CAPTURING PRESENCE: In the space of quiet contemplation, insight & clarity are revealed.

Over time, the practice of yoga creates space within for deeper learning about our body, breath, emotions, and senses and how we move in and relate to the outside world. The quieter the space becomes, the greater the degree insight and clarity are revealed. By practicing moving with a sense of quiet contemplation we can dive deep below the distractions and disturbances, drop our anchor and observe, notice and feel all of the nuanced details of what's there. We practice capturing presence!

When I first set out to open my own yoga business, I knew ahead of time obvious and even the more nuanced details that I did not want to over-look. I was in the middle of my initial yoga teacher training intensive at the time and on one particular morning I arrived to a Life-Sized Post-It Note outside of the studio door with the words: SILENT PRACTICE: ONE HOUR.

As a person drawn to yoga for it’s capacity to help me get in touch with my inner self, the self less likely to be under the influence of anyone else, that Life-Sized Post-It Note spoke to my soul! In my still-developing yogiprenuer brain, I check-marked that experience as instrumental to my ability to remain grounded in the qualities I wanted to influence the teaching space I would soon go on to create. That experience gave me the confidence to begin to honor the value in being assertive enough to set specific conditions that can produce the most profound effects for the benefit of all.

For the first three years of teaching I had been constantly assessing the environmental conditions within the practice studio walls, but I could sense I was holding back on what I truly wanted to create out of fear of other’s opinions. And then our world as we knew it was changed when COVID

struck. My studio became, unintentionally, eerily quiet. While the pandemic shut-down gave me space to formulate some business changes going forward, it was a homework assignment from my teacher Sage Rountree (whose SILENT PRACTICE: ONE HOUR idea 3 years prior, had been so seared in my mind), where I was finally able to put into words the desired effect of my variation of Silent Practice as a policy change to implement within my business. When I stated my idea to her, Sage responded with curiosity and as I know her to often do, gave me the final nudge for me to set the tone I wanted to create. And just as I had suspected, when I communicated how my business was proceeding moving forward with 'the world', I received messages filled with the opinions of former acquaintances which to each I internally said, another Sage-ism, “Whose cares what you(they) think!”

And from that point forward, my practice studio became - not far off from the early groundwork I laid - a quiet, contemplative space - one that could respectively offer each of my clients, equally, the most value for the time they are setting aside to increase their inner connection and sense of peace. If I didn’t set the tone, the practice space would lose it’s serene vibe and emit a more waiting-room feel filled with filler conversation about our time and experiences in the outside world - which are not the same from person to person.

Often I’m asked if my classes are spiritual and my response is always this: “The most spiritual thing a person can do for themselves is to take themselves to a movement practice that asks nothing of them but the desire to relax and feel grounded and connected.” I then follow that up with: “I don’t offer spirituality based in mysticism, new ageism or dogma, but I do infuse my modern take and understanding on yoga’s ancient teachings as they apply to how we move in our bodies and live in the world.”

Yoga with Joy is for you if you prefer a contemplative setting - one that asks you to come in with the same approach you would for your favorite faith-based or spiritual practice - where you have the space to connect to your own personal meaning of spirituality, a setting designed to help you develop greater inner awareness, where you can value experiencing time to relish in yourself outside of life’s everyday distractions and stimulations, allowing you to arrive at ease and leave calm and better connected.

No expectations, no demands... and no lyrical music. This is an experience with yoga that intends to balance out the pace, over-stimulation and intensity that engulf our lives by not asking for or creating more of the same. A contemplative yet relaxed environment where slow, subtle, introspective movement and breath are the ingredients we use for building more sustainability in our body and mind. An environment that empowers, educates and inspires with a teacher who plans time for questions and follow up while encouraging freshly relaxed clients to engage in conversation as they see fit once class concludes.

In my classes you’ll learn to appreciate why less is more. You’ll feel your investment was worth the time and money as a satisfying trade for increased personal connection and calm. And your body and nervous system will appreciate this and respond in kind!

Beyond the surface of what is seen on the exterior we can begin to experience the profound stillness found within the depths and landscape of our interior being. It takes work to find the stillness because it asks us to be quiet. It takes practice. We can consciously choose to sit. To notice. To invite and allow the distractions and disturbances of our own mind's wandering to settle. Within this settling we can begin to sense and capture the experience of just being in our bodies in the moment, the experience of being. We capture presence! It is presence that I hope to invite you into when you come to practice in this space.