This Yoga Business

I like making stuff. That yummy pile of beads up there are stretchy wrist malas.



The stones all have meanings and they feel really good in your hands. I made those malas for Inner Power Yoga here in Loudoun County. That is where my husband and I have practiced yoga a few times. I wish we could go more but it isn't exactly in town for us and going more than once a week isn't in the budget.
I thought today that maybe i should buy a few videos from MyYogaOnline to get through the days where i can't go to yoga. I'm also toying with the idea of a membership to LA Fitness in the colder months. They have yoga classes. I just can't imagine going to a calming yoga class in the middle of a gym where an aerobics class with pumping music might also be going on?

"Oooooohhhhmmmmmmmm- I LIKE TA MOVE IT MOVE IT!-Ohhhh - huh?"

Yea...i can't figure it out but I can try! The Inner Power Yoga studio is just the best place to be. It is warm and welcoming and everyone is SO nice you feel like part of a family and you feel like you've just been hugged when you go in there. Love.

If i ever find my studio, i may make a tutorial on these wrist malas. Pretty easy to do. The longer malas with tassels are MUCH more involved and take a lot more time - especially if you accidentally let go of the end and your beads go everywhere and i mean EVERYwhere! D'oh.

I love yoga. I don't claim to be good at it or a have a regular practice. I do know how i feel when i do it more than once a week. I never felt my body getting more flexible (though my hip didn't do its weird staggering thing when i bent down to pick stuff up) but my mind is so amazingly flexible and i can think so much clearer and i'm just happier when i do.

So the wheels are turning to try to figure out how I can practice more often and i think an online practice might be the answer.

I started out doing yoga in 2004. I sat at home that day, studying for my exams and feeling very frustrated and scared for the outcome of my exams. I felt like I needed to do something but also felt like leaving my study table might be a bad idea.

A friend called and asked me if i'd like to go to yoga class with her. Without thinking about it, I said yes.

I had always wanted to try yoga and didn't know where/ how etc. 

I put on my usual workout clothes and went to the yoga class.

It was interesting - it took place in the middle of the gym equipment at a rehab/ physical therapy type of place. I didn't even give a second thought to the environment.

We started chanting and moving and soon I didn't feel like i was anywhere at all. I was floating and somewhere else entirely! I was hooked. The after feeling was indescribable. All these years later and i still can't describe it. The one thing i can say is that it 'fit'.

I went to a few more at that location, then I practiced from time to time on my own or with my friend who introduced me to it. She is now certified to teach and her yoga name is Tek Har Kaur. Lovely, isn't it?

I still do a particular Kriya (the chakra kriya) that resonated deeply with me. I do it whenever i feel like i need to be re-aligned. It isn't the same as doing it on my front porch at night, with candles and incense! But it'll do :)

I never established a regular practice. Ever. Not just with yoga - with anything. I'll go to the gym all hot and sweaty excited for a few months then quit - usually because i get overzealous and hurt myself. Then quit. Then go again. I need to find something more sustainable and have a work around for this crazy weather here and moods as well. 

I think incorporating some online yoga with my sometime practice at the studio will allow me to keep doing yoga without the expense or travelling or excuses! I also need to not feel guilty that i can't get to the yoga studio as often as i may like. It is OKAY to make things work for you, in YOUR OWN WAY. Being gentle with myself is definitely a new thing for me. A lesson i have to keep learning over and over again.

Sat Nam.