#yogaversary

[alavinephotography]

Honored to call this beautiful yogi my dear friend and happy to support her as she too hosts her first IG Yoga Challenge!!! Here's my 3-legged Down Dog/1-legged Down Dog for Day 1! Let's do this, Malina! 👊🏾💥😘💕 Little sidenote... Today is also my #yogaversary as it relates to IG Challenges! One year ago today, I posted my first challenge photo and Malina, you were with me from then! What a full circle moment to be supporting you in your endeavors and having you support me in mine as we continue to learn in grow in this amazing community! Namaste Beautiful Yogi! ••• #repost @savasanasoul ••• March is finally here with the Spring breezes and pretty sceneries everywhere on 🌍 What are the better ways to welcome March with awesome yoga practices for strength improvement. From 1st-10th March we will post daily yoga poses, participants in the challenge will : 💓Follow all hosts and sponsors and tag them along with #WelcomingMarchWithStrength . 💓Repost this flyer & tag some friends to play 💓Make sure account is public . 💓Post new daily photo/video interpreting your version of our daily post Winners of this challenge will get prize from our generous sponsors. No matter where you are in the world, we will post it to you. 😘 Here are the Hosts: @kittyfhloe @kelindoan @savasanasoul @yogawithhelena @__sil_06 Here are the Amazing Sponsors: @soter_bentes (Drawing yoga artworks) @confusedgirlla @saroueldream_store @nowheremalas @jewelry.yoga (US Only) @heal_meow @jamestenconi @altaregoapparel Our 10 days poses: Day 1. One legged Downward-Facing Dog | Adho Mukha Svanasana Day 2. Tiger pose | Vyaghrasana Day 3. Chaturanga dandasana Day 4. Boat pose | Navasana Day 5. Crow/Crane Pose | Bakasana Day 6. Chair pose | Utkatasana Day 7. Bow pose | Dhanurasana Day 8. Headstand | Sirsasana Day 9. Forearmstand | Pincha Mayurasana Day 10. Handstand | Adho Mukha Vrksana Lead host to post the night before: Day 1 & 6 - @kittyfhloe Day 2 & 7 - @kelindoan Day 3 & 8 - @savasanasoul Day 4 & 9 - @yogawithhelena Day 5 & 10 - @__sil_06

[misssweetkt]

Hard to believe I met this amazing group of people just a year ago...seems like longer! Love to you all! 💗 #ytt #yogateachertraining #holycowyoga #namaste # #yogafamily #charleston #yogaversary 💗✌️🐘🕉🦄😘 (at Holy Cow Yoga Center)

[byinkandco]

Who's joining me with @jnlllyn for her first #satya6ix #yogachallenge?It starts tomorrow in honor of her 6th #yogaversary You go girl! ❤️ Challenge sponsored by @byoganow and @ilovegurus @ilovegurusca 🙏🏼 Maybe boyfriend @marakbai would join me for this short challenge 😘 (at Toronto, Ontario)

[yogaquest]

Today is @jenny.warriorprincess's 5 year #yogaversary. We know how hard it is to walk through the door that first time but we can't express how happy we are that you did! #Repost @jenny.warriorprincess with @repostapp. ・・・ Today marks my 5 year "yogaversary" with YogaQuest! That is an email I sent to a friend, on my way put of the office that day. I went into it cynical and more than a little nervous. Flash forward to today: RYT-200, Curvy Yoga certified, writer and narrator at YogaQuest. I clearly had no idea what I was getting myself into! #yoga #curvyyoga #yogaquest #geekyoga #nerdyoga #d&d #yogaversary (at YogaQuest)

[justiniyogini]

Yogaversary!

Today is the 4th anniversary of my graduation from Yoga Teacher Training. This inspired me to jot down 10 things that have happened since then.

10. I completed a master's degree in addiction counseling and a post-master's certificate in marriage and family therapy - yay, student loans!

9. I tried out being a corporate yoga teacher and found it wasn't for me

8. I tried out a ridiculous idea of pairing yoga with geekery and it worked...nobody was more surprised than me.

7. I now own more cosplay than business attire

6. I stood up for myself and let go of some negative people and situations

5. I found my own voice as a teacher and continue to find my voice as a therapist

4. I opened my own f*cking yoga studio

3. I cultivated the greatest friendships of my life

2. I celebrated 13 years of a most profound bond - don't let anyone tell you that 13 is unlucky

1. I have a clearer understanding of who I am, what I want, and how I'm going to get there. Stay tuned for what the next chapter holds.

I am the happiest I have ever been, at the age of 34, and damn proud of it.

[freedomtour2013]

10 years of yoga

This morning, while putting away the props after an iyengar yoga class at the Yoga Club in Berlin’s Prenzlauer Berg neighborhood, I remembered that it has been just over 10 years since I have been studying yoga seriously. By seriously, I mean regularly, with good teachers. I am not counting the times in college I tried to teach myself yoga from a book!

It is interesting to reflect on the other “long term relationships” I have had with other activities. I took piano lessons for 10 years, too. From age 5 to 15. And I probably sang in choirs for that long, too, perhaps longer. I worked at one company for almost 8 years continuously.

And of course, there are many relationships with family (nearly 34 years) and friends (two of them going on 30 years) that are three times as long.

All of these relationships require dedication, consistency, and simply “showing up.” And any time one gives oneself to a practice, a friend, a relationship, an art form, or a career, one reaps great benefits. The seeds sown in the challenging times grow beautiful and tasty fruits eventually.

I am so very thankful to have yoga as a practice. It’s hard to express in words all that it has offered me over the years. It started as a way to connect with myself through a physical means instead of a mental process, which was really valuable during graduate school and after. This aspect continues to be important, since I can easily get stuck in my head and exhaust myself with thoughts. Yoga is grounding.

Yoga has also given me many communities and friends. In Cambridge, it gave me a chance to be with people who weren’t in my program or even in school - a really important reminder of life beyond the GSD.

In San Francisco, yoga also provided an anchor of friendships and an even broader circle of acquaintances. It took many years to find my niche in SF, but I did eventually find not one but a few yoga niches.

Yoga has been the foundation for the best vacations I have ever had, the reason for many of the best days of my life, the source of energy and inspiration for work and play, a safe place to feel really emotional and process difficult experiences, a method for balancing strength and flexibility, the best way I have found to stay fit and get stronger, and also a confidence builder - big time! Who doesn’t feel awesome after their first ever handstand (as an adult)?

The art and science of teaching yoga also provided a forum for me to develop my “voice” and learn to trust myself more and more as a leader. The barriers I faced in teaching were most often around trusting my own experience as valid and believing my story or my approach to a pose was worth sharing rather than something technical. Once I could jump over that walk, I found the grass quite welcoming on the other side and usually really enjoyed the experience of sharing yoga with others.

So today, I offer lots of thanksgiving and gratitude to the yoga as a practice, to teachers throughout centuries who kept the practice alive and vibrant, and to my own teachers who shared their wisdom with me and poured themselves into me. Here’s to many more years with yoga!

I miss my teachers and yoga friends. But thankfully, I can be my own teacher, and I can benefit from teachers around the world as I journey.

And, after rereading this post, I realize that yoga gives me homes away from home all over the world. When I see a yoga studio, I know it is likely a place I will feel at home. Maybe the style or language will be different, but the poses will at least be familiar, the world view likely similar, and the commitment to practice will certainly be present. Thank you, yoga! Plus, every day, I can practice on my own. It’s a way to come home to myself. And that is very nourishing. And it is a way to pass the time in an enriching way. Better than mindless sightseeing or social media consumption.