So what the heck is yoga anyway?

Yoga is a union of body and mind to make up a balanced life. Yoga translates from Sanskrit to union, yoke, or connection. It is not a religion nor is it just exercise. It is a philosophy, a way of thinking. Similar to Stoicism, Essentialism, Minimalism, or any other number of “-isms” out there, yoga is a way to train your mind to get to a place of peace within yourself and with the world around you. The main difference with yoga, is that, unlike the aforementioned -isms, it does include the body.

Yoga is not an all or nothing kind of thing, thank goodness! We can each take what we want or need from the principles of yoga, no judgement. There are many athletes who build their strength and flexibility through the asanas (poses) of yoga. There are some people who meditate an adhere to some of the principles of yoga without ever trying the breathing or poses. In my humble opinion, all of the limbs of yoga together make the strongest proverbial tree of life. Some studies have found that while in yoga poses and/or doing breath work, areas of the brain responsible for motivation, attention, and neuroplasticity were activated. Yoga is the ultimate mind/body experience!

There are 8 limbs of yoga: Yamas (how we interact with others), Niyamas (our relationship to ourselves), Asanas (physical poses), Pranayama (breath work), Pratyahara (withdraw of the senses), Dharana (intense focus), Dhyana (state of meditation), and Samadhi (state of oneness; enlightenment). This site will slowly unpack all of these limbs and their rich wealth of information regarding life in small, digestible pieces. I am somewhat new to yoga, compared to many other teachers, and the overwhelm I first felt when I started delving in to yoga is still fresh in my mind. I now know that I will never learn it all, but what I do know, I should share in order to help others along the way. Check out the blog tab in the navigation bar for new posts full of (hopefully) useful information.