Surround Yourself With Strength

I am so grateful for the truly amazing girlfriends I have found through my yoga practice. Over the years of teaching, many of my yoga students have become good friends. I have met many strong and independent women through my teaching in various studios and health clubs. I have found that the support of these magnificent women has helped me to grow as a person.

We feed off the energy of the people we surround ourselves with daily. I have been fortunate to befriend intelligent, funny, intuitive and motivated women. My friends/yoga students help me to find contentment and joy in the world around me. There is a positive outlook that each woman carries that I appreciate and glean from each of them. We understand each other, and promote continued understanding and growth within each other. Through these realtionships, I have learned to be a better friend.

Yoga cultivates individuals that express caring and understanding for others, and I have found yoga's ability to encourage practitioners to continually look within themselves.

Take an inventory of the people you surround yourself with daily. Do they encourage you to grow? Do they help you to find happiness and fun in your life? Do they promote positivity? If not, find people that can help you to do these things in life; it will allow you to be happiest. Who knows, your new best friend might be next to you in your yoga class!

Quiet the Mind

Our asanas, postures, calm the vrittis of our mind. My yoga teacher, Kathleen Kastner, recently spoke of the mind being like a ping pong machine. I found this simile to be very realistic to my mind most days. I have also heard comparisons to the mind being like a monkey swinging from tree to tree. I think we can all relate to these sensations of the mind.

After vinyasa practice and meditation, my mind is finally at rest. I am able to feel peace and think clearly. Yoga is a part of my life that is crucial to mental and physical health. My mind and my body function healthier with regular yoga practice. Finding regular time to sit and just be slows down the demands of daily life. I often sit quietly while my classes are in savasana, and I am able to close my eyes and just be present. I am practicing trying to do this at the end of each of my own practices for at least five minutes.

I encourage you to journal your mind and body observations before and after your practice and recognize the changes that occur. Dedicate yourself to finding personal peace this new year. Find yoga classes that meet the needs of your mind and body. Seek out classes or workshops on meditation and pranayama. Remember to breathe! Sami Aaron will be teaching a Sunday 4pm class at Darling Yoga weekly. Join us (as I will be attending regularly) and learn how to deepen your yoga practice with meditation and pranayama practice. (Pranayama & Meditation)