#LifeLessons - Melly Flow

NAME: Melly Flow

AGE: 29

INSTAGRAM HANDLE: mellyflowyoga

JOB TITLE: Yoga Teacher & Retreat host

Melly is a spiritual practitioner highly passionate about sharing the pathway of Yoga with more and more people across the world. Her goal is to touch the lives of others by shining a light for them to find their way back home, to their souls, and to place of peace and LOVE. She firmly believes that all our answers and guidance resides within us already. Through the practice of yoga she guides people to turn inwards and worship the Divine source within and all around us.

Melly has been practicing yoga for 10 years now and she deepened her practice in spiritual work 3 years ago. After seeing and living the profound effect it has had on her and her life, she wants others to experience life on a higher vibration, filled with more joy and ease throughout the ordinary day to day. She shares these teachings through her weekly group yoga classes, private yoga practices and international yoga retreats.

Here's Melly's three biggest Life Lessons:  

#LIFELESSON – 1 - When we slow down, we see things more clearly

I am naturally inclined to move at a very fast pace throughout my day and I could feel myself running towards burn out because of the pace at which I’d move, eat, and work through my tasks. I then started to make a conscious effort to slow down in my yoga asana practice and could feel a much deeper connection to the practice, as if I was fully immersed in it rather than ‘doing’ it. In every still practice, I would be filled with inspiration and the creative ideas would come pouring in, so I knew I needed to make a conscious effort to prioritise the slow and still practices. This then transpired to my day to day, feeling the absolute luxury of a conscious breath, moments of presence and stillness. Even in the supermarket, when I find myself wishing the queue would move faster, I catch myself and ask ‘why?’ I’m not in a hurry, and I take a moment to observe the world around me. At this slower pace, my whole entire nervous system feels more at ease and safe.

So don’t miss out on the sweetness of life by running through your day in both your head and body, acknowledge a strangers smile, hold your loved one or pet in a longer embrace and savour the taste of your coffee.

#LIFELESSON – 2 - The universe, everything is energy, and we are co-creating our life

Yoga is a pathway to a higher consciousness. I envision this place of higher consciousness as if I am sitting on a ledge and able to look down upon myself from a birds eye view. From this perspective I am able to see my body merely as a physical body (but I am not that, it is not me), I am able to watch the thoughts that run through my head (I am not them and they are not me, they’re simply thoughts), same with the emotions, I can see them come and go, making me feel all kind of different things (yet they are not me and I am not them).

As I continue to practice this zooming out effect of my own life, I am able to feel less entangled with it all and less effected by it too. Of course I feel emotions of anger, annoyance, upset and happiness too, but there is this reassuring and grounding place that anchors me back to a knowing that I am a witness to it all. With the knowing that the universe acts like a mirror and we are only presented with stuff that is within us, it allows every encounter in this lifetime to be a practice.

So when someone cuts you up on the road, can you shift your reaction from frustration and retaliation, to a breath and wave of compassion? For we don’t know what this person is going through that led to such behaviour. We start to see beyond the label of the person, and can see what they’re going through on a soul level which the universe has presented to them in order to work through and learn from.

#LIFELESSON – 3 - Your inner world is more important than your outer world

With the way in which the world is designed today, we are constantly being drawn outside of ourselves through phones, screens, pressure to be busy all the time, and so many devices to tune into which are all distracting us from the world within (the thoughts and emotions). When I take more time to turn my awareness inwards and do the work on me, the world outside of me starts to reflect this beauty back. There is a concept of ‘inner child’ which everyone has within, but the more we tune in to everything outside of us, the more we are neglecting the voice and feelings of the inner child within.

We may have this subconscious belief that it is ‘selfish’ to see to yourself more than others, however the way the energy of the universe works, is that if you care to yourself- love, appreciate and listen to your needs then 1) you’ll naturally be in a healthier place to tend to others too (longevity, if you keep feeding yourself, you can continue to feed others) and 2) your glow will naturally emanate from others, they’ll feed off that vibration too and naturally be lifted higher by you. It’s the analogy of ‘put your oxygen mask on before tending to others.’

When you get to know your inner world very well, you’ll soon start to realise this is the only place I need to worship (not on the egoic level of self, but your higher self). Guiding our community to this connection to the higher self through our classes and yoga retreats is something I’m deeply passionate about. Our next retreat in Spain in September is named ‘Coming Home,’ not home as a geographical place, but home to our TRUE SELF.