Everyone can benefit from practicing yoga.
- Yoga is about moving the body and using your breathe to unite the body, mind, and spirit.
- Yoga is about living with integrity, growing with self-discipline and moving the body with Graceland strength.
- Yoga postures can help everyone build strength, improve flexibility, improve brain activity, and relax.
- One of my favorite takeaways of doing yoga is the way it increases alertness and brain function. Yoga can improve coordination and balance as it opens neural pathways.
- I also love the way some postures release stress and wring out the organs, which helps to fortify our bio-terrain and augments wellness.
Yvette Prior’s Yoga Journey
My first yoga class was in the 1990s – but I did not start practicing regularly until 2013 – that was when I found Adrienne Reed’s classes on Discover Fit & Health. Go HERE for an Adrienne Reed class.
In 2015, our family joined a gym and the plethora of yoga classes offered led to exploration. At one point, I took 125 classes in 100 days. I was excited to try different types of yoga and I enjoyed experiencing diverse teaching styles. Also, the instructors would often modify or change their delivery method, depending on the class and their mood. I eventually became a regular with various classes and some of my favorite teachers were Challie, Jennie, Yaco, Jason, Candy, and Alec.
In 2017, Jennie stopped teaching her two Sunday classes and we could not find any other Sunday yoga classes that met our needs. That led to my teaching a 75 minute gentle yoga class on Sunday nights. I did that for two and a half years and we had a lot of fun. For example, on the last night of class before summer break, we had two massage therapy graduates offer mini massages. We also had food and great conversation. Sunday Night Yoga (here)
In spring of 2020, during the early weeks of the pandemic, I had the chance to teach a handful of yoga classes online and then in 2022, I finally completed my 250-Hour yoga teacher training with The Yoga & Ayurveda Center and then joined Yoga Alliance as a Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT 200).
So…. if you have not tried doing yoga, what are you waiting for? Your body and mind will thank you greatly. I think you will really enjoy the positive changes yoga can bring into your life. I also suggest that you try and least ten different classes (with diverse teachers) before you make any decisions about your yoga practice.
I am disappointed that people make incorrect assumptions about yoga. For example, many people think yoga is only for the fit and flexible (but yoga can help you BECOME fit and flexible). Another faulty assumption is that yoga is a new-age mystic experience or a religious practice. While some may connect their yoga to religion (even Christianity) – yoga is a way to take care of the body for health and strength.
Yoga is about wellness and by taking care of your physical body, the mind and spirit benefit.
BREATH
IS
LIFE
Special Thanks to Steph from the Yoga & Ayurveda Center
“Life as a teacher begins the day you realize that you are always a learner.” ~Steph Ball-Mitchell
Your Body will
Thank You
Greatly
when You
Do Yoga
“The yogi’s life is not measured by the number of his days, but by the number of his breaths.”
Dr. Yvette Prior 