01/09/2026
THERE WILL BE MUD. THERE WILL BE TURBULENCE. BLOOM ANYWAY. 🌱
The lotus is one of the great symbols of yoga.
Its roots are down in the mud. Its stem grows up through dark, murky water and, eventually, the flower opens above the surface — beautiful, spacious and untouched by the water around it.
I love this as a metaphor for our human lives.
Because yoga isn't about getting rid of the mud.
There will be mess. There will be uncertainty. There will be grief, joy, change, difficulty, desire, disappointment and all the ordinary stuff of being human.
There will be mud.
There will be turbulence.
Bloom anyway.
And here's the important part: the mud isn't wasted.
It's where the lotus gets its nourishment.
We can think about our yoga practice in much the same way. We draw in and up from our roots, gathering strength and nourishment, and then we grow — deeper into ourselves and, at the same time, upwards and outwards into the world.
This is the principle I'll be exploring in the first week of From the Ground Up.
We'll begin with the feet and legs — our foundations.
Through Muscular Energy, we draw from the roots: feet, legs, pelvis. We draw in and up, creating stability, strength and connection.
Then, through Organic Energy, we take that nourishment and expand from the centre outwards.
Root down.
Draw in.
Grow.
Open.
Bloom.
And I love that the lotus also brings us to the feet of the teacher.
In the yoga tradition we often hear the phrase “the lotus feet of the Guru.” The feet represent grounding, embodiment and the path that has actually been walked.
The teacher isn't someone floating above the mud.
They have feet on the ground.
They have walked the path and can point towards it.
And perhaps that's what our practice is really asking of us too:
Not to escape being human.
But to become more fully rooted, embodied and awake within it.
There will be mud.
There will be turbulence.
Bloom anyway.
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