My Moving Meditation

Yoga Here. Yoga There. Yoga Everywhere

When I started teaching yoga classes my first opportunity was at Satya Yogain downtown Saugatuck. I’m forever grateful, and I love teaching there today. (I’m there on Monday @ 8:30 AM, and there are classes seven days a week. 🙌🏽)

I also wanted to bring yoga classes into some more unexpected locations. My hope was, people would attend classes in spaces they were familiar with and comfortable in. 

This approach has taken me into schools, rehabilitation houses, yacht clubs, art galleries, and more.

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Regulation is the ultimate win.

In a breath-in-the-body, I-know-my-center kind of way.
It's not easy. 
Especially when there's pressure, conflict, rage, grief, or even just the ache of being a messy, imperfect human.
But staying regulated—emotionally, physically, energetically—means I don't have to abandon myself in order to prove myself”

~ Kris Carr

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Hi friends!

This weeks’ sunny start in West Michigan has been glorious! I’m grateful for the  blue sky and the sunshine because it makes everything seem just a bit brighter. ☀️

I read an email newsletter a few days ago that is really staying with me. 
In the best of ways. 
Kris Carr wrote about preparing herself for a really difficult conversation and found that she was rehearsing the whole thing in hopes of coming out “on top.” 

Then, something shifted for her. 

She quieted herself enough to hear a little voice that said, “The goal isn’t to win, it’s to stay regulated.” 

I’ve often thought about our ability to respond rather than react. 

If we can take the moment to check in, to breathe, to move, before reacting in a situation? We have a better chance of responding in a way we’re going to feel good about rather than reacting in a way we might regret. The chemicals in our brains are powerful, and if we’re reacting from a place full of cortisol? We’re definitely not at our best. 😫

However, what if we added to that? 
What if we went beyond that by avoiding the cortisol bath altogether? 
What if while moving in the world for the next week, we made it our goal to stay regulated? 

There’s something about that as my moving meditation that instantly softens me. 

I view life as a breath by breath, moving meditation.
What if I kept that breath rhythm as my regulation metronome?
I think it would help me drop my shoulders a bit more and relax my jaw. 

If I keep my focus on remaining regulated as I move about the world? 
I imagine it will be like having an internal bright blue sky and burst of sunshine. 

Need more inspiration or guidance? Take another look at the quotation above ⬆️

To close it out today, a note to any and all of you who have ever attended Yacht Club Yoga. Thank you! 🙏🏽♥️

My initial six-week attempt at having Saturday class at SYC back in 2017? 
Class been happening consistently, year round, ever since. 
It’s a VERY special place to hold practice, and I love being there with all of you. 

This winter, due to my travel schedule, our Saturday Yacht Club Yoga class will be taking a bit of a sabbatical. Just for a few months. 
No Yacht Club Yoga, November - February.

I promise, we’ll make a spectacular return sometime in the Spring (mid March?). 
I hope you’ll ALL come out and join me. 

And, we’ll have one VERY SPECIAL opportunity to gather at SYC to celebrate Winter Solstice on Sunday, December 21. Please save the date to join me and Teresa Van Eyk for gentle movement, meditation, and sound. 

It’s my favorite class of the year. ✨

~m