yoga for everyone!

was reading kimberly wilson' s yoga/lifestyle blog (i am a big fan of her book, hip tranquil chick, and fab yoga podcast), and she recently highlighted this quote, which rings so true.

yoga is about making friends with life and with yourself. there is no lifestyle, no occupation, no situation that cannot be greatly enhanced by yoga. yoga is not something that should be set apart from one's life. rather it should become the taproot from which the other aspects of your life are nourished and regenerated.
- godfrey devereaux

In several of the yoga classes I've been teaching lately, I have students new to yoga and their newfound excitement and passion for learning more: about yoga, about their body, about life, really lights up the yoga room with positive energy. To see a spirit awakening, to see transformation glowing from within, is so incredible.

I remember when I first had the idea that I should become a yoga teacher, when I was just a new yoga student, taking a weekly yoga class at the Y back in the mid-nineties. One afternoon was sitting on a rock on the edge of a river in New Hampshire, sitting in easy pose, just doing some simple twists, and then sat tall, grounding down in my seat and lifting up in the spine, the crown of my head warmed by the sun. I felt a surge of energy travel up my spine, and right then the thought flashed into my head "i should be a yoga teacher and share this feeling with others." Well, it took me about ten years to start to walk that path, but here i am today.

Not just a yoga teacher, I'm a student as well, taking as many classes as I teach. In my personal practice, I leaned toward power flow / Ashtanga - style. I had taken a Bikram class last spring and the heat (105+ degrees farenheit) just knocked me out, and I thought hot yoga wasn't for me. A few weeks ago I went to a free Sunday class at the Lululemon showroom and the guest teacher was from a Bikram studio. She led us through the Bikram sequence, although the room wasn't heated. It's a whole different story without the heat. Afterwards I talked to her about my inability to deal with the heat, she said, give it two or three tries, and see. Usually it takes just a few sessions to acclimate. Given a free class pass, I went to the Bikram studio. I walked into the heated room with trepidation, thinking I might feel the crushing sensation in my chest I felt the first time, feeling as if I couldn't even breathe. But no. It didn't feel terrible at all. I could breathe deeply, and I felt great. I felt like I had plenty of power to last the entire practice, and to sweat profusely felt amazingly detoxifying. Now I'm hooked! I have doubts that the static Bikram 26-pose sequence will be able to hold my attention in the long run, but my inner thermometer has been reset, and now I love the intensity of the heat, and feel like I'm craving hot yoga every day, and it feels like a lasting addiction.

life, and yoga: full of surprises.