The other day as I rode my bike from the car repair shop to the studio, under a heavy cloud of smoke, I found it very difficult to be positive. It felt as if the sky was falling with news of the hurricane, the pandemic, the wildfires… I probably don’t need to go on, you get the gist! I wondered how I could teach a room full of people yoga when I felt this way but then I remembered some advice Adi gave me many years ago: to always go back to the teachings. In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali introduces two elements to practice, abhyasa and vairagya. Abhyasa means to repeat and is the physical expression of yoga, another way I have heard it defined is, “resisting the downward pull.” The downward pull we all have been feeling these past few months toward depression, anxiety, obstinance, is something that my sisters and I describe as morbid spiraling.

With regular yoga practice we can interrupt that downward spiral of our minds and start with a fresh awareness and an openness toward adapting to our current reality.

Vairagya is the other side of practice, the practice of surrender or letting go. Right now, in this current reality we all have to let go of our expectations and attachments to the way we thought that things would be. It is hard to be graceful all the time, especially these days, but I have found that on days when I actually have time to practice I am much better equipped to deal and adapt to unwelcome change.

That day on my bike I felt such an immense gratitude for the practice of yoga for my mental and physical health that I decided to do another sale to get more of you in here! Enter Promocode: MENTALHEALTH21 for 21 percent off of all punch cards.

Sincerely,
Ainslie