From feeling anxious to meeting another in stillness

For the vast majority of my life, I was nervous around people. I was always worried about saying the wrong thing. I was self-conscious and insecure and this contributed to feeling anxious and nervous. I particularly disliked social gatherings where it was expected that I could or would make small talk.

Oddly, I accidentally fell into a position of being a radio broadcaster in community radio. What started out as an emergency substitute presenter situation turned into twenty-one years behind the mic. I did many, many interviews during that time, yet no matter how many interviews I had under my belt, I still experienced feeling anxious in advance of an interview. Eventually, I realised that I loved talking to people; I loved being able to ask them questions about themselves. I loved hearing their stories. I loved the different perspectives. I learned a lot about life by asking people about theirs. Feeling anxious has now completely turned around due to discovering the benefits of yoga, but not just any yoga – Esoteric Yoga.

There is a settlement within myself that used not to be there. It’s what I now recognize as a Stillness Within. Yes, it was always there within me, but I didn’t know how to access it.

Through the practice of Esoteric Yoga I re-connected to my essence, my true self. Maintaining a connection with myself is a movement, it is a way of living, it is not something I do for a few minutes once a week, or even once a day. Actively living the connection within has given me an authority over my own life.

In recognising and living my true self, I am now able to meet everyone from that place where I see them as their own true self. No matter who they are, we are both equal in essence. How can there be any nervousness or anxiousness in that?

One of the incredible benefits of yoga that supports the connection to our stillness is that being part of an interview now feels more like a conversation – there is little to separate the interviewer from the interviewee. Interviews are just one person meeting another, both equal. When I’m in my stillness there is no room for feeling anxious; it opens the doorway for the other person to also respond from their Stillness.

In this interview Gayle asks Rosanna, a practitioner of Esoteric Yoga, what Esoteric Yoga is and how she came to this self-healing modality.