I felt like time stopped!

Having done Yoga teacher training everywhere in Canada, Vancouver, Victoria, Kamloops, Banff, Jasper, Calgary, Edmonton, Hamilton, Regina, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, London, Halifax, St Johns  its hard remember my first yoga class.  What I do remember was while sitting in a spread legged position we were instructed to square our shoulders over our right thigh and then slowly walk our hands towards our feet when suddenly I felt myself enter a state of deep calm as if time had stopped.

Feeling From Before

My body knew I had been here before as the feeling of this movement resonated deeply within me! Despite my attending afterwards very sporadically with the two friends who were more interested in skipping out and going to the bar rather than attend a yoga class – I was hooked! That was 40 years ago and I have never forgotten the relationship I felt immediately with that deep feeling.

Beatles

I also heard about yoga through the Beatles! Still a bit of an eastern mystery though. It would be many years before I found a way to learn about yoga and meditation in a way that made sense to my western mind.

Concurrently, over the years, despite trying studio and gym related yoga classes I found it difficult to find a teacher who I understood or who would stay in one place long enough for me to attend for any length of time.

Kareen

I began to follow a lady on TV called Kareen Zebroff and bought her book that she wrote in 1971. The ABC of Yoga and I still have and use that same copy! Her work is what has kept me flexible and interested in yoga.

Overall the life and growth of westernized yoga has morphed and grown and become a force of its own but that was while I was attending to years of education, work and life and being in the helping industry. It wasn’t until 20 somethings (!) began to talk of yoga in an excited way that I came back to have another look.

And it is an exciting time! Now, several friends have become teachers, pacing with their children and the whole potential of the yoga movement and growth is a thrill to see!

To Me

Yoga to me now means many things; health, healing, peace, bringing oneself into the moment, awareness, acceptance, challenge, self responsibility, alertness, hope, gentleness, respect, and a sense of flow.

It is a fast growing worldwide spiritual revolution, a unique positive blend of eastern and western views, yin and yang perspectives and a socially acceptable path into spiritual growth. It is a good tool to spread the love!

Now yoga is for everyone, every sex or chosen gender and age! It is useful on a practical level, it can be free, its healthy and it is spiritually generous practice, which can be combined with many other healing modalities.

With teaching I learn, and one area I am weak in is physical challenges and ‘yoga now’ is going to be a wonderful way for me to become physically stronger while healing myself and others! I also hope to meet great people with like minded values and keep growing and take better care of this wonderful planet.

With yoga practice we can expand into who we really are!