City Yoga Life

As the season is officially changing from winter to spring here in the beautiful Midwest, the snow has now melted, the birds have began chirping, and little green sprouts are shooting up through the thawing tundra. It has been officially one year since being back in Madison, and I am proud to say everything is going swimmingly.

The locations of my teaching opportunities in the city are great, each offering its own community and wide array of classes and fellow teachers. It has been wonderful befriending some while learning from all, and it has been quite transformative to see life line up in such a way that teaching yoga can be both authentic and lucrative. I mean, the lights have to stay on and rent has to be paid, let's be real.

It has been a welcomed change to teach and practice during the four seasons of the Midwest, each offer yogis, myself included, a space to expand as well as retreat. The studio spaces each offer a lovely ambiance of soft lighting, lots of windows, and anything you need during a yoga class. The schedules and teacher specialities allow a wide array of yoga styles so yogis can find what suits them, ranging from: Yin to Ashtanga, sunrise & rooftop classes to Friday night wind downs.

One of my favorite parts of teaching yoga in a place consistently over an extended period of time is seeing the evolution of student yoga practices on and off the mat.

I've witnessed a student challenge themself regarding the practice of impermanence by choosing a different area of the studio to set up for each class when, prior to this, they were consistently in 'their spot' daily.

For myself, it has been a growing experience, both professionally and personally, to release judgement on the intention of others in the studio space. Before any feathers get ruffled, what I mean is that yoga is not a group fitness class. It is a mental, spiritual, and physical practice. It's okay for someone to hope to also get ads or lose the love-handles (check out pilates!), but it has been a welcomed opening to share tidbits of yogic theory and application without getting 'preachy' in a community where looks and labels can to hold more weight than the practice of slowing down and going within.

I will admit this: one thing that has been a real guilty pleasure has been indulging in nice yoga clothes which are technically my work uniform.