The Founding of Life Yoga

So many people have asked me what I am going to call my business. And for a long time I did not know. It seemed that there were too many words that I had to describe the yoga that I wanted to teach. I want it to be for everyone. I want it to be everywhere. I want it to be peaceful. I want it to be challenging. I want it to be relaxing. I want it to be spiritual. I want it to be customized for each person, no matter their experience with yoga. I want it to include breathing techniques. I want so many things for my practice that I share with others that it was very hard to narrow it down to just one word.

The process of naming my business took a long time. It took a lot of thinking and waiting for the right word to come to me. It also took a lot of self-reflection. When I thought back about what yoga has done for me, I thought about the transformation that I have had over the period of time that I have been practicing. I could not even describe in one blog post (or even a few) the joys that yoga has brought to my life. But the one main thing that I can say that I have gained from yoga is peace, both inside and out. Through my practice and through my peacefulness I have learned to accept. To accept myself and my practice the way that it is. Looking to be challenged each time I practice yoga, but also feeling successful in each individual pose. Learning to accept myself in my practice, and also outside of it. Learning the non-judgmental mentality which spurs acceptance has been utterly important for my road to peacefulness. It has helped me with my relationship with myself and with others around me.

In each class that I took before becoming an instructor I was taught to let go of the judgments of myself and of those around me and also to let go of my insecurities. However, one of the most important lessons that I have learned through my practice is that all of the things that I do in yoga class- learning, accepting, not judging myself or others- I need to take with me in my life. And the moment that I had this realization my life began transforming before my very eyes. The relationships that I held began deepening. I saw myself happier than I had ever been. And I saw those around me being uplifted through our positive interactions.

Whenever I started practicing yoga I thought that I only had to do it for one hour a day and it had nothing to do with me the other 23 hours of the day. But now, I realize that I have brought yoga into my life. And now it is my mission to bring this to others.

So from here I just seemed to fill in the blank with the word Life. Life seemed to be the only word that could come close to summing up everything that I wanted to describe the yoga that I practice and that I teach And hence, Life Yoga was born.