What yoga has taught me about climbing mountains

In yoga you learn about the importance of prana, the sanskrit word for ‘life force’.

Pranayama is the word given to breathing exercises that help us to keep our prana in balance.

Breath is the foundation of yoga, and you're encouraged to perform sequences and hold poses in time with your own inhalations and exhalations.

A good teacher will help you to connect with your breath and use it to strengthen your practise. Most of us spend our days breathing into our chest or throat; yoga has showed me the power (and joy) of breathing deeply into my expanding belly.

Society condemns women for their bellies, so we suck them in, unwittingly sucking the life out of ourselves. 

I've been in so many yoga classes where teachers have had to actively encourage people to let their bellies get bigger because they have a class full of women determined to keep their stomachs taut at all costs. 

And so to the jungle, where I faced a seven-hour hike in oppressive heat, including a two-hour steep uphill section that felt like it might never end.

Reflecting on the day before, I realised I'd put pace ahead of listening to my body, which is why I'd ended up exhausted on the side of the road, convinced I'd bitten off more than I could chew.

And when I say listen, I mean listen. I resolved not to go faster than my breath would allow me to. As soon as I could hear myself puffing and panting, I eased my pace until my breath was smooth once again.

This had two major effects:

1 - I fell far behind the group

2 - my confidence in my ability to complete the trek increased. 

When I say I fell behind, I don't mean just my group, I fell behind every single person walking the path that day.

A few years ago, this would have felt like a disaster, the inevitable result of my body not being small or fit enough to keep up, an embarrassing personal failure.

But not today. Today I knew my body would see me through as long as I worked with it and not against it. 

Today I stopped to rest and to embrace my unique surroundings. Today I enjoyed my solitude in an incredible place, and when I got really tired and every step felt heavy, I'd plug in my headphones and let myself be carried along by Beyoncé or Rhianna.

I wasn't always alone, one of the guides would be assigned to the back of the group, which essentially meant me, as Emily kept pace with the group (well done, Em!). 

So I spent time with Roberto or Bleiner, making conversation in Spanglish and generally larking about. 

It was an incredibly physically demanding day, but I rolled into camp eventually. 

The only shame in being at the back is that which you pour on yourself, and I'm done with all that.