Back To The Mat

One of my intentions for this year is getting back to my yoga practice. I still do yoga every single day, but I don't practice on the mat the way I used to. Not for lack of discipline or motivation--life simply started coming at me fast. And no matter how much I tried to stay dedicated to my daily practice, everyday life demanded my presence.

And so, since the Pandemic really, my yoga practice has been very sporadic. One class here, a session or two there, maybe even a few videos that never got edited or posted. It's wild to me how the pace of my life slowed down, but the intensity picked up because there were just so many transitions happening-nearly every day, it felt like. It was like a personal retrograde, as cliché as that might sound, but nothing was singular. There was just movement everywhere.

I would get so disappointed with myself. With all the things happening that I couldn't control, I felt like I could at least set aside some time to do yoga--but I couldn't even keep up with that! And sometimes I would soothe myself with a line that I used to tell my students--"The mat is just practice. Yoga is really for everyday life." Sometimes it helped. Most of the time it didn't.

And that was also wild to me. The doubt and unsurety in myself. Not in my will to push through it all, although at times I was so over it, but my doubts in my belief that everything would work out the way it was supposed to. Before the Pandemic, it really didn't matter what I went through (and I did go through a lot), because I always believed that everything in life was a part of a larger process, and that even the hard parts were just a part in it all working itself out. I was very confident and unshaken, both on the mat and in the principles that I stood for. And then I wasn't on the mat, and I wasn't standing still. And every day required multiple deep breaths, and real time adjustments, unexpected modifications, and reminders to simply be still and find myself. I don't think even the combination of Ashtanga, Bikram, or Baptiste would compare to the real life chaos of what came to me along with the Pandemic. Wild. I used to lead those classes and tell my students every day that this was just a safe space to practice for real life moments. Just wild.

So if you were a student of mine in, I feel you. I have just walked out of a session where life handed me a flow of my own class. "Deep breaths"..."Find your own pace"... "Focus On Something That Doesn't Move"... "It's ok".

And somewhere in all that movement, I did all those things. And I found myself again. And I remembered what it really was about yoga that made me fall in love and commit to a lifestyle that encompasses such core values that I would want to physically practice it everyday and share that practice with others. Because yeh, yoga is actually a lifestyle. And I never stopped practicing, I actualized it and truly started living it. And I'm breathing deep again. And I'm not resisting the flow.

And so here we are - January 2026. No shame for living in the present moment. No question in discipline when life is an intentional habit. Acceptance for conscious adjustments. Giving myself permission to "just be".

That's an open invitation for you too! To create a life that is consistent with the vibration you wish to maintain. To remember that all vibrations ebb and flow, even the high ones. And to honor your personal energy and momentum. Here's to a lifestyle that practices intention.