Celebrate Yoga and Reflecting on TWO YEARS of Teaching
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.
As I reflect on two-years of teaching yoga, 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. Two of my favorite sayings remind me to stop thinking, over analyzing and get out of my head. (I do this often…)
pada-pada — step by step
Yoga Sutra 1:1 — and now the teachings of yoga
Take things little by little, but you just have to start. And I am so glad that I just started to teach, I jumped in despite being (beyond) nervous.
The best way to become a better teacher is to just teach. One of my favorite teachers in our community told me this and I am forever grateful for that push. I am a better student of yoga and teacher because of her as I celebrate my two-year mark this month.