Getting High on Your Own Supply
Getting high on your own supply
We are complex beings. But what we actually need to feel happy is very simple.
Cleary I’m no scientist.
In Year 8 I once got the highest mark in the class on a Science test. This was a complete random freak occurrence, never to be repeated. I have no idea how I did it but the teachers were suitably impressed and insisted on plonking me into the top tier for maths and science. This was the last time I got a decent mark. I was in way over my head. All the numbers and symbols and equations turned to dancing unicorns before my eyes and I realised pretty quickly I didn’t care about why things worked. I was just happy they did.
So fast forward about a million years and I’m lying on my favourite beach between classes thinking about how amazing my life is.
The thing about yoga is it teaches you how to be your own massage therapist, counsellor, dietician, physio ~ healer in every sense of the word. I’m not saying we don’t need external support. Of course we do, but I’ve seen so many people (myself included) become reliant on that external thing.
When you start practicing yoga you stop outsourcing health and happiness to someone else and put the ball firmly back in your own court. As my friend Jules says, you plug back into your own power source. You learn how to get high off your own supply! These happy hormones are constantly being produced, they’re free and totally renewable. What’s not to love?
Happy Hormones
oxytocin, the love hormone. every time you get an assist or a savasana massage or someone puts a blanket on you, or you hug your friend or me at yoga bam you’re mainlining oxytocin. This hormone also comes out of the earth when you til the soil and there’s not much in this world more beautiful than that.
Dopamine, the reward chemical. You know that feeling when you finally do the thing you’ve been putting off? Whether that’s go to the dentist, hang the picture that’s been sitting in the hallway forever, tidy your underwear drawer, brush the cat, do your tax return. You feel so good!! Right?! Yoga is like that. You’ve been putting off coming to class. You think it’s going to be hard so you put it off more. You’re less likely to come. Every time you put it off a little part of you dies. The dopamine stops firing. You feel shit. We’ve all been there. Luckily it’s easy to flip this the other way, come to class! I 💯 guarantee it will be easier than you thought and you’ll wonder why you were so scared. Dopamine overload. You’re welcome.
Seretonin, the feel good mood stabiliser you get from meditation, sunlight and nature therapy. In every class we start with meditation (either seated or lying down) and we end with meditation (mostly lying down, hi Savasana!). Meditation boosts serotonin. Bonus points if you go for a swim or walk after yoga!
Endorphins, that high you get after exercise - hello sweaty flow class. If you’ve ever been to a Progressive or Soul Flow class you’ll know we work up a lot of heat. Yes you’re absolutely encouraged to go at your own pace and rest as often as you need, but moving through relatively complex postures dynamically, specifically working into the big muscles in the legs with lots of standing postures, and building core strength with arm balances, builds heat. These faster paced classes are an amazing cardiovascular work out. That’s one reason why you feel so amazing after.
That’s why a yoga practice in a studio is so bloody amazing. You get high on your own supply!