At Grateful Yoga, we aim to support student learning by loosely organizing our drop-in classes around a shared theme.
Breathing practice is trendy these days, thanks in part to the excellent book Breath by James Nestor. But yoga has been developing it potent repertoire of breathing practices for (at least) the past 2500 years!
We have chosen “The Art of Breathing” as our fall studio-wide teaching theme. It really is an art, both because it requires great aesthetic judgment and a long time to develop. Just doing a quick technique you learn on Instagram isn’t going to make much of a lasting impact. The breath is deeply personal, and it takes time to develop a new relationship with it.
So in support of the continued learning of our students, the Grateful teaching staff will include the fundamentals of breathing practice in many of their classes this fall. Each teacher will offer their own take on this broad theme, sometimes directly, some just sprinkling it into a normal class. Don’t worry - there will still be plenty of good old yoga!
Past Themes
Since summer often brings more opportunities for being active - walking, running, hiking, swimming, crawling on the floor with kids - we are picking MOVEMENT as our theme, especially walking and balancing. Each teacher will offer their own take on this broad theme, sometimes directly, some just sprinkling it into a normal class. (Don’t worry - there will still be plenty of good old yoga.)
We imagine things like
- Refining your gait for happy walking
- Foot, ankle, knee and hip health
- Getting up and down off the floor with ease
- Balancing on one foot
- Squatting and crawling
- Pre- and post-walking routines for optimizing flexibility, symmetry and strength
- Exploring how your walking habits mirror how you relate to your life
- Walking and moving meditations
