The Art of Journaling: A Yoga Teacher's Perspective.

Inside Someone Else’s Notebook - Amanda of Unique Yoga.

Hi, I'm Amanda and I love to use a journal as part of my daily personal and professional practice.

How I Started Journaling

I first began writing a diary during my yoga teacher training when we were encouraged to make notes during our lectures and practices. More specifically, we were encouraged to take notes of reflections about how the postures and practices felt in our bodies and what kind of effect they had on us.

That's when I first started to use a journal. How that's evolved now is in more of my personal yoga practice. I understand the profound effect that yoga practice can have on us and very often can leave us with feelings and thoughts that maybe don't necessarily need acting on. But there's definitely some requirement to spend time and reflect on them after the practice. They might be useful, or I might never look at them again, or I might take time to reflect on them later.

Journaling As A Yoga Teacher

In terms of professionally working with others, I use the journal to plan and draft out notes of where I think I'd like a session to go. When I'm doing something specific like the Moon membership, I'll journal with my students. I might give journal prompts and ask them to reflect and answer questions, but I'll also use that journal at the same time. It becomes a two-way thing.

We work together. Sometimes we share, sometimes we don't. It just depends how things are going. Obviously, journaling is a very personal, very private thing to do. So there's never any pressure, but students are encouraged to use it as I was as a student, to reflect on the practice and notice the effects of the practices on the body, the mind, and the heart.

My Journal Style

I have a journal made by the lovely Michaela. I need the bigger size because I like to draw out my lesson plans and sketches. I very often use my journal horizontally because sometimes when I'm writing I feel I don't want my hand to come off the bottom of the page.

But it's very rough. I never have any expectations or put any pressure on myself to keep it particularly neat. I'm a big believer in lots of free journaling. Sometimes personally, if my head is very full and I need to do a bit of a brain dump, I will sit down pencil to paper. I like pencil, I like to work in pencil.

Just write. At first that can feel a bit strange because you think, "I don't know what I'm going to write about." But definitely once the pencil goes down, things just flow. And it doesn't have to make any sense, but if I'm in need of that brain dump and I put pencil to paper, let it flow, I very often feel a sense of relief. It's kind of having a friend to offload onto, and you know that it's not doing anybody any harm. It's doing you massive help actually.

My Journaling Routine (or Lack Thereof)

I don't really have a routine when it comes to journaling. Obviously apart from when I'm teaching and when I use it specifically in the moon membership, that directed time for reflection and journaling. Personally, it's just as and when. I always try to take it with me wherever I go.

Particularly when I'm going away, I don't like to be away from it for too long, and if I don't have it for whatever reason, I'll just use my phone to make notes as well. Because there can be that sudden urge to brain dump or to make a note of something that feels relevant and important—an observation in the body or a thought or even an action that you want to take. So no routine, it's kind of just taking it with me, having it on hand, and then I can literally just scribble or scroll whatever I need to do.

Journaling on Yoga Retreats

On our yoga retreats, we always provide a journal for the students. They're always gifted to them at the beginning of the retreat. There's never an expectation that they have to use them, but they are encouraged to bring them to class. At the end of different classes, they're encouraged to spend some time reflecting on how they feel and making notes in their journals if they want to. They never have to share what's in them. It's just there for them as a tool to use if they want.

There are so many different types of yoga practices, especially on the retreat. You'll notice that some students will journal after one style of practice, maybe after a nidra, while others will journal after the more dynamic Vinyasa class. Yoga affects us all and works with us all in different ways. Sometimes people don't use their journals at all. Sometimes people will say, "Amanda, I actually just want to take it home with me and I want to use it for another purpose." And that's absolutely fine as well, of course.

The Ideal Journaling Environment

The dream scenario where I would be with my journal would probably be just somewhere quiet, somewhere warm. It's got to be warm. Maybe with a fire or a lit candle, maybe with an incense. And at the same time, it's not always realistic.

Sometimes I will be in the car or out on a walk and hopefully if I've managed to take it with me or I'm using my phone instead, it doesn't really matter. You know, you don't have to have all those things around us. As we say in yoga, we have everything we need within us. We can have this idea to create this perfect space and this perfect ritual and routine, but life doesn't always work like that. So kind of just go with the flow with it really.

Sometimes there's a space where some time can be set aside and a candle can be lit and a blanket can be snuggled into, but in reality, it's just grab it when you need it. Personally, professionally it's there more strategically for a more deliberate purpose. But there's no ideal there. It just happens when it happens, sometimes when it's needed most.

Using My Journal as a Yoga Teacher

As a yoga teacher on the whole, mostly all of my classes get practiced physically and then jotted down. There's a sketch as an outline in my journal about what that class could look like, how I envisage that class is going to work. During the class, that can change. So I can refer to my notes in the journal, but something might have happened or there might be a different energy and I just think, "No, that isn't going to work."

So although it's there as a structure, it can often get changed around on reflection. Sometimes if I know I'm going to be teaching something similar somewhere else, I can flick back to that lesson. But sometimes I enjoy reinventing the wheel. Sometimes it's important because you can have the same theme written down, but actually for this class or this space or for this group of individuals, you are going to need something else.

It's useful to have it there to refer back to, but also really flexible. So like I mentioned before, they're never neat. There's always lots of scribbles crossed out and alterations made just to remain flexible when I'm using the journal to deliver and reflect on classes.

Advice for New Journalers

I think if I was talking to somebody about journaling and they asked me how they get started or should they get started, taking the latter first—I think if you feel an urge to, then yes, you should. You should listen to that inner voice.

And how to start? Again, it is really up to you. I just think that the main message would be don't overthink it. Choose a journal that you feel you connect with, choose a writing implement that you feel you connect with. I like to write in pencil. I will write in pen if there's no pencil handy or I've lost it, which happens. But I love to have a pencil.

But it's really up to the individual. You can say, choose a time that works for yourself, or sit down at the end of every day and do your gratitude list. In reality it's not always realistic. So I just think no one should put any pressure on themselves, and just let it evolve in their own way.

If they have an intention to start journaling for whatever reason—we all come to it for different reasons—then brilliant. Stick with that and just see how it evolves and go with the flow.

Journal Prompts and Guidance

At all the yoga retreats, when there's that time for journaling and reflection, sometimes I keep it very open: "Take some time, make some notes." And sometimes there are more directed thought prompts: "Notice how you feel. How does the body feel? What thoughts are present right now?"

Sometimes I use them at the beginning and the end, so there's that "notice where we are now, observe how we are now." When we do the moon membership, it's a little bit more directed. During the reflection time, it's all linked through the postures and through the breathing practices, and then the meditation leads into the reflection and the journaling.

There'll be questions or prompts, not to force the mind in a certain way, but to really keep on the theme of what it is we're working on. So if we're working on, for example at the moment, a waning moon phase, we're thinking about releasing, shedding, and letting go of things that don't work for us. So the journal prompts will be along those lines.

Similarly, when we come to a new moon, this is a fresh start. It's a chance to start again, a new beginning. So the prompts might be "what seeds do you want to plant for yourself?" The journal prompts are really in line with the theme of the moon cycle at the time.

Where to find Amanda

Amanda runs wonderful Yoga classes both in person and online, she also runs retreats and Yoga holidays. If her talk of a yoga moon membership intriged you - head here to see what it’s all about.