After being fully vaccinated, I craved small group exercise classes. Chappaqua’s Home Beauty and Wellness store offers the ideal solution. I started doing hot yoga classes with Deanna and Susan. When Susan read one of my blog posts, she compared yoga discipline to the practice of home organization. She was so eloquent in making the comparison I want to share her comments with you:
Many people come to yoga to gain freedom in their bodies. They want to become more flexible, get stronger, help rehab old injuries. In general, they want their bodies to work better, so they can live their lives with more comfort and freedom.
Many times a student will go through their practice, stretching as far as they can, allowing their bodies to kind of splay out all over the place. It feels like freedom, but it’s actually the opposite. It’s a fast and sure path to getting hurt, and an injury can feel like a prison.
To really become more free in your body, to improve, you need to set up a good foundation, a structure, some boundaries. Your feet need to spread across the ground, consciously distributing the weight between the ball of the feet and the heals. Your upper arms need to draw into your shoulders to ensure the muscles of the upper back engage to support you when your weight is on your hands. The muscles of the core (your abdominals, the serratus, glutes, and hamstrings) need to firm to support your spine in every position.
Walking onto your yoga mat and allowing your body to sort of leak all over, is very much like walking into your home and dropping your stuff everywhere. Sure, it seems like being fun and fancy free, but then when you look up, you’re trapped in all of the chaos.
