Celebrate Yoga!

International Day of Yoga is on June 21, a specific day set aside each year to remind us of the importance of living in the practice of yoga all the other days! And also a day to mark yoga with our global community.

A few things that I love about yoga:

• Did you know that yoga was breath work and meditation far before the asanas (movements) were added? Poses were created to quiet the mind to allow for meditation.

• Seals with images of sitting meditation were found in the Indus Valley, meaning that yoga has been around for FOUR THOUSAND years…. in the region that is now in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.

• If you can breathe, sit quietly, and gently bring your attention back to your breath when your mind wanders, YOU are practicing yoga. Flexibility doesn’t matter. And when you get on YOUR mat, you make it your own practice. It isn’t what pose the teacher calls or how far the person next to you is bending … but doing what your body needs.

• Yoga is not just the movements, the breath work or the meditation. It is a complete philosophy for living with greater awareness, compassion, balance, and connection—with both ourselves and those around us.

• One of my favorite Yoga Sutras is the very first Sutra, 1:1: "Atha yoga anushasanam"—often translated as, "Now, the teachings of yoga." To me this means, jump in, get started, why are you waiting?! Don’t overthink or analyze it. Something I often do.

There is no better day to get started than on June 21 - or before! And to make a new habit, a change or recommitment from this day forward.

Read on to learn about the benefits of yoga, explore the eight limbs of yoga, and find a class (for you or your kids!) if you're in the Ft. Hunt community.