Welcome to February JOY!
This month is all about taking agency over your own joy. That is a big ask at this moment in time, when so many external factors are affecting how we feel, how we connect to our loved ones, and how we create our identities. But we can still find joy, and spread it around!
This month will start with internal joy, the yoga will be more foundational and alignment based, with the intention of connecting to your personal well of awareness and happiness. In the weekly themes of Align and Connect, expect slower, intentional yoga with time to digest.
The second half of the month, we will bring the energy outward with more lively and energetic practices to not only inspire joy in yourselves, but those around you. In the themes of Freedom and Clarity, expect fluid, spacious, repetitive sequences to build heat inside and out.
Yoga embodies both opposing and balancing elements of energy. We will continue to bring awareness to this concept throughout the month.
Week 1: Align
Align means your body. Making sure you are taking care of it and using it to be both strong and soft. That you are starting with your feet and balancing on your foundation, while staying long and spacious in your trunk. You’ll feel this in the yoga this week, alignment is the basis for all the yoga we practice.
Align means your energy. Listen to what you need, and take care of yourself. Do something you love every day. Surround yourself with people, energy and work that keeps you vibrant and calm. And when you encounter energy that is not in alignment with your energy, give yourself extra space so you can decompress, relax and return to energetic alignment when you can.
Align means your values. Matching up where you give energy and where you receive it from. Money is energy, people create what you buy, just like you are paid for the work you do. As your money and intentions flow, make sure they are in alignment with your care, your values, and your expectations for the world.
To be content, it is essential to be aware of and connected to each moment, to feel safe and comfortable in your place, heard and received in your relationships, and have the agency to change anything that is not aligned. To do this big work, you must have a feeling of security in where you are and who you are. One of the best ways to feel this security and enhance it, is by connecting to the earth with intention.
We do this in every yoga class, because it’s so important. We remember where we are, and give attention the ground beneath us. This isn't just ‘yoga talk’ but rather, a daily practice in place-making. And the more you carve out your place, find your alignment to it and feel balanced in your energy - the more joy and contentment you can feel.
This is long-term work, and it requires daily maintenance. The good news is Connect is also your exhale, something you every couple seconds throughout your entire day and never stop throughout your life. When you remember, feel your exhale. Feel it soften your body, and draw energy to the ground. Feel your feet on the earth and the support back to you. Connect.
Freedom is about making space from the inside out. This week we are starting to transition energy from inward (the first half of this month) to outward. That means we are shifting energy, bringing more flow, more space , more FREEDOM. This week I ask you to place your attention on the INHALE. The expansion. The movement from your center outward and back again.
As we seek freedom, we seek the desire to create our own paths. The ability to move freely, speak freely, live freely. Often it is our own bindings that inhibits our freedom - but not always. There are societal institutions and pressures that are built to restrict some people’s freedom. So as a collective there is work to do. To both enhance your own free energy, and to be aware of when another human’s freedom is dampened. That is when it is time to use your free voice, free body, free spirit to help them. As we bring joy to ourselves with intention and care, it is essential that we support and enable others to be free, thus laying a foundation of contentment for all.
This vinyasa flow intends to help create space from the inside out and free up stale energy.
Clarity is about being unencumbered from the stressors of daily life. That doesn’t mean the stressors aren’t there - you’re human after all. Rather, your reaction to them is clear, simple and balanced. When something is overwhelming, give it space, rather than letting it take over. From that distance, you can see more clearly what is required to create a resolution.
In yoga, clarity comes from anchoring the mind on something simple. It could be a mantra, a movement, or your breath. This is why we often feel more clear in the mind after a physical yoga practice, your focus on the body, breath, and movement allowed the various distractions from your day to fall away from your center. Thus finding a simplicity in the clarity of the moment.
This flow class focuses on repetitions, and core engagement. You’ll notice this class by passes the traditional flow and gets right to the repetition.