CSY Community: Introducing Helen Hills

How did you discover yoga and how long have you practiced?

Yoga has always been a part of my life.  My mother was a yoga teacher.  She is 81 years old and still practices.  It was the 1970s and Nehru jackets and beads were the uniform. She taught yoga teachers, adults, children, and people with special needs.  She was on a yoga mission.  The first class I attended was at a school for intellectually challenged children. I was eight.  I looked different than all the other children and I felt different too.  Every child was much “better” at all the poses than I would ever be.  Yoga, from that day forward, became the great equalizer, in my own life, in my physical being, my intellectual and my emotional self.  Yoga offers a different and equitable view of the world. It balances me today and gives balance to the world around me.

As a teenager, I pushed back.  I did not attend yoga class.  Why would I? It was my mother’s thing, not mine.  I pursued swimming, canoeing, running, skiing all things moving and fast. These activities gave my young life balance. This continued until I graduated from university and I started on my adult life.  I needed a new type of balance.  I needed calm.  So I returned to my mother’s class.

Why do you continue to practice yoga?

In my 30s life’s demands increased and I had moved too far from my mother to attend her classes so the search began for a yoga teacher.  This took several years and many teachers.  I have learned that it not only is the yoga practice I need but also the right teacher, the right studio and the right philosophy. The balance needs to be just right.  A very dear and old friend teaches at Creating Space and I joined her Saturday morning class and this is where I have found balance once again.

How has yoga practice shaped or affected your life?

It has always been a part of my life in one way or another so I can’t imagine life without it.

What do you love about your yoga practice?

It is my time.

What keeps bringing you back to your mat?

The need for balance.  I will be turning 50 in a few weeks and the ability to stay in tune with my body and my inner self has become more and more important.

What is the greatest challenge that you face when you are on your mat?

Calming my mind.  It’s very easy to make lists and let my mind wander.  The discipline and focus that Yoga brings stretch both my body and my mind.

What is the greatest teaching that you have received as a result of your practice?

Yoga is not a competition, it is the great equalizer, both internally and externally.

How does your practice change from day to day or year to year?

I don’t think it does.  I still face the same challenges of flexibility I had when I was eight but I can balance like a tightrope walker.  The ability to face these challenges and triumphs over and over again is the beauty of yoga.

Why do you practice at Creating Space Yoga Studio?

The light and airy studio.  The teachers.  The fellow students.

What is your favourite asana/pose and why?

Anything that requires balance and strength.  I love Warrior poses because that’s what they make me feel like.