As we hop, skip and gallup our way to the close of 2011 (try it, it’s fun!) we’re reminded of where we were just about a year ago. Certainly these 300 some days were filled with a fair share of highs and lows, but the one thing that remained constant was yoga.
This is where it all started. The venerable Nancy Alder‘s idea of #365yoga meme and subsquent year-long encouragement began with Judith Hanson Lasater‘s A Year of Living Your Yoga. It’s become an annual tradition (starting now, done and done) here at YD to offer the book as a giveaway so that more yogis may find inspiration to keep up an everyday practice.
WIN: We are delighted to be giving away 5 copies of A Year of Living Your Yoga: Daily Practices to Shape Your Life by Judith Hanson Lasater (courtesy of Rodmell Press).
TO ENTER: Simple. In the comments either share your reflections for the year that was 2011, or maybe one way you lived your yoga, today, last week, last month, over the past year. We look forward to your comments and further inspiration!
Giveaway closes end of day Saturday, December 10th. Winners will be chosen at random and announced soon after. Good luck!
If you already have the book, feel free to enter. It makes a great gift.
And the winners are…Caitlin, Terree Shields, Grace, Katie K, dorkette (we didn’t make it up). Congrats! Deepest thanks to everyone who shared in the comments. You inspire us! Love, YD.
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Earlier…
- Practicing Radical Presence: The Art of Teaching Yoga – An Interview with Judith Hanson Lasater – Part 1
- Deepak Chopra Samples 50 Cent’s Energy Fields in New Ad
- This Week In Yoga: ‘Yoga Girl’ Rocks, Stephen Colbert on Lululemon, Bikram Sues Again
- Ultimate YogaDork T-Shirt Contest – Winner!
- YogaDork Ed: Abdominal Breathing – Your Immediate “How To” for Stress Relief
- YogaDork Holiday Gift Guide 2011: The Best Yoga Gifts of the Year
Gosh! I can’t believe it’s been a year since last 365yoga started!
Ah 2011 … I got married, moved, got a cat, started a new job, realized I was really stressed, did something about it …
I think I’d tell myself that in 2012 I just want to relax … but that’s not me. I think in 2012 I want to be more adventurous, even more than now, particularly on the travel front.
It’s been a rather stressful year for me: moving, new job, my best friend coming to the conclusion she needs to move away next year. Thanks to yoga I always come back to focusing on my breath, each and every day. Even on those days where I lack the time for pranayama and meditation I can sit and come back to my breath.
15 years. That’s how long I have been trying and failing to do a yoga squat. Seriously. Stand on my head–sure no problem. But that basic posture baffled my body and wrecked havoc on my mind. So much so that I began to take my squat-free life and internalize it to a personal failing. Yogis would utter the phrase YOGA SQUAT and my heart would start to race and my brain would shout…no no no! My practice allows me several hours on the mat each week. I finally confessed my fear and failure to a yoga instructor whom I’ve grown quite fond of and she offhandedly suggested that I just sit on a block. From there, I was in my faux squat but that allowed me to still get benefits and move into different asanas to stretch my mind and body. So that was my a-ha moment of 2011 and how yoga took me there. There is always a way when the will is there. Om shanti.
Over the past year my husband and I sold most everything we owned and bought a way ticket to New Zealand and made our way around the world to our new home in Portland, OR. The entire year was a practice in surrendering to whatever arose in the current moment. My asana/ meditation/ pranayama practice kept me present and focused and carried me through. Without my practice I would never have had the courage to make that leap and know that I would land exactly where I was meant to be.
In 2011, I decided I wanted to deepen my yoga practice and drove 2100+ miles one way to Bellevue WA to train for a month at Aadil Palkhivala’s Purna Yoga Centers and get my 200 Hour YTT Certification.
2011 was a year of ups and downs and a lot of personal growth. I lost two of my pack of three dogs over the summer, they were 15 and 16 and I am convinced the second one died of a broken heart. In the time since, the youngest of the three (a spry 14) has really bonded with his people and with me in particular and has been very sweet. As for the ups, I just completed 200 hour yoga teacher training and hope to be sharing what I love with anyone willing to try it very soon. (I need victims to practice with!) It was quite a challenge and I am a stronger yogi and a stronger person for having done it. Looking forward to whatever comes my way in 2012. Namaste.
Sorry about the loss of your pups! That is so tough! Lots of hugs to the baby pup, and good luck in 2012!
Because of fear of the economy so slow two years ago, I decided to go back to school for something “smart”. I worked for about a year at a medical billing job and did my real work: yoga teaching and massage part time. But, when my massage job of 11 years closed, I also decided the time was right for me to go into business for myself. I quit the billing job and feel I am living the life I was meant to live, fulfilling my dharma. Because of my yoga practice, I have the courage and determination to go with it in a big way!
I have realized that no matter where you are, or who you are surrounded by that i am always going to be tested. How i react to these tests is how i measured my growth in the last 5 years that i have started meditation. People will try hard to get you down, but for the first time ever, i am able to smile, walk away, and forgive. What a freeing moment!
2010 ended with me getting on one knee under a brilliant fireworks display in Udaipur and asking my boyfriend to marry me. We tied the knot, I changed jobs, realized how much I dislike my new job, and registered for yoga teacher training.
2011 will end with us finally on our honeymoon. It’s been a good year.
In 2011, I completed a 200-hr yoga teacher training as a way to not only deepen my practice, but to share that practice with others. It was the best thing I’ve ever done for myself.
I lived my yoga in fits and starts over the past year, but in the last two weeks I got a jump on my new years resolution to deepen my practice.
I have been using my yoga by breathing through the stressors that inevitably fill each day, and trying to stay focused on what is happening here and now, instead of in the future. At this time, my partner and I are both applying for jobs that would take us away from our close family and friends. With these new jobs we are leaving any sort of financial security that we barely have a grasp on, but we would finally BOTH be doing jobs that we love! A terrifying trade off! With the impending move, we are also trying to sell our giant beast of a home at the start of a cold South Dakota winter! Thank the sun and stars for my practice…both on and off the mat!
This year was something to reflect on. Usually, years pass and look somewhat familiar to the ones before, but 2011 was a little different. After dabbling in yoga over the years, I finally got into a routine of regular poses and stretches, with meditation and education rounding out my yoga practice. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I was starting to understand myself and my environment. The rest of the year saw relationships constantly in flux. Over the months, I experienced seemingly different worlds. I met new people, grew closer and further from some friends and encountered new perspectives at each step. It was a year of learning, questioning and searching for answers. At the end of this month, I’m graduating from college. I don’t know what’s next and I still don’t have many answers, but I’m on my way.
In 2011, I learned that my yoga practice can happen anywhere. I would often get upset when I missed one of my favorite teacher’s classes because I was teaching or working. Rather than continuing a year of frustration, I learned that I can create my yoga in any and everything I do, no matter what, no matter where. And I’m so grateful.
I would so love a copy of this book. This year had me practicing open-heartedness more than I had expected. I found myself meditating on it and choosing yoga poses that made me feel open and somewhat vulnerable. I’m not sure what this means for 2012, but for now, I’ll continue to practice an open heart–and mind.
This year was a pretty difficult one for me. Living a long way from family and friends, in a foreign country, and spending a lot of time alone, made me realize how important yoga is for my physical, mental and spiritual well being.
In the course of the year I have developed my own home asana and pranayama practice, studied at the Iyengar Institute of San Francisco, and have been fortunate enough to study with some inspirational teachers- I feel blessed.
This year I learned to love my meditation practice and got addicted to Yin.
Every year I organize a huge event for my company, the first year someone asked me if I was remembering to breathe. I said that I didn’t have time to do that. 3 years have gone by since that first event and in those years I have regularly been practicing yoga. I am now so much calmer even in the stress of needing to check everything off my list. Yoga has been so transformative for me and it shows.
a good friend had surgery on Monday night (our yoga night) I took her mat spot and breathed for her!! as it turned out we got good news about her surgery 🙂 my yoga instructor has your book and I would also love to have it also… thank you <3
This is the only Judith Lasater book I don’t own! I’d love a copy. Here’s how I’ve lived my yoga this year: When all else has failed, I have remembered to breathe!
I live my yoga breath by breath. As a mother of two small children and yoga teacher I teach asana more than I practice it. However, as we know, yoga is so much more than poses and my yoga is being present with my kids and finding moments to “get still” within myself. Sometimes a breath is what is takes to acknowledge the choice of yelling at my children or approaching them with compassion. Breath by breath by breath by breath….
I used to consider myself a runner – a knee injury has sidelined that.
Thank goodness for yoga.
I turned to it for exercise.
It has become so much more: I can honor where my body and mind are at, appreciating how great it feels to lower my shoulders from their perpetually scrunched place near my ears.
2011 has been a rough year – a hard one to find peace in – but yoga has helped, and provided at least a window of serenity and power.
18 months ago I was blessed to be a participant in Judith’s Restorative Yoga Teacher Training at OM in NY. I learned so much and practiced it through a major move across Canada. One thing I noticed, unlike every other move, is that I did not gain any weight. I give much credit to practicing restorative yoga every day. I am sharing it with my students, and also in private classes with people who have too much pain to be in a traditional yoga class.
Restorative yoga has breathed life back into my body and soul. Recently diagnosed with Fibromyalgia, I encourage anyone with pain to explore yoga. If you can be patient with yourself you can navigate the crevices of your body and mind. You may find peace and joy and relief. I have. Yoga is my elixir.
I just started yoga this year but it has helped me so much. I am so grateful to have discovered it.
Being a military wife, I’ve had to leave behind homes, furniture, friends, pets and jobs as we’ve moved around the country. But the first thing I do when we land in our new location is look for a studio. I’ve been incredibly blessed as I’ve always been able to find a studio where I can build a new supportive community and find comfort on my mat. This year, we moved in Jan and we’re packing up to move again. I am sad to leave behind the amazing studio I’m at now, but excited to find a new space where I can expand my practice. With all the things I leave behind, I keep gaining new yogi friends and growing my practice! Yoga is one of the only constants in our crazy life!
I love Judith’s book “A Year of Living Your Yoga”. I often quote it for my classes. If I win another copy, I would give it to a friend who would also love to have it.
In 2001, I had two painful surgeries, braces on my teeth (at age 44), and ended two longtime relationships with old, old friends. I would have gone insane without yoga. Please enter me in the draw!
I lived my yoga by getting my RYT certification and teaching classes at two studios <3
I lived my yoga this year by first, practicing hatha yoga every single morning before work for about 120ish days in a row before falling off that wagon, hard. I am ending 2011 with a renewed purpose to get that rolling again and oh, how I would love to have this book as a guide for it! Even though I haven’t practiced the physical postures every day for a while, though, I am still reaping the benefits of that practice, by noticing and appreciating the people, experiences and moments in my life, wonderful, horrible and everything in between. Many thanks to Nancy for inspiring me to pursue this daily yoga practice and to all the other wonderful yogis I’ve met along the way. Hoping to keep practicing with you all into 2012 and beyond.
Reading these posts makes me realize how much I miss yoga — mw much more in tune I was with myself and my environment when I practiced it regularly. I hope to do it regularly soon — could be a good basis for a New Year’s resolution.
Just last week I was confronted with a colleague getting something I had wanted for myself, setting up a “that’s not fair” situation in my mind. I put my legs up the wall for awhile, telling myself that I am fortunate to have more than enough. I was able to let hard feelings toward my colleague go and was rewarded one hour later by a different exciting, unexpected opportunity!
2011 was a year of learning to let go, and say good-bye.
Great blog! Keep it up.
Namaste’
I will be celebrating my year yoga anniversary in January. Couldn’t be happier to have met yoga :). Namaste!
I lived my yoga this year by clearing out a TON of space in my schedule to allow for new experiences and people to come in. It’s working… I started grad school in the fall and a new relationship a couple of months ago, and all of a sudden am feeling FULL again – but in a healthier, more expansive way!
This year I was very pro-active about my teaching! I made a website, got my resume out there, made a lot of great friends and connections, and I have been teaching in a studio and a gym since about March. I am a full-time student, I work about 20 hours a week, and I practice almost everyday whether it is through asana, pranayama, dharana-dhyana, or just sharing the energy and personality I have cultivated through Yama and Niyama. I have brought balance to my knowledge and understanding of the tradition through my exploration of some different systems of Tantra, and I have brought balance to my practice by studying and, most importantly, teaching Yin-yoga on a weekly basis.
All the best!
This year, I quit teaching my weekly yoga class at a fancy studio in order to focus more on my own practice. I discovered how much I love Ashtanga. Then, some volunteer opportunities came up for me to teach yoga to a demographic that is under-served in the yoga community: after-school yoga for under-priveleged youth and women in the jail. I couldn’t pass it up. We’re starting out slowing because most of these folks don’t even know what yoga is, but it’s rewarding. Just teaching how to breathe and positive thinking can be extremely transformative for these students. I struggled with letting my studio class go (can we say attachment?), but I haven’t regretted my decision to this day. Looking forward to the next year!
2011. The year I begun to live my life and let the yoga happen to me.
2011 has shaken me to the core. In April my beloved sister lost her fight with cancer and since then two close friends are in a serious battle with this nasty disease. Everyday yoga reminds me to breath. I teach restorative (certified by Judith), active yoga classes & beginning in 2012 I will offer seva classes to children with cancer. My heart aches but I do my best to focus on healing and appreciate the gift of student interaction. Namaste
2011 is the year I returned to the place I’m meant to be.
2011 started off with a very disciplined yoga practice for me — the 21-days of yoga program. Working full time plus finishing a graduate degree has made that difficult to follow through with, however, and I find my (physical) yoga practice is, at the moment, sporadic. I do strive to live in the now and stay focussed on the breath, and this book looks really intriguing to me — I’m definitely planning to check it out. Thanks, Yoga Dork!
2011 was a year of healing & yoga was with me every step of the way.
I am inspired reading some of these comments. This book looks like the perfect read for me right now! Just the other day I posted thoughts on my blog about committing to a consistent yoga and meditation practice and allowing it to become part of my daily life. Like one of the earlier comments, I too am making a head start on my 2012 resolution and opening myself up to yoga after 10 years of sporadic practice – time to commit! For me, 2011 has been another year of great challenges including the passing of my grandfather. But there have been many achievements to celebrate as well. I suspect 2012 will be similar as life will always throw curveballs. The difference between then and now is that I am striving to live in the present, and to approach life with more humour and love.
I lived my yoga in 2011 by taking a hot yoga teacher training. It was truly one of the most amazing experiences. Our yoga teacher was amazing and so inspiring. I can’t wait to start teaching my own classes and hopefully have the same impact on others. Namaste 🙂
In 2011, I decided that I wanted to do more yoga, so I went from going twice a week to about four times a week. Now, I feel like my life is fully balanced between work, family, and yoga.
I’ve been doing yoga for a couple of years now but my practice has really grown in the past few months. Once I began to understand it was a spiritual practice with a physical expression, I’ve been able to expand into the practice.
Today I lived my yoga off the mat. I walked up a mountain with my dog, aware of the vastness within and without… heart beating, breath pulsing… each step a rhythmic chant. Home again for winter squash, rice and lentils, greens and burdock root with dandelion tea. So much gratitude. Meditation this eve being with and noting pleasant, unpleasant and neutral experiences. Trusting, listening, following what is true… holding my own heart with compassion.
2011 was my first full year teaching yoga, and I have learned so much from my students. I go to the studio after a long day at work, showing up as the ‘teacher’ but I am a learner. I get so many great lessons from the wonderful people who grace me with their presence and allow me to take part in their journey.
This year has flown by faster than any other for me and I use my yoga practice as a “tether” in my hectic life. When everything around me is hectic and harried I come to my mat for to escape and renew. Jai!
Once again yoga has kept me sane and as balanced as possible. I was unexpectedly laid off from a job I love a year ago. Still “in transition” yoga has been a very important part of getting me through this difficult time that occupies my thoughts constantly day and even during my sleep (or lack thereof). I went on a yoga retreat in Costa Rica where I knew no one. Then my husband and I created a yoga room in our home, where I try to practice as many days as possible. This zen-like calm space has enabled me to have an affordable home
yoga and meditation practice supplementing a weekly class. Yoga
helps me remember at least briefly that I am more than an unemployed statistic. I’d like to use the book to embark on a plan for the coming year.
This year I embarked on developing my own personal practice which is still a work in progress.
Not only do I love yoga for myself, I love the way my yoga students blossom from their yoga and meditation practice. This year I have been watching one of my sudents who is a single mother develop her own business with passion, inspiration and gusto, another whose face lit up the other night telling me that meditation has totally changed her life, and another told me how doing things mindfully really did make a difference. Many other students have experienced positive changes as they grow and bloom from their practice – jobs have changed, relationships have been examined and life has been lived with increased awareness of body and mind. There’s no going back once you are on the path of yoga!
Almost all of the exercise classes I have taken the last year start and end with ~10 minutes of yoga, because it is so helpful
Lately, living my yoga has happened while driving. It all started about a week before Thanksgiving. Instead of getting mad at all the other “stupid” drivers, I was grateful that they too had some place to be and that where they were going was important to them. That small change in perspective has made my commute to and from work much more pleasurable 🙂
I have had more time than I’d like away from yoga in 2011 due to illness and am very grateful to be able to get back into my practice and looking forward to a healthier 2012!
Daily practice (which works out to about 5-6 days a week with Saturdays off and “ladies holiday” skipped in the Ashtanga system) has very slowly and gradually, over the years, become part of my life. I have a spouse and three teenagers, a yoga studio to run and teach at, plus three dogs, a cat, and, sometimes, my oldest daughter’s rabbit to care for. But, I’m blessed and able to handle it all this year with less stress because of my daily yoga practice.
Sometimes it’s just a half an hour of meditation. 4 times a week it’s 90 minutes of asana. Some days, it’s just reading the Yoga Sutras or studying Sanskrit for an hour. And, sometimes, it’s mindfully making a great meal with my family and laughing with one another.
It’s nice to know “practice” – abyasa – doesn’t just have to be doing postures. When I learned that, it took the pressure off and now it’s not a chore to practice something every day.
I only started practicing yoga recently, but I am beginning to find my yoga by participating in a combination class of hatha and meditation. It’s been lovely thus far and I hope to expand my practice as the year ends and into 2012.
Trying to get back to yoga classes after about 8 years. Last time I took classes was a gentle class at a yoga studio I like. I did not know yet that I was suffering from fibromyalgia. I could not understand why poses I had practiced in classes since the age of 17 were now uncomfortable. Much has been written past 2 years on benefits of yoga for fibromyalgia. That is why I am trying to get back into it with a restorative yoga class. Thanks for opportunity to win this book!
2010 was a year of doors. 2011 was making the choice of a door, stepping through and finding many windows. As the year draws to a close, I find so many windows-so now, which to gently close and which to fly through? That is what I look towards 2012 to do 🙂
This year I finally pursued my yoga teacher training certification! It is the biggest step I have taken in my life toward my most authentic self and it feels amazing.
I am a new yogi. I entered the world when things in my life were so overwhelming, that I didn’t know how to emotionally handle or respond to the people or issues around me. My first yoga class was so cleansing and so clarifying, it was addicting. It’s “me” time. I find peace when I practice, and it is my hope that I not only continue it into the new year, but that I can overflow with grace and love for others!
2011 was life-changing. I lost my lovely bungalow in Santa Monica to a fire and said good-bye to my beautiful yoga students to head down to North Carolina. After healing from the major stress of the transition, I quickly realized God had abruptly pushed me into my new purpose, which for the moment is far from the dreamy palm-lined streets of L.A. I’ve since developed the first therapeutic/holistic yoga program for the wounded warriors at Fort Bragg. It’s been quite the adventure – and a huge inspiration to see the profound effect that yoga has for the troops. Do I miss the holistic mecca of raw restaurants, organic overflow and designer fashion? Oh, yes. Has it all been worth it? Hell, yes! The yoga lifestyle, for me as a teacher, is all about service. It’s rewarding, fulfilling, transformational and FUN! Live YOUR yoga!
I live my yoga daily with each interaction I have with my children…they help me expand my patience, compassion and understanding!! They also remind me to keep it simple on the mat and always be silly, and honor the great Mother Earth.
I live my yoga by being in the moment, living my life with awareness, and practicing compassion towards self and others. All these practices have been so useful as I navigate the path of pregnancy with my first child. Going to prenatal yoga classes and practicing on my own almost always feels wonderful and beneficial, yet I feel like the real fruits of my practice are the qualities that yoga inspires me to bring into my life on a day-to-day, moment-to-moment basis. I feel immense gratitude for this practice!
This year has been one of many events with great meaning. In March, I was just 200 miles from the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan. I was in Tokyo on the JET Programme. I was in a position that required me to pass information in Japanese and English onto the other members of the Programme and also to ensure the mental well being of the members. With the constant aftershocks and fear of radiation, it was very difficult for me to maintain my own calmness and well-being. This is when I decided to try yoga. I was learning on my own, but before bed every night and upon waking, I did a short yoga practice. This helped me gather my own thoughts, keep myself calm, keep my parents in the States calm and keep the members of the JET Programme who looked to me for information calm. My contract ended in August and despite my desire to stay on the programme and help, I was unable to because the decision was made and finalised in January. When I returned, I began attending yoga classes and have since been practising and enjoying the peace of mind and balance of my life that yoga has helped me remember.
in 2011, i quit my job, moved in with my partner, completed a yoga teacher training, and now i’m straddling three different career directions and have no idea which road to take.
life is funny.
This past year, I’ve begun my yoga teacher training, which has been inspiring and humbling. The more I learn, the more I realize I still have yet to learn. I know I’ll never learn it all, but I’m going to keep living and sharing yoga as my practice and life evolve.
Yoga has helped me to recall, as well as live up to, the reality that this is my one, wild and precious life. As a result, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t feel deep gratitude for this opportunity.
With 2011 came the realization of a longtime dream. Owning my own business. I could think of no better way of sharing my passion for yoga than by opening a studio with one of my closest friends. It has been amazing journey so far, and helps me to live my yoga every day in every way.
Last Fall, I decided to further explore my decade long yoga practice. I began a search for a yoga teacher training program. I thought it was going to be easy but it wasn’t. It took me a long time to find the perfect program for me. My intention was to deepen my practice but I ended up falling in love with teaching. I now teach both children and adults. Teaching has opened up a lot about myself that I never knew existed. I’m not talking about “good” things. It’s been an incredible journey.
I had my second baby, so with two young ones, my yoga has been in just being as present as I can be, especially with my kids.
I just wrote a long comment on how much my yoga practice has expanded in the past year. It was all true, but halfway through writing it I felt somehow like I was putting up a front. I started to feel like I do in yoga class when I realize that I’m not the only person there, that there are other people to look at in the mirror. So I’m reminding myself now – I do yoga for me. Not to look good or to watch other people or even to see tons of progress over the years. I love it, and I love it for the individual moments that make up each class. So yes, there has been progress in my practice, but that’s not what keeps me going back. It’s feeling my body open and freed in half moon, and breathing in and out in savasana. Maybe no one will read this comment, and that’s fine. Like my yoga practice, this is just a physical reminder to myself of the life that I choose to live out moment by moment on my mat each day.
a growth expanding in countless directions
2011, a year of resting, and letting myself sink into practice, to return to it over & over again as things were hard. A very inward-facing year…
the world changed so much, but i only changed a little. still………
i live my yoga by taking care of myself, so i can take care of others. it’s hard to give others a drink when the well is dry. i live my yoga by remembering the importance of being here now. i live my yoga by simply breathing. (:
Just breath. A year ago I was unhappy. Just happened across a yoga show on TV. Did the yoga and felt better. A year later… I’m stronger, more balanced, weigh less and most important I can breath. This means at the end of the day… I am happy. I owe everything to yoga…
2011 brought a fundamental shift it my perspective of my yoga practice. It went from being something that I do to something that I am, something that is an integral part of me.
I love the books of Judith Lasater. She’s such an inspirational writer. I would dearly love to win this book.
Reflecting on 2011…I have practiced my yoga by myself than in classes this year. Although it’s been a good way to keep yoga in my life, I miss the connectedness I get when I take a class. Taking a workshop with Max Strom with others this year was an such an inspiring and fun thing to do, and I would like to take more workshops.
I encountered myself to Yoga while looking for diminish the stress in my life for several month. I started taking some classes from experienced yogis and it was amazing the transformation. My mind, my body and heart starting to heal and my priorities in life and how I saw things changed. I have still a long way to go but i am excited to keep growing within yoga. Combining work, household and a very active toddler does not make it easy but I strive to keep my practice as much as possible; so much that now my little 3 years old got interested and love doing yoga!..
This year I’m learning to not listen to my inner dialogue. I acknowledge it but I don’t let it make decisions for me. Yoga taught me to do this and encourages me daily.
This year some of the instructions that teachers had been telling me for months finally clicked. They are always saying that it doesnt matter if you achieve the full expression of the asana as long as you are breathing and I would fight that advice trying to push myself fit into some shape that looked perfect. I finally get it that if you can go to your own personal edge, wherever that may be, and maintain your breath, then when you are at your edge in life, you can do the same. This realization has helped me be more patient, kinder, and stress out less. Not perfect by any means, but improving all the time. Next year I hope to be even more patient and understanding even when I want to lose it.
While this year has been a year of big changes, its also been a year of static-ness. Every year I feel my life wind up with big excitement, and then settle into hibernation when I should still be relatively active. But still there’s progress.
this year, I learned that ‘my yoga’ wasn’t about having a favorite teacher, or a favorite class, or a favorite studio … all of that is nice, but what I learned is that ‘my yoga’ is about making myself, my breath and my body, my favorite teacher …. making anytime I can find myself on my mat, my favorite class …. and anywhere I can practice in peace, and in focus, that is my favorite studio.
For me, the (magic/mystery/wonder/awe-ness/essence-ness/source-ness/reality) is that it is so encompassing/vast/complex/expansive/immense/terrifying and yet so simple. You/I/we can wax philosophical about the finer points of ahimsa or isvara or prana and still feel it so close to the fingers, riding near the heart, twisting around the awkward body movements, pulsing from beneath the skin, peeking out from behind the third eye.
My resolution this year was “to be a better being”. And I failed, as miserably as I succeeded. I wanted the freedom to do whatever it is I will have done and be able to include success as well as failure into how I thought about the year and myself. I wanted an anchor to ground me, a place where I could go back to.
And that’s what yoga is for me, it’s an anchorpoint, it’s a spine, it’s a leadline, it gives me a place to start from where I can venture into the world, and then revisit. It doesn’t direct my action but it is the source of it. It gives me the flexibility to grow, to move, to reach while also keeping my ego in check, reminding myself I can’t jump or bend indiscriminately, mindlessly, that I need to have intent and purpose and awareness in my physical movements and in my movement through time.
To the many facets of the jewel of yoga, I conquer and surrender to it.
One of my favorite aspects of yoga is how it reconnects you: to the universe, to goodness, to your relationships. I am humbled and thankful for living my yoga by reaching out to yoga teachers in my area (not always easy to find) and share with them my own yoga history and desire to become a teacher myself. Through these teachers I have found wisdom, compassion and, most of all, connection. I plan to become certified in 2012, so I have already claimed it as a year to live my yoga. This book would be fantastic companion. Thanks for this contest! Namaste.
I have been living my yoga this year by staying in the present moment as much as possible. This is usually accomplished by remembering to breathe… (“Oh yeah…that!”)
2011 was an amazing year for living my yoga. I finally decided just to fully go for it and teach full time, and truly do what I wanted to do. It’s had its ups and downs for sure, but it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
i practiced 30 days of yoga (at home) in january then became pregnant during which time i went to weekly classes, i’m now finishing the year with daily practice and meditation. i find daily practice changes my relationship with myself and the world but still have trouble coming back to the practice with consistency. but i guess that;s why its a practice…
This past year, I had the opportunity to practice much of my yoga outdoors. Living in New York City, I took advantage of just about all of the yoga classes offered in the parks. Looking back, we practiced in the scorching heat and in the rain; we traveled on the subway, bus, and even boat (ferry to Govenor’s Island) to some beautiful locations with truly amazing teachers. I found myself falling in love with the four seasons, New York City (my home), and my yoga practice! Truly grateful for a wonderful year!
this year yoga has helped me stay in my body. this is big for me because i can be a ruminator (up in my head all the time) and that sometimes is a challenge. so grateful for yoga!
This has been a very big year for yoga. I started teaching more classes and taking more workshops. My favorite workshop of the year was with Judith in Overland Park, Kansas. As I look forward to the coming year, I plan to retire from my “other” job and practice, teach and learn more yoga.
2011 – a big year for me – went to Costa Rica Blue Spirit Retreat Center in Nosara for 3 weeks in February. Claude Stein “The Natural Singer”, Jonathan Horan “Medicine Dance” and then Krishna Das. Every week, there were yoga classes in the morning. What an inspirational time I had!
This fall, I was at a yoga retreat and realized in a yoga class that I really wanted something different from what this teacher was teaching. He happened to have a copy of B.K.S. Iyengar Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health which I started looking at. I realized how much I missed the Iyengar style of yoga teaching that I had when I lived in California, so I started looking locally. I found a wonderful Iyengar style yoga class nearby here in Massachusetts and am happy to say I am looking forward to yoga classes twice a week! I am also looking forward to Judith’s webinar on the 13th about the home practice – that’s still a WEAK link for me. Also exploring going further with perhaps more weekend intensives and perhaps even teacher training. I am hosting my third home kirtan next weekend and am loving what the Bhakti path is bringing to me.
Life closer to the equator has its benefits but after 40 years in the north, it also means adjustments. My family and I moved to Central America 10 years ago and ever since yoga and meditation has been salvation in a new jungle of emotional turmoil over the past few years. Initially I was lost with no boundaries. Then deepening my practice brought me into a more stable place. There were relapses and free falls, but yoga and meditation became my safety net. It worked. Lately I started meditation and writing a new challenge where barriers are being broken/overcome everyday. It’s been a journey, and yoga! “you are the sunshine of my life”. :o))
This year i continue on my journey of transformation. Yoga and nutrition go hand in hand. I am humbled by all the I contune to learn.
Being clear and realistic with your intention and sticking to it leads to a happier self on and off the mat- you get what you put out there!
I live my yoga every week by teaching the Restorative Yoga I learned from Judith. Thank you, Judith! Here’s my most recent post about the healing power of Restorative Yoga:
http://susanreevesyoga.blogspot.com/2011/11/restorative-yoga-in-stressful-world.html
This year I learned I need balance and yoga helps me get there. I ditched the notion of yoga being just for exercise and opened my mind to yoga’s mind healing possibilities.
Yoga has helped me be more focused on my inner self, and that I need to take the time to relax! It has showed me through meditation that there is inner strength and healing that I can draw from in stressful situations! That my practice needs to be consistent and I feel so much better in all areas when I take the time for Yoga!
Yoga is part of my everyday life. Judith Lasater’ quotes are so inspiring, they fill me with love and peace.
one way i’ve lived my yoga?
accept that my in-process plans really “are” in-process, and be willing to accept the change those plans (and thus myself) need –
and…
enjoy the process 😉
I live my yoga by being the lotus flower growing in the muck. my 2011 mantra was “be the lotus flower”.
The last couple years have been challenging for me in my family life, but yoga has really been helping me put things in perspective. For years I was a people pleaser, settling with ‘just being okay’ and tolerating unhealthy relationships. Through practicing a few times a week these last couple of years, I’m becoming happier and happier and realize that when I treat myself with respect, other people around me treat me that way as well, and the ones who don’t fall away from my life…and that’s okay! I’m also thankful that yoga is teaching me that this moment is all that matters. It’s so beautiful! I’ve read “Living Your Yoga” and was blown away by the practicality of yoga in everyday life. If I don’t win “A Year of Living Your Yoga,” you can be sure that I’ll be gifting it to myself anyway! More yoga can only make life more Joyful!!! 🙂
For me, 2011 has been a year of coming back to yoga after a long, injury-induced separation from asana. I came back as a very different person, physically. And so, 2011 has been a struggle to find a connection to yoga off the mat. It has been deeply rewarding to realize yoga in my friendships, in the words I speak, in my relationship with my love, in my leadership and management at work, in my household, in the way i greet the day. I remember when I was younger and heavily engaged in asana, thinking ahead to this time in my life and trying to imagine what kind of a yogi i’d be. i pictured myself as a brilliant, physical specimen, a beautiful asana teacher, shiny and famous. i am not that 🙂 and, for me, 2011 was about recognizing who i am, where i am, and occupying myself. that is my yoga. love 🙂
Truth is an acquired taste. Everyday that I engage my yoga practice, my body speaks the truth. It doesn’t come from a heady place or even an emotional space. It’s straightforward, without having to convince. Somedays, I’m more flexible than others. Somedays I’m more hateful than others. When I experience truth, as spoken by my body, I get to work with myself and learn how to love myself, exactly where I am.
2 of my children are almost adults now. The choices they make and the ways they are choosing to to “light” their inner candle are false and have lead them down a painful path… a path I have taken. As I practice Yoga and Meditation I realize they are right where they need to be. They are not getting better as quickly as I would choose… but I continue to walk the road ahead of them with breath, love and self-awareness. I continue to grow so they can continue to see that hope and love are eternal.
I’ve finally committed to a daily meditation practice. Also, just finishing Meditations from the Mat – I read one of the 365 meditations every day in 2011. Starting over from the beginning in 2012.