As we sat down to our meal this past week, my family each took a turn to acknowledge something we had learned about ourselves during the past year. When it came to my turn, I thought about the trajectory of life in practice (and vice versa) during these 18+ months. I began pretty unshakeable but as the fears of the world eclipsed I floundered and found myself falling into a pretty deep hole. Regardless, I powered through asana until one day at the height of the pandemic and concerns, I felt a snap in my bicep while lifting a gas nozzle. It was the lowest of the low as I sat there with a Twix bar hanging out of my mouth thinking, ‘what now?’ As I gave my wing some time to heal, I began to tune into the other parts of me that were carrying more emotional weight than they needed to. It was an opportunity to see how out of balance my life and practice were on a whole. It is so easy to rely on our perceived strengths but just as the pandemic has shown us, strength is fragile. Growth comes when we can see that within the fragile and vulnerable spaces lies new areas of investigation and learning.When we went online a year and a half ago, we had no idea where it would take us or that it would eventually foster us as we moved out of our old dwelling. It wasn’t easy but it was never boring! What we found in the transition was a way to create newness from loss, connection amidst confusion, and a way to make yoga workable and accessible while the pandemic raged.
As we enter into the final weeks of the year and look towards the day that the light returns to our space anew, we are taking the time to sit back and listen to the voices of each part of our teaching team. During this whole time, they’ve shown up even when they themselves were living through the same ups and downs as we were. Somehow, they stood in front of their screens, bowed low and rose high as they adapted and modified to make their work both manage-able and meaningful.
Our teaching team is full of so many bright lights, however there is one of our team whose eyes sparkle and laughter bubbles like no other. Her humble way mask her prodigious knowledge. Today, Susan would like to re-introduce you to Chair Yoga …
Supported Chair Yoga
Wednesdays at 11:15am
“Yoga helps us to find wholeness, build flexibility and strength, improve balance and feel a joy in movement. When we use a chair for support in yoga practice we find a way to make yoga work for each of us. Sometimes, we wish for the support of a chair when moving is difficult, sometimes when we are tired and sometimes it is part of finding out more about ourselves and how we move and live in our bodies. I think the extra support of a chair can offer a wonderful way to calm down in an end of the day yoga practice.
In our chair class we include breath work, meditation, and hand positions called mudra. We adapt asana, yoga to take advantage of help from a chair. We include opportunities for supported standing and balancing poses. There are many chances for being curious and exploring what our bodies can do. It is my hope that there is kindness, self awareness, and especially joy in this practice.”
As we share the last weeks of this year, let’s take the time to see how much we’ve all grown together.
You rock. We love you.-
Sharon & Your TYC Tribe