 'love and light', and so on, and although these sayings/phrases do have meaning, sometimes of late I am not sure if the meaning is a little mixed up or misleading, especially when synced alongside some extremely glamourous, well edited Instagram pictures. Pictures capturing amazing asana photos, crazy postures at sunset balanced on the edge of a roof ( I mean seriously, is that available to everyone as we so often say yoga is??), or domestic bliss...magazine worthy households with children enjoying messy crafts without so much of a splodge of paint on their clothes! Amazing!!

Now, please don't misunderstand me, I have been as swept up the land of Instagram just as much as the next person, moving all my furniture to show off my calm space and forcing my amazing Photographer daughter (only 12) to take endless pictures of a pose so I can find the best one for my page, to prove I can do it amazingly... and possibly on the edge of a roof , you never know!

This has and may continue to do so, gained several followers to my Instagram page, and 'likes' on posts, but where is it really getting me?

I recently read a fabulous book by @clarepooley called 'The authenticity project' (if you have not already I highly recommend giving it a read). The story follows several characters all showing off their 'best self' yet behind the scenes are miserable and struggling to keep up the pretence.

Suddenly it hit home, that this is EXACTLY how I have been feel of late. I have been feeling drained and agitated and even yoga, my faithful go to has not been helping, and until reading this book I have been unable to figure out why, but now, I have got there. It has become a chore, it has lost its spiritual base for me and become nothing but a mass of deep poses and posts that do not really mean anything.

All this Instagram stuff is just not me! I mean, I love Instagram, of course I do, but I do not love this endless stream of meaningless posts I have somehow been feeling I need to do in order to make my yoga practice ' authentic' and yoga teacher worthy, when in reality it was far more authen