I first took yoga at my school probably 10 years ago. The head of school hired someone just for faculty after school. After that discontinued, I found a recreation center that offered yoga. I do quite a bit of activity (skating, gym, weight machines, gardening, and use the bike to get around during summers). Yoga provides a complement to that kind of physical activity by incorporating the mind.
In 1999, my then 12 year old daughter became quite ill with an immune disorder. Yoga allowed me time for myself to incorporate the grief as well as the joy of being so engaged in medical process with one’s child. My daughter has since taken yoga, and when she became ill again last summer, she enrolled in a healing yoga class.
I practice at the Vinyasa/Hatha class at River Garden because I like the atmosphere of not making yoga an athletic event but actually using it as an expression of the body. Yoga exposes the false mind/body dichotomy that we are often bombarded with. I thoroughly believe the mind is the emotion is the body is the self; it’s a much richer way to experience the human condition. Yoga allows us to be whole in that way. I have certainly used the class and exercise in general to cope with some of the stresses in my life, but that is not why I do yoga. I love the concentration on the self as part of a larger whole. All the religious, philosophical, and community-based traditions stress this way of looking at things, and this perspective allows me to find mental balance.
My dedication to yoga keeps me balanced overall. When I travel and I don’t do it, I miss it. I also like the community aspect of a class. Anna’s calm, accomplished presence is inspiring. Her kind, gentle encouragements and corrections are welcome to me. I feel like part of a larger community of those who desire connection to a larger tradition as well as to each other. I always feel welcomed and appreciated for my efforts.
