Namaste

I had a few friends in Hamilton who told me I would enjoy yoga if I tried it. They were avid yogi’s who absolutely loved the benefits hot yoga had to offer.While they may have suggested I try out the practice, I never did in a studiosetting. I did, however, enjoy doing 'Yoga with Adriene' on Youtube.

When my wonderful husband accepted theopportunity to play drums at the Hard Rock Café in Dubai for a few months, Iwas left with a lot of free time to fill in order to distract me from the fact that it's just me and Bourbon at the apartment. Enter, yoga. Being thankful for the lesser cost of a trial membership, I embarkedon a journey of yoga-- first at Moksha, and now, at Yoga Public.

I’ve enjoyed what practicing yoga has offered. 

The physical benefits of practicing are getting in a workout that doesn’tnecessarily feel like a workout, and participating in at least 5 classes per week.  

The mental benefits are incredible-- one complete hour whereI am fully present in the moment of what Iam doing. While challenging myself physically, I do so without feeling hard on myself as I’mpleasantly surprised at what I am capable of and rarely feel discouraged when I try, then fall. Learning to concentrate strictly one thing only, preventing the mind from wandering, has been fascinating. 

The final collaborator is the emotional benefits which, for me, has been getting out of the apartment andrealizing I found something I actually enjoy doing!

To receive the optimal benefits of a trial membership, one must always try as many different classes as humanly possible. YogaPublic has this variety aspect down from basic hot flow classes, to hot coreclasses, yin, meditation, detox, and, my new favourite for ending mywork week, floating yoga and meditation.

*I’d just like to take a moment to say thatyes, I am a Christian, and yes, I am doing yoga and loving it. I know somepeople don’t understand how to mesh the two together in such a way they feel theyaren’t compromising their faith. I think I’ve done an alright job of it.Being aware of what the instructors are saying and mentally saying to yourself‘yes, I agree with this’ or ‘no, I don’t’ is enough to keep myself grounded inmy own faith, while exploring the many benefits of yoga.*

The floating yoga and meditation is done in the yoga hammock/swing thing (so technical, I know) and is some super fun yoga first, with meditation to follow. This past weeks class was guided by a new (to me) instructor and she was absolutely lovely. The meditation focused on breathing in with the intention and expectation of‘receiving’, and breathing out to the idea of 'letting go’. At the end of class, the mantra was paired with the challenge to take forward the objective of being fully present in every moment—not allowing yourself tobe distracted. To just be and see thedifference it makes with friends and family, and even your pets! While I enjoyedthis immensely (along with the essential oils and ambiance touches of music, candles and gong), she spoke one phrase that captured me...

Thanks, Pinterest!

With our hands at ‘heart centre’, she spoke of compassion, and love, and all those gorgeous things that come from ourheart. She then guided us to take our hands and gently cup oureyes. She spoke of how we need to take the love and compassion from ourhearts, and use those to shape what we see through our eyes. For anyone that hasread my latest blog post, you know this sentiment is on point with what I try(and both succeed and fail at trying) to do in my life.

While yoga can be filled with chants Idon’t take part in because I don’t know what they mean, new age philosophywhere a hot flow sequence was created to honour the blue moon (yes, ithappened), or other general phrases of third eyes and things Iknow nothing about, there are moments where beliefs collide and the messageand mantra resonates from deep within, making my practice feel all the moreengaging on every possible level.

  

Every class ends with your teacher thankingyou for sharing your practice and the simple phrase of ‘Namaste’. Iwas once told that Namaste means ‘the light in me acknowledges and honours thelight in you’. I love this definition. We are all amazing and created in theimage of God—I can't fathom a more perfect phrase to say to someone than the simple message of how you acknowledge andhonour how God is living in them and through them.

Namaste.

**If you’ve never tried yoga, I encourage you to check it out Most places have ‘Karma Classes’--  anyone can attend for a fee of a suggested donation to attend the class. The donated money goes to a charity.