On the surface I teach yoga poses that are linked with breath, often referred to as vinyasa yoga. I also teach slow flow, yoga with weights, hot yoga, and so much more. I like to play powerful music that lifts the energy and allows you the space to turn in to the sensations of your body. I like to talk less and allow you space to feel more… and yet at the same time that comment makes me smile… because I know that I talk a lot. I like to work the finer points of the pose from the ground up, especially after the big pitch alignment is taken care of. I like to encourage you, the practitioner, to feel POWERFUL in your body, identify and strengthen muscles you’re not so sure of… and to release those muscles into a surrender filled with your hard work and sweat.
After years of having a practice and then not, I’ve come to the realization that if I want to keep going, I really – REALLY need to take ownership of the experience on my mat, regardless of who’s leading me. It’s me – it’s my body – and I’m the one who has to go home with it… feed it, sleep with it… dress it… and if it’s going to be kind to me and not talk back, I have to honor it. Friends… this took me a long time to realize and it really didn’t sink in until my recent spine injury in July 2018. If I wanted to get back on my mat in a studio setting then I had to find a way to make the poses work; blocks, straps, modifications were my way forward. If a backbend that the yoga instructor called out wasn’t possible then I asked myself if there was another backbend that could take it’s place and I willing went there… Thank you Jason Crandell (https://www.jasonyoga.com/) and a workshop I took with him at the Yoga Journal Conference in Estes Park many moons ago.
I hope that you’ll see this personal empowerment come through in my classes by the many opportunities to pause and consider based on my intention what choice do I make here? I also feel that offering several variations based on different benefits will encourage individuality and make it even easier for the newer students to follow suit. I’m out there fighting the good fight that the more advanced you are doesn’t mean you’re out there doing handstand press-ups every opportunity. Yet instead… you’re steady in your breath, movements, and choices so that every move you make is wrapped deeply in your personal intention.
