As my self-study grows and my self -love grows I know the importance of taking good care of one of the greatest gifts I have been giving – my body…
One of the things I give my body is good quality exercise. I have been very fortunate to have had many types of instructors and many different types of exercise. It seems each one leads to the next. The exercise that I have risen to and now enjoy the most offers my body strength, agility, being limber, balance, and focus. Besides all of that wonderful stuff it also is the study of mind-spirit-body connection. When you combine those together there is no limit to what you can do. It is called yoga.
Yoga: definition – physical, mental, spiritual, practice or discipline that aims to transfer the body and mind.
Like I said, I have been fortunate to practice with many instructors, all offering a step in coming closer to my personal connection. For this writing I focus on two instructors who offer so much that I never want the class they are teaching to end.
One of the instructors, Stephanie, brings so much joy, enthusiasm and loving energy to the class that the student (me) ends up with a smile in my heart and on my face. Sometimes the task of the body exercise is at our limits, we, us students, sometimes forget to breathe (a very important part) and Stephanie will gently say with her beautiful nurturing voice; ”don’t forget to breathe”, and then she always adds ”and smile”. So I began my breathing again, I smile, and the flow of the exercise becomes so fluid and feels so good.
One day after class I made a comment to Stephanie, I said: ”you really love what you do don’t you”? She beamed and told me that she just loves it. I then told her that we students love her class, her teaching, and her, just as much as she does. Stephanie once again beamed with the knowing and feeling of a connection with her students.
The other yoga instructor I want to share is Shauna. She is very much like Stephanie, bringing joy enthusiasm and loving energy to class. Her class is taught with great coaching and tips on spirit, mind, and body connection. It’s amazing how complete you feel with that combination.
Both of these amazing ladies encourage comments or questions, and they really mean it and will assist you in such a beautiful giving manner.
Because life experience is an important equation to the development of mind body and spirit connection, both of these instructors will share relevant experiences of their lives.
One day Shauna wanted to share with the class the gratitude she was experiencing. She told us how grateful she feels to be sharing through her teaching of yoga and how grateful she is to be with us and have us as students. This was said with love and an honesty that (you would hope) touched all the hearts of the students in the class. I could feel the question developing inside of me…