Transformation Within 1 Hour?

I am a yoga instructor. Within 1 hour, I will have created a lifecycle of movement for myself and my students that begins in child pose and ends in corpse pose. In the timeframe between the two positional bookends of my classes, we will have upended our bodies, stretched our limbs, strengthened our muscles, made connections to parts and pieces of ourselves for balance and mobility in new ways, steadied ourselves on one foot, a head, or our hands; twisted our torsos, and inverted our skeletal systems by going head-down and belly-up repeatedly.

All of this movement may seem chaotic, yet it’s my responsibility to make these positions become a transformative experience. The dynamics of a vinyasa flow stir up the mind, body and spirit to communicate through our central nervous systems. What signal are you sending? The word “yoga” means to unite or yoke. A yoga class isn’t “yoga” without the challenging intention to experience our own sense of 3-part harmony in mind, body and spirit through the sequences of poses. But, how does this happen?

I often ask my students to check in with their breathing. Reminding them that the quality of their breathing delivers a message to their minds and bodies from their spirit. This message can relay empowerment by calm, rhythmic, deep breathing; or distress by shallow, forced, erratic breathing. Your breathing patterns influence your mind and affect your body’s capabilities for your benefit or deficit. Within a 1-hour yoga class, let’s set an intention to discover all we can do in child pose, and then seal in all we did do by surrendering our bodies to the power of that hour, in corpse pose.

My classes are confrontational. Challenge creates change. Practicing challenges for increased strength, stability and flexibility require LSD - Long, Slow, Deep (thanks Bryan Kest!) breathing patterns. Your LSD inspires your mind and body with the message, “I got this!” It’s not about a perfect performance, but more about generating a unified “all is well” response in our minds, bodies and spirits with every attempt we make on our mats to discover more. We can train the mind and body to embrace challenges with ease, informed by the spirit, as we let it deeply and freely flow the breath of life within us.

Our yoga mats are test pads for life. If we can control the way we move and breathe through the challenges we pose to ourselves on our mats, we can also control the way we live and respond when life poses its inevitable challenges to us off the mat.

I’ve been practicing yoga for decades and I continue to discover more about the revitalizing benefits yoga offers to not only mobilize and strengthen my body, but more importantly, to live my best life. Every time I step into the studio to teach, I’ve come to realize the very vulnerable and courageous privilege it is to gather together to intentionally work through challenges - to breathe better when confronted with difficulties, to move better in the skin and bones we’re contained within, and to flow our unique personal discoveries together during class as a community. A yoga studio is a sanctuary for personal discovery, restoration, and a banquet space for sharing vitality. Yoga has afforded me amazing opportunities to unite with people from many different backgrounds, cultures, body-types, ages, genders and experiences. I am moved by compassion and gratitude for having built a career out of this amazing practice that allows me to lean into my God-given purpose, and to use my gifts to serve, support and strengthen - albeit one stitch at a time, the fabric of humanity.

For a life-force boost, check out your local yoga studios today to see if there’s a style and class that gives you a challenging mind-body-spirit experience. As the General Manager for Yoga Six - a renowned national brand, check to see if there’s a Y6 near you. If so, I’m confident you’ll find a class from one or more of their 6 varieties that will give you an epic transformative life cycle of movement from child-pose to corpse pose: https://www.yogasix.com/

Transformation in 1 hour? Well, it’s my intention that you’ll rise again from your final resting corpse pose, with a new body. One that’s more integrated, strengthened and revitalized for having spent the past hour harmonizing your mind and body through your spirit. I’ll cue your spirit to maintain LSD breathing patterns throughout the hour that will reinforce your mind-body connection - transforming those sixty minutes you just spent on your mat, into a yoga experience for your best life.

The better we move and breathe, the better we live. This is the day! Make it great for yourself and others! - Karen