A Journey Beyond The Mat

I’ve been practicing yoga for 25 years. I started out because I’d read that yoga was good for reducing stress, and while I was skeptical, I was also exhausted, anxious, and a little depressed. Oh, and I wasn’t sleeping. In short, I needed help. And yoga was a lot cheaper than therapy. What could it hurt to try?

I arrived that first evening, under a purple sky, and plopped down on a borrowed mat, feeling hopeful. Maybe yoga really could help me. So, for ninety minutes, I stretched myself into every single posture, sweated and shook with effort, then collapsed into
corpse pose, and here’s the crazy part: right there on that gymnasium floor, I dropped into a peaceful place within myself I’d never experienced before. Turns out, this is exactly what I’d needed. And that’s how yoga changed everything for me. I didn’t yet know it, but I was soon to discover I had cancer. And it was my yoga practice that sustained me through cancer and grief, gave me the tools to deal with injury and loss, restored my inner strength, and, eventually, gave me the courage to create a whole new life.

What surprises me is that everyone doesn’t do some form of yoga. Because the benefits are undeniable. If you have strong, tight muscles and joints, yoga will improve your flexibility and bring you more ease of movement. If, like me, you have hypermobile joints, yoga will help you build muscular support for those shaky joints, improving your stability and balance. If you are feeling stressed and anxious, yoga will teach you breathing techniques to settle your nervous system, avoid panic attacks, and stabilize your emotions. But yoga is often misunderstood. And sometimes it’s taught with biases that don’t support student needs. So here’s what I’ll tell you if you are new to yoga, or you’ve had a bad yoga experience: Yoga is a lifestyle, not a religion; you needn’t learn to stand on your head and shouldn’t do any pose that doesn’t feel safe to you; no one knows your body like you do, so you decide how to proceed on the mat.

In my classes, you have full permission to rest, to do less or more, as you see fit. You will have access to props, because they help make poses more accessible. And how ever you feel when you show up—tired, cranky, sore, sad, energetic—you are invited in, unequivocally. It’s important that we show up, in all seasons, so that we can see for ourselves how yoga supports us and gives us the tools to shift from one state of being to another. Oh, and no headstands in my classes! Because the benefit to risk ratio just doesn’t add up.

I teach yoga to give back what my practice has given to me—health, strength, balance, ease, connection, and joy. Come join us to see for yourself—maybe you’ll feel better, too - have less pain and more energy, less stress and more joy. I’ve never met a student who didn’t benefit from their practice, no matter what challenges they faced. If you can breathe, you can benefit from yoga. Yoga  is inclusive, a practice of continual discovery, a place where stumbling forward is part of growth, rather than a sign of failure. Yoga prepares us on the mat for life off the mat—we show up, breathe, practice kindness, do our best, then let it all go. Yoga is for everyone. Yoga is for you.

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In connection,

Shannon