HATHA YOGA CLASS SEQUENCE SERIES

Through unplugging from our outer lives for a little while, we give ourselves the chance to actually plug into the most empowering and nourishing sources of renewal we have: our own breath, our own awareness, our own inner being. The value of bringing the mind into the body and staying there for a while has only gotten more precious. We emerge with a renewed sense of clarity, balance, and harmony. We give refuge to the mind, provide a resting place for the senses, an opportunity for them to pause from their outgoing movement. We reawaken to our primitive, sensual, and instinctual nature.

It (hopefully) remains one of the last places where we disconnect from texting, social media, and email for an hour or so. But even more powerfully, in practice we bring the energy of the mind back down into the body, the breath, and the organic, physical reality of our material existence. Yoga practice is, of course, an optimal way to renew ourselves. Not only must we prioritize time dedicated to removing ourselves from the world of our screens, we need reliable and effective ways for restoring a sense of physical and energetic integration to our beings. It is vitally necessary for our well-being. Therefore, the importance of resetting ourselves, of taking time to slow down, to come back to our physicality, to release stress on a regular basis, has become even more crucial for maintaining a sense of balance and harmony. I believe that the imbalance created by inhabiting an abstracted reality for hours on end takes its toll on how our mind functions, on our nervous system, and indeed, on all the systems of the body, in ways we might not yet even fully grasp. And it isn’t going to slow down or diminish.Īs we move through our days interacting with the world through devices, we take our mind and sense perceptions out of the physical world. The sheer speed and volume of communication, with the infinite array of never-ending and instantaneous content, is mind-boggling. We live in an ever-accelerating world that moves infinitely faster and more efficiently than even midtown Manhattan did 20 years ago. Now more than ever, we need the ability to reset our internal tape counters. Through focused attention to movement and consciously freeing the breath, I was ready to begin again with renewed clarity and presence of mind.

My reset included a release of the mental residue left over from the events of my day a healthy distance from whatever current dramas were unfolding and the clarity, lightness, and ease that come from working accumulated tension out of the body. By the end of each yoga class, I felt as though my tape counter was set back to 0000.

This was the early ’90s, when we still had old-fashioned tape counters that would measure how much of a cassette tape you’ve played and whose numbers could be set back to a string of zeros by pressing a button.

HATHA YOGA CLASS SEQUENCE SERIES

I took my first series of yoga classes while working as an executive secretary in a midtown Manhattan office. Remember, it’s not necessarily about the form your practice takes, it’s the principle of taking time to unplug, unwind, and release and let go that allows you to tap into the source of renewal within yourself. Being in nature, cooking, being with your pets, being in virtual community, being in silence, walking, running, any movement practice, reading something uplifting, learning something new, making art, and appreciating art are just some of the ways you may be able to access the state of renewal. But if lying over bolsters and propping yourself up with blocks and blankets doesn’t resonate, or isn’t possible for you right now, know t here are you can touch the space of renewal. Therefore, one way to approach yoga is as a set of practices designed to help us drink from this well in order to renew our bodies, our minds, and our spirits. It’s based on the essential yogic teaching that the source of renewal is found within each of us. In this excerpt, I share the concept of renewal from the yogic perspective, including some perspectives on how and why yoga is such a critical way to fortify our inner reserves, now more than ever. For example, the idea of renewing oneself through yoga always felt important, but now it feels absolutely vital for all of us turning to our practice to navigate these trying and uncertain times of the unfolding Covid-19 pandemic. When I outlined the strategies for deepening yoga practice that I write about in my book, Evolving Your Yoga, I could never have foreseen the circumstances under which we would be using yoga right now.

Hatha yoga class sequence