Despite all the yada yada about western yoga and yoga in India, to me THIS is true yoga (“For Homeless, Serenity Arrives On a Yoga Mat.”)
“The permutations and sub-genres of yoga are easy to make fun of, for sure. There’s hot yoga, cold yoga, street yoga, hip-hop yoga, Broadway yoga, rock yoga, prenatal yoga, postpartum yoga, naked yoga and dog yoga (yes, yoga with your dog, the very beast that was doing “downward dog” long before yoga mats were invented). I totally admit to subjecting my children to baby yoga. Which was cute. And a bit silly.
But these are people who are hungry and tired. They might be mentally ill, and they are certainly downtrodden.”
Those of you who are regular readers know that I teach yoga and meditation at a domestic violence shelter. I teach for free and it’s my favorite class. Every month the group leader tells me “good class tonight…they were crying.”
So sorry if this offends anyone, but you can have all your fancy arm balances, all your sick inversions, all your core work for those yoga 6-pack abs, all your yoga trance dance, all your perfection of primary series, all your sweat that makes you believe you had a “good” practice, all your Lululemon pants and chakra jewelery, and keep it.
What does it all come down to? Yoga to turn myself or someone inside out and back again is where the rubber meets the road for me.
Use yoga to help someone turn to face their shadow self and make them cry. Use yoga to cook you. Show me how you live your life and who you serve.
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Linda's Yoga Journey 