Satya in the Scroll Age, and why it matters now more than ever.

If you’ve picked up your phone today and found yourself falling down a rabbit hole of wellness content, persuasive ads full of hopeful health promises, or yet another ‘10-step course to make you feel more like yourself’ (that will likely drift down your inbox without being clicked).... firstly, same. And secondly, this yoga wisdom is for you (and me).

We live in an age of extraordinary noise, content, and digital distraction. And whilst much of it is well-meaning, some of it just feels off to me. The irony of me perhaps being part of the noise is not lost on me, but in an attempt to cut through a teeny bit of the wellness BS and bring some grounded perspectives to the party, I continue to show up.

Somewhere in the middle of all the advice, the optimising, the ‘experts’ with shiny quick-fix promises, the focus on how our body looks as a root to happiness, the increasing outsourcing of our critical thinking (hello, AI).... I can’t help but think we are quietly losing our connection to ourselves. To the incredible, unique part of us that can never (I hope) be replaced by a machine. To our consciousness, our gut feelings, our inner knowing - to our inner trust.

The inner trust that helps us intuit how to look after our energy day to day, through changing seasons in nature, and of life.

The inner trust that quietens the self-doubt when every ‘expert’ promises to know more.

The inner trust that’s built from figuring stuff out for ourselves, being messy, making mistakes and trying again.

From feeling feelings and showing up, our way, for the unique needs of ourselves, our kids, and our families - in a way that doesn’t fit any external mould that was never designed for us.

The inner trust from pushing back on broken systems, addictive technology and societies that don’t support our nervous system health needs, by finding our own pace and path. One that feels more sustaining than draining.

Which brings me to something the yogis were sitting with long before algorithms existed...

Satya.

Often translated as truthfulness or authenticity, Satya is a Sanskrit word and one of the Yamas, a set of ethical principles outlined in the Yoga Sutras of Sage Patanjali, an early classical yoga text.

The Yamas (alongside the Niyamas, personal practices of self-discipline and self-study) form the first two of yoga’s eight limbs; essentially, a guiding map for how to live with integrity, both out in the world and within ourselves. In today’s language this means ‘living in alignment with core values’. Satya isn’t as simple as ‘don’t lie’, It’s about being honest with yourself. About your own experience, being in the present moment with the wisdom your cells and mind already knows, underneath all the noise.

I’m not into the rainbowsandunicornsyogathatwillhealyouin21daysBS. But honestly, practising yoga in 2026 to attempt to connect to intuition and know what feels true to me is:

1. Quietly radical

2. Fucking hard

3. More important, and more useful, than trying to learn how to stand on my head, which quite frankly has always hurt and felt scary (and no, I do not need to face this fear and do it anyway thankyou.)

The digital world is veeeerrrry bloody good at pouring our attention outward. Outward to the next course, the next expert, the next dopamine hit distraction, the next answer that promises to make us feel healed or like a ‘better’ mother / woman / efficient human being.

Don’t get me wrong, I love learning. The human body-heart-brain-consciousness and universal-connection of yoga and modern science is mind bogglingly fascinating. There’s nothing wrong with listening, being curious, with finding teachers, therapies and communities that hold us - in fact, those things matter deeply. But perhaps with more intention in our actions, with a fewer number that we turn to, we can begin to build that trust to turn inward, before we go outward?

The heart of yoga reminds us of something important. You are not broken. You are not a project. You do not need to eternally attempt to force or contort yourself to show up as someone you are not. You do not need to keep asking Ai for infinite and ever shifting answers that will never offer clarity.

In Yoga Sutras 1.3, Patanjali states:

“Tada drastuh svarupe avasthanam”

— Then the seer (Self) abides in its own true nature.

This sutra suggests that the true self (the “seer”) is already complete and whole. Yoga supports us to see past the things that cover our true nature - obstacles such as distractions, false identifications, and mental fluctuations. And that rather than trying to fix or force ourselves into something we are not, we can begin to naturally rest in our original, whole state.

If you are familiar with Shvasana, the laying posture that always closes an asana practice - you might have felt passing glimmers of this inner stillness here. And also, maybe not. Sometimes in Shvasana my thinking mind can only yap on about what to cook for dinner, the state of world news or all the life problems that seem to need fixing. How very human of me.

(I am not a Sanskrit scholar, this is simply my understanding from my learning, practice and teaching to date.)

Self-Trust in Practise

What we practise on the mat becomes a part of us, and this ripples out into daily life. There are no hacks here, this is a long game, and one (if it feels right for you) worth investing effort in IMHO.

Not because yoga is a magic wand. But because consistent practice - whether yoga asana (postures), somatic movement, stillness, restorative rest, pranayama (breath), mindfulness, meditation, connection in community and with yourself - all offer MANY benefits. But more importantly perhaps, in this age of outsourcing, this is your space to practice just being with yourself. No pings, no productivity.

Even a short practice at home, in old PJ’s, surrounded by life’s mess and noisy kids or pets or housemates, gives you somewhere to return to your Self.

A moment to remember your worth is not equated to your daily productivity, and you exist before the many roles you manage.

Space to trust that ‘being’ can be enough.

An inner trust to know you are enough.

Here’s what I notice — on the mat, in my own practice, and in the women who keep coming back:

• We practise self-compassion. And I don’t mean that in a cheesy self-love way. I mean you actually feel it as you practice authentic self kindness on an ordinary Wednesday. When you show up on the mat, just as you are, in a friendly space, free from the pressure of needing to numb or fix or perform, you’re saying to yourself ‘I am worth tending to’. That is not a small thing. Each time we pause, perhaps a hand on the middle of your chest, with a grounding breath or two, and respond kindly to our own state — tired, wired, emotional, flat, joyful, neurospicy, postnatal, perimenopausal, anxious, or otherwise — we build a quiet trust that we can be with ourselves, as we are. What could be more authentically self-loving than this?

• We build inner strength. Not necessarily biceps and abs (although strong bodies are useful too) - I mean the kind of strength that keeps you showing up and finding your way. The kind that helps you stay a touch more soft and open, even when life feels hard. In class, you’ll always have choices to take what feels right for you— to go slower, or faster, to take rest, to find a physical challenge if that’s what you need that day. That agency is the practice. The teacher is there to guide and suggest but you do not need to outsource your whole practice to anyone, or to an idea of what yoga should look like.Your practice can be as unique as you are.

• We learn to trust our own body-minds. Not in an intellectualised way of trying to have it all figured out, but through intentional stillness, breath, movement, and pausing to notice our inner experience, we remember we are this energy, this body, this mind. Through interoception - inner awareness of our felt experience - we slowly begin to listen to the body-mind more. We pay attention inwards, not just outwards to the noise, and this self awareness and embodied connection slowly becomes our capacity for self trust. We stop outsourcing our wholeness and reclaim our sense of Self, both as ourself, and as part of a wider whole (which maybe sounds woo-woo, but If we consider the big-bang theory, science shows us we came from the stars.)

• We reclaim our Shakti Power - our feminine wisdom. Nurturing instinct, intuition, and wisdom, we honor our Shakti nature. As women we can reconnect to our own bodies that may have known mental or physical harm, or birthed babies, or simply not been acknowledged for how incredible they are. Not as an object, a label or a list of problems to fix, but of the earth, of ourselves, of our wise strengths.

• We find our own path. Your practice doesn’t need to look like the person next to you. Your breath count is your own. Your experience of a pose, a moment, a feeling - that’s yours too. Just as your journey as a new mother or a woman (or however you identify) is yours too. I’m there to guide, to offer ideas, to hold space, to bring us together in community, to share wisdom that’s come waaaaay before me. For us to find our own path AND deeply know we are not alone in this weird and wonderful world too.

Whether you join me in a class of afternoon retreat in Bristol (UK), or on The Rested Mother Retreat, or you find your own yoga teacher to support your practice, I hope you find space free from pressure to perform or fit a mould. Space to reconnect to your body, your self awareness, your way - with the supportive strength of community.

Space to find quiet within the noise. Space to trust that you, just as you, this week, in this season of life, this moment — are already whole.