Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Hatha, oy my?
What is all this stuff? What is tradition? What is yoga? What are we doing? What is the teacher doing? What is she or he talking about? Why is this pose taught this way and the same pose taught differently in another class? Why is yoga cool? Why am I here? How did I get here? What’s all the hype?

It can be confusing. Let me try to break it down for you without using so many terms. If you google Yoga styles or traditions, it will give you an ice cream headache.

Even I, as a teacher who likes to practice ALL styles and take what I can to teach in my style, I get confused!

The fact of the matter is, Yoga is yoga.

You will hear: Iyengar, Bikram , Ashtanga, Anusara, Hatha, Flow, All Levels, Vinyasa. Take them all. Even if you like one, get a taste of them all. The one that resonates with you will be the one you are supposed to practice.

If you are lucky, you will find ‘the’ teacher that resonates with what you need. But even when you do that, eventually, you will need to move on. Know now, before you get into it, that it’s important in yoga, not to get STUCK.

Don’t stick to the same place in the room. Don’t stick to the same teacher for too long without trying someone else, just to understand the difference.

There are soooo many of us teaching different styles that you may like a style but not jive with the teacher. That’s why it’s important, especially if you are just starting out in yoga now as opposed to a decade ago when it wasn’t as mainstream as it is now, you need to try and try again.

Yoga was popular ten years ago when I started teaching. I happen to really like practicing different styles of yoga and bringing what I enjoy into my classes. I thought maybe that would stop eventually, but it hasn’t.

I also emphasize, if you do come to my class that if you are engaged in a specific ‘tradition’ of yoga, you can still do all of the poses I suggest in the style of yoga you prefer. I offer mine first, based in Ashtanga, the rest is up to you. I admire and have learned so much from Iyengar, Bikram and Anusara as well as Kundalini, Vinyasa Krama, Pre-natal, restorative and the list goes on. Ayurveda! Don’t get me started. That’s another blog!

I’m never done learning. There are tricks and tools in each branch. If you decide to follow a certain tradition, a whole new world will open up to you as far as further study in breathing, meditation and readings.

I teach in an adaptable way for all styles and let you make your choice. I bring in my tradition and that of others. I also bring in fitness training and Pilates. It’s where I came from and it’s important to me. The foundations and principles, though arguably different, can be adapted to ANY yoga class. I find that yoga is everywhere. It’s in every single activity whether on the mat or on line at the post office. That’s my philosophy. I can tell you a lot more if you want to know, but if you come to my classes, be prepared for a sequence that challenges your physical body and emotional body. Each week there is a new theme or story. Life experience in comparison to yoga is important to me. For years, I couldn’t’ transition the bliss from the mat into my real world. So, it is important to me to reiterate how important the postures – feelings and emotions that come up within each movement and breath can be related to whatever one might be going on in one’s life.

If you think about it, the idea of challenging your body to come into a difficult arm balance or inversion is nothin’ compared to the trials of life. If you can look at a posture and it’s challenge the same way you do a problem in your life, everything becomes so much easier, clearer and logical in it’s approach.

Do you remember when you were young and something bothered you so much you thought your life was going to end. ‘He’ didn’t call or you got a ‘C’ on a paper and your life was over.

We’re not kids anymore but we still think a lot like when we were young. What could be troubling us now, will be such a non-issue down the road. Yoga brings us into the space where we can remove ourselves from our daily struggle, play a bit, challenge our bodies and minds and maybe overcome something on the mat that resonates in our live. Things that are big become little. Revelations are amuck.

I remember the first time I was able to come up in to the arm balance, Crow Pose (Bakasana for the Sanskrit literate).
I nearly cried. For others, it seemed so easy. For me, it took class after class, fall after fall, failure after failure, until, success! I can tell you that everything seemed a lot better off the mat after the class I was able to get up and hold ‘Crow’.
It might seem silly. And it is, in a way. But it’s important. It’s like childhood. We didn’t think so much about ‘serious’ stuff then. But with adulthood came responsibility and that play and experimentation gets lost in the years that accrue.

Yoga can give us the chance to stop time and go back to the existence of play, fun and challenge in a way that works our responsibility and taps into our child like sensibility.

I believe all yoga traditions want that. Some are stricter than others. Discipline is imperative for some constitutions. For others, the idea of, ‘what’s next?’ is equally as important and disciplined. Some celebrate the playfulness more than the strictness.

As a yogi, it is important to search ALL of it out and then go back to the one style and/or teacher that gets you to push past the limitations that have been set by being an adult and make you feel the freedom, liberation, strength and success you deserve to have every day whether you are on the mat, in your car, the office or takin’ care of the kids.

Yoga is designed for EVERYBODY. In the earliest traditions in India, yoga was prescribed individually. It was never meant to be mass produced as a class. Age, body structure, class, health was all put into account in a sequence of poses, breathing exercises, diet, meditation for ONE person. There is a lot to bring into the sequencing of a class to benefit the individual. Here in the states, it's adapted to the everybody. But not all classes are created equal. Be wary, my friends.

Nowadays, there are so many choices. Be wise and have fun. Then make your decision as to where you want to go.
For years, I felt bad that I didn’t follow one tradition or teaching over the other.

My success as a teacher has everything to do with the fact that I am open to all of the teachings and bring it to you in my classes. I sometimes wonder how I do it. Not to toot my horn. I’m not doing that at all. I'm still out there with my mental notebook learning what I can from all the greatness that is out there to be found. But I remember the myriad of teacher trainings I did in Yoga, Pilates and Fitness Training. I often asked teachers how I could integrate one with the other and was met with looks of confusion. Well, how would they know if they only knew one way?

I know many ways and if anything, I will be your tour guide to the one or many ways you would like to be lead. Not everyone is like me. Some people want the ‘one’. I like it all. My classes will never be confusing and you will never feel mislead. You will always stay true to your practice, stay safe under my guidance and feel free to explore, fall, fail and succeed brilliantly. I will always mention if some pose or verbal idea is specific to a certain style of yoga. If I don't you can just ask me. I will always credit the great teachers and styles that went before me as I continue on my own dodgy and colored path.

I also learn so much from my students. We are all in the practice together.
There are so many teachers out there that have the mental ability to quote every yogic book out there or can come up into a pose with no effort at all. I'm not that girl.

I started out as the fat girl who couldn't touch her toes. Now I've learned how to train my body and mind to live in a way that is harmonious with the life that I lead...most days.

I'm not a gymnast. I'm not a dancer. I can't repeat what I just read.

I ran marathons, struggled and worked hard to find peace and balance inside and out. Which is kind of funny. Working hard to find peace.
Well, that's me The peaceful worker. Or peaceful warrior. I think that's actually a movie.

I can answer a million questions and if I can’t I can most definitely tell you the person who can. It’s my job and my quest.

I can’t imagine being a teacher who follows one path. I admire those who do. But I remember when I was young and I don’t want to let it go. I am a seeker. It’s important for me to seek it all out. If you want to work hard and get into your body and mind, I’m the person for you. If you work with me for a long time and want to search out something else, I am also honored to guide you the special teachers that I have been fortunate enough to work with. They are dedicated to their paths and I can show you the way to them.

And I’ll see you there. Practicing, challenging, failing and succeeding.

Yoga is my life. I don't know what life is without it.
I'm happy to be your servant on your yogic path.
Humbly and happily,
Laurie