Yoga Keeps Expanding

It doesn't look like yoga's going away. I think some people thought yoga was a fad and would be gone in a few years but it looks as though yoga is here to stay.

You can take yoga classes in yoga studios. You can go to ashrams for deeper stays. You can take yoga vacations! You can go to your gym or community centers. Workplaces offer yoga classes on site. I teach yoga in an apartment building for the residents for heaven's sake. Yoga is online, in books, on your phone, on tv, and we even have yoga apps! (See the list on the right in my blog. We've had them for years.)

How yoga is growing is a lot like yoga. Yoga expands us as people. Some of us get stretchier and maybe a bit taller through asana practice. But as you know if you read my blog, that is hardly all of yoga. A holistic yoga practice will allow you to expand in your life, taking in more and more of what life's experiences have to offer without being thrown by them. Yoga expanding has us explore our comfort zones and keep moving the edges a bit further out every time.

It looks like yoga is doing that all by itself, using us as its prana or something. It's like people are the prana for the yoga. I'm just making that up, but it seems to fit the way I'm positioning yoga at the moment. Yoga can take more and more people to deeper and deeper places.

The form yoga takes might keep shifting as less-common facets of yoga are presented for our practice and review, but clearly it has taken root in our culture and it isn't leaving anytime soon.

Namaste.

(The picture is from the other night at Nuit Blanche in Ottawa. I don't know if the flower petals were part of an installation or not, but they were there on the ground then the wind started to carry them away.)

Amazing Little Bose Speakers for Yoga Teachers - updated!

I was looking for a more portable speaker system recently after wearing out my Logitech speakers and dealing with bluetooth pairing issues on a replacement system. I considered getting a Bose system that would be portable and charge my phone and then I saw this little set. I don't really need a system that will charge my phone...

It's so small that it fits into my purse! And the sound is amazing. But the best part for me is that it starts playing right away and I don't have to wait for it to sync up. This is important for me as a yoga teacher because sometimes I'm setting these things up in front of other people and I want it to all go smoothly. I don't want to waste time in my class fiddling with the equipment and I can't always be there setting up before my students get there - a home yoga class for instance.

So if you're looking for something powerful but light and relatively affordable, I highly recommend these speakers. I didn't get the case that comes separately but I'm reconsidering. I don't want it getting banged up while I go from class to class.

If you decide to buy them and you click on the link on my site, I get a tiny commission. So thank you in advance :)
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Update. I still really do recommend the speakers, however, if you're in Canada, Amazon shows you the price in CAD and for me to get the credit, you'd need to buy the speakers from Amazon.com, but seeing as how you're in Canada, you'll be redirected to Amazon.ca, in which case I won't get the commission. Basically, I'd need to set up two little accounts - one for Canadian readers and one for American. So selling things via Amazon is not really workable at the moment :) Thought I'd give it a try!

Last Chance for Yoga Philosophy!

Just a reminder that Living Yoga classes start next, next week on Tuesday night (September 16). There's still room if you're interested in signing up, but more importantly, this is the last chance to take this class for awhile.

If you are interested in joining our Yoga Teacher Training Program, this is the last chance for sure. We are running the courses until the beginning of next year, and if you're not in the stream now, Kat and I are not sure when the course will be happening after May. So this is it!

Kat's got other things going on after India, and I'm still here doing my thing, but assembling the courses and finding students to be in them isn't our priority right now.

So if you want to join us, please let me know and be prepared to come and sit in Old Ottawa South on Tuesday nights for a bit.