Practice On the Mat for Life Off the Mat

What do you picture when you think of yoga? Maybe it’s a series of relaxing stretches. Maybe it’s a hot room full of sweaty bodies in contorted positions. Or is it sitting in a quiet room with your eyes closed just breathing? And what’s up with the $100 pants?

There are lots of ways to practice yoga, many forms and lineages that trace back to ancient origins. What attracts one person can be very different from what attracts someone else. But they do share one unifying principle: yoga isn’t just about your practice on the mat. Yoga prepares you for the practice of life.

However you choose to practice yoga, the primary purpose is to connect your body and mind, to go inward and cease the stressful fluctuations, reunite thought with feeling. It’s a practice that starts on the mat but is soon carried off it and into the world.

Agitated about sitting in traffic? Surrender your need for control through deep breathing.

Feeling like you want to stuff away your sad thoughts by overeating? Learn to cope with uncomfortable feelings in the same way that you breathe through an uncomfortable posture on the mat.

Tense with chronic pain from sitting too long at your desk? Release your body through gentle movement and find joy in being alive!

Yoga can appear intimidating. You don’t know what to do, you’re afraid to look silly, you’re not sure that you can buy in to all the mystic philosophy…

But fear not, because there are a few lessons that you can take to heart before you ever step onto a yoga mat:

Yoga is about you within you.

Yoga is free of expectation and comparison. You come as you are and find yourself without judgment or shame. There is no “right” or “wrong” – there is just you. Each yogi’s place is unique and beautiful. Yoga asks no more than for you to be as you are.

Yoga is a wonderful release.

Release your body’s tension through gentle stretching. Release your mental anxiety through breath. Release your negative self-talk through meditation. Simply, let go.

Yoga is a form of listening.

Your body is alive with communication. It doesn’t come in words but in feelings and instincts. Can you hear them? Yoga starts from within, hearing and honoring your body’s many messages.

Yoga creates empowerment.

Yoga can be physical. It transforms your breath into energy, flowing into your muscles from head to toe. As you practice, you take back your every movement. It is at once subtle and gentle yet also empowering and vibrant.

Yoga teaches compassion.

You are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, frantic… and you take a breath. You come back to the moment, acknowledge those feeling for what they are, but do not get lost within them. Yoga allows you to be perfectly imperfect – sacred and special. You move beyond shame and judgment to acceptance and affirmation.

Yoga asks and answers your needs.

Yoga can be what you make it. It is a moment to reconnect with your body – what does it need? Accept your emotions – what do they tell you? Visualize a positive change – how can you create it?

Yoga accepts all.

There are as many practices of yoga as there are breaths in the world. Each breath, each person, and each yoga practice is unique. Yoga lets you find your own way. With yoga, you are enough.

Ready to give yoga a try? 

Join us for our Mindful Yoga class on Mondays @ 6:30 - 7:30 PM starting March 2.

Contact us to reserve your spot today. Discounts available for Mindful Steps + Yoga class combination package.