WhyWePractice

I think what attracted me to look further into the actual practice of yoga is the fact that it’s experiential. You have to go through a process to understand.

When I started to practice yoga, there is a sense of connection on the inside where I really wanted to be a good person. Where I felt motivated to transform myself, or move myself higher up... and the moment I came on my mat, I felt like I was home. I really felt like this is a space where I can be me, and really connect to this internal part of myself. I felt at home within myself. I felt at my home with even the things I was struggling with, and that was huge for me in the beginning when I started the practice… and one reason why I continue to do this practice.

In the Ashtanga yoga practice, we learn many many asanas. We go through this process of being taught and we guide ourselves through a sequence of postures. And it looks to be on the outside very physical, or to be representative of something very external. But underlying through all of that, what’s really moving us within these asanas is the breath, is the focal point, our sense of concentration, and through the asanas, through the act of performing the asanas, we are internally aligned. I feel personally this is what really moves the action of the asanas. This is what breathes life into the asanas. It’s like a form of expressing this internal aspect of ourselves to the outside or, also, just using the asana to feel on the inside, and it’s a marriage of both.

I was taking a class the other night where… I’ve never taken this class before and I went in there and I wanted to work. I wanted to sweat, I wanted to flow, I wanted my vinyasas – that was the mood that I was in. And the class was slow, very alignment driven, which is great but it just wasn’t what I wanted.

So for the first half hour of the class my brain went, “Damnit! This wasn’t what I wanted. I could’ve done a practice at home, blah blah blah blah…” And you’ve got this whole conversation, aka Life, happening in your head. And… just being a little snotty bitch, honestly – judging everything.

And then, by the end of the practice, you do it, and you do your savasana, and you sit up, and you go, “Wow. This is exactly what I needed. This is exactly what I needed.”

The yoga practice has allowed me to trust that the situations I’m in are there for a very specific reason, even if it doesn’t align with what my ego or brain wants.