I love yoga! I love doing it, learning about it and reading about it! I do it almost every day on my own and likely think about going to classes more than I actually go! I love the natural and holistic health nature of yoga and how it is a ‘complete discipline’. For me, it develops my mind body spirit connection.
I trace by love of yoga back to Grade 9, when I took creative dance classes and our warm up ‘exercises with Miss Porter’, included movements that I now know were yoga poses. I kept using these poses as stretches for my running and other exercise programs and am happy to say that I have maintained flexibility through 3 pregnancies and beyond!
Throughout my life I have engaged in yoga in cycles, going frequently and then not going at lot for years . I tried many different types of yoga without even knowing there were different types!
Certainly not a yoga instructor, nor an expert in the discipline, I think of myself rather as an ‘imperfect beginner yogini’.
My two favourite yoga books are:
‘An Autobiography of a Yogi’ by Paramhansa Yogananda
‘Light On Yoga’ by B.K.S. Iyengar
Interestingly, I love ‘hot yoga’ and have tried Bikrams quite a few times. I haven’t tried Moksha yoga yet, however my yogini friends really like it. I adore ‘yin’ yoga, using blocks and supports. I was totally surprised once when I went to a ‘vinyasa flow’ class, thinking it was a hatha yoga class!
I have thought of doing ‘yoga teacher training’ for my own exploration and imagine a time in the future when I spend months in Mexico, Costa Rica, Thailand or Bali at a yoga retreat center! The joy!
Last week, I noticed that simply walking into a calm, beautiful yoga studio gave me a sense of peace and serenity! On that day though, rather than attend a class, I tried to ‘take the peace with me’ through purchasing a wonderful piece of jewelry.
I’m also interested in Ayurveda or Ayurvedic Medicine which is a whole holistic health discipline practiced in India and which provides a valuable explanation for me as to why folks either ‘love’ or ‘hate’ hot yoga! I really value clues as to my metabolic type through the practice of yoga.
Perhaps what I love best of all, are the people one meets through yoga, like the yoga instructors and the other students. I feel like I have found my tribe!
I’m on the upper edge of age for this tribe and even though I live in Vancouver, I don’t usually wear the fancy yoga pants and yoga wear, although I have appreciated the durability of my first lululemon yoga pants, purchased 13 years ago!
For four consecutive years, I hosted women’s life coaching, self care & yoga retreats to Mexico and remember those times with great fondness. I provided the life coaching and my dear friend Beth was the yoga instructor! One of my favourite yoga studios in fact, has blossomed in the small Mexican village of Yelapa, where I hosted two retreats. Judith Roth of Yoga in Yelapa has built a gorgeous yoga reteat center, called Sky Temple and if you are ever in need of a rest and re-charge, travel to Yelapa and take in some yoga classes as well as learn Spanish at YESI, eat amazing food, and relax on the gorgeous beach.
The benefits of yoga are many, including: increased flexibilty and agility, increased core strength, stress reduction, improved digestion and circulation, a deepening connection with your body’s messages, reduced blood pressure, peace, serenity and calmness, to name just a few! Also, yoga is a wonderful vehicle to bring up un-healed areas of life. For example, through yoga practice, I have been blessed to learn how hard I am on myself and how my competitiveness no longer serves me, nor those around me!
I encourage all my coaching clients to engage in yoga or a similar body centered discipline. Busy mom and busy business women find yoga is incredibly helpful with stress management as well as refreshes the mind and body!
Yoga is my spiritual practice!
Well, enough of the rambling, I guess it’s time to pull on my ‘lulus’ and take myself off to class!
Enjoy your day!
in peace & mindfulness
namaste,
Zoey
