Greetings and Salutations our dearest YG readers! How are you?
Are you doing our online challenge? How does it feel half way through?

IN STUDIO

How is life in the Pandemic lane?

One of the best things I read was a post on FB and I want to post it here. Working parents want kids to go back to school because school closures directly impacts them. Teachers don’t want schools to open because covid spreading round their school directly impacts them.

Hospital staff want a full lockdown because sick covid patients directly impacts them. Business owners want to carry on as normal because lockdown directly impacts them. People with physical health problems want everyone to stay socially distant because catching covid could kill them. People with mental health problems want people to spend time with because isolation could kill them. Some can’t wait for a vaccine because they believe it will bring back some normality

Some are terrified of a vaccine because they believe it could harm them. We are all going through this, but none of us are going through the same thing. Some face crippling financial challenges, others face heart break. We don’t all have to agree with what is best because what’s best for us won’t be best for everyone. We don’t have to understand what others are going through. But we do need to stick together and keep loving each other no matter our differences.

We need to be mindful when some things go the way we want it to, it could be terrible news to another person.

WE NEED TO BE KIND.

Genuinely speaking, straight from the heart, this makes so much sense to me.

It is tied into our practice too! BE KIND. The mantra for the season. It is completely natural, to be tired, frustrated, sad, angry, disappointed, anxious and at a loss in these times. Precisely this is the reason why we ought to BE KIND. Let this be OUR practice.

Many of us have had the privilege of being raised in a home, with our families. This is not to say that among us, there are people with a totally different experience. Some people were raised in institutions, and some people were not raised with love and compassion. The way we have been raised influences us in how we make decisions, our world view.

WHY AM I TALKING ABOUT THIS?

Yoga, as a practice, also creates community, a SANGHA we say in Sanskrit. It is in this community, that wecan find friendship, and build a bond with our peers, and maybe even with our teachers. While in the beginning, the practice of Yoga might, to many seem physical, and asana based, the longer you practice the more the practice reveals to you.

The world has lost a very brilliant, deep, and conscious human, Diane Bruni.

Diane was my very first Yoga Teacher. She was a pioneer, and an avid explorer of the movement. She passed away this Sunday. I feel blessed beyond measure to have learned from her, and in the recent years have followed her in social media. She has impacted the way I teach, think and discover. She has opened my mind, and eyes, to seeing life, movement, and breath so intricately. Her teachings have aided me to see how plagued the yoga community can be of dogma, and ego. She was so real in also describing her own process. What we are left with is an enormous amount of love, information, and opportunity. This is why I wrote about the family in the beginning. Our roots, where we call “home” can change throughout our lifetime, the people we refer to as family can also change. It isn’t always the biological family that we stick to, connect to. We can be nourished, and grow with others as well. We really aim to create that vibe, and space at YG. A home away from home. And now that so many hundreds of thousands of people if not millions are disconnected from their primary families, and then their secondary ones, it is really important that we practice being KIND.

When I used to practice with Diane Bruni back in 97, 98, 99... I remember thinking, she was so fierce, and strong, strict and yet so generous and playful. All of these characteristics seemed so familiar to me. I looked up to her, and how she informed me in my practice. We are so lucky that Diane has a daughter (Kathryn Bruni Young) whom learned so much from her mom, and just like her is a force and source of incredible information, she is also a pioneer in yoga movement, mindful strength movement, podcasts, on line and you name it she is brilliant. We will be so lucky if she can come share her knowledge at YG.

BE KIND! MAKE IT YOUR CHOICE.

Let’s look at how being kind looks when we first, are kind to ourselves, then to the rest. It asks you to be present. Reflect on your choice of words, and reactions. See if you are truly listening, or just responding to some words, that stick out.

What does Kindness look like? Sound like?

Feel like? Taste like? Smell like?

Yoga Garden is still really beautiful,

and so totally lonely and sad without you there. It misses you. We the teachers, miss you. We miss knowing how you are! We miss moving, breathing and dancing with you! We miss sweating with you, and doing all our off the mat events together. We miss feeling close to you. Laughing and sometimes even crying with you.

We encourage you to stay as optimistic as you can, be physical so that you don’t become apathetic and numb. Times are hard, and if on the other hand times are NOT hard for you, REACH YOUR HAND OUT! Help someone get off the couch, out of bed, BE KIND!

Together we can accomplish much more than alone. Let’s be as inclusive and supportive as we can each day, and little by little start transforming our practice not only on the mat but off the mat too.

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WRITE TO US! LET US KNOW HOW YOU ARE.

WITH SO MUCH LOVE, BE KIND