Welcome to Kerrville Yoga. My name’s Mae, and today, we are beginning our journey together through 8 weeks on the yogic path.

This is the perfect place for you to start your if yoga is something you’ve been wanting to try but haven’t yet.

I’m here to lead you with loving compassion through the poses that have helped me feel good in my body.

I want you to continue to show up so we can come together as part of the visible movement towards peace on earth that is taking place even here, now, in 2020.

What allows us to step off the hamster wheel we each are on so we can focus on the most important things in life? What gives us a place of community to explore our relationship to gravity in a safe and controlled environment? What gives us the opportunity to connect with Divine?

That’s right! Yoga!

Yoga gives us the tools and techniques we need to focus on the breathing, to get up and down off the floor, and to stay in a state of peace where we feel connected to our true nature even in the most stressful situations.

But before we get into the deep breathing, poses, and sequencing of yoga, I have a very important question for you.

Why are you here? Why are you showing up on your mat right now?

Addressing your current mindset will set the tone for your flow.

There is no wrong reason to do yoga but there are levels of your reasoning that will determine how effective your practice will be for you.

No two yogas look the same and no two people practicing yoga will have the same experience.

After 10 years of practicing and sharing yoga, one of the most common answers I get to the questions why are you here practicing with me is “to get more flexible.” While this is a perfectly good reason, and one that is similar to my own first reason, “why” which I’ll get into in a second, practicing yoga to become more flexible is a little shallow of a reason. I’m not trying to be rude, this is me giving you a little tough love.

Because if you want to experience a transformation, you need to have a deeply rooted understanding of your reason for incorporating yoga into your daily rhythm to be effective.

Let’s say this is you, though, stiff, and just looking for some stretching, you’re here to get more flexible.

I wonder what happens when we run into a pose that you feel stuck in? What happens when your body tells you that it’s reached it’s physical limits in a pose? What are you going to do when you hit the inevitable plateau that all disciplined and dedicated yogis experience where they simply can’t go deeper into a pose without causing injury but it doesn’t “look” like their idea of how the pose should look?

Do you stop because yoga is not increasing your flexibility anymore? Do you come for the stretches and skip out on savasana, final relaxation!?

I’m just curious because I was once trapped in this limited mindset that I could stretch myself into perfection.

Back in 2009 when I first stepped foot into the Yoga Space, my reason why was to simply stay active after being told by my doctors that high impact sports were not good for my body’s delicate joints.

I begrudgingly showed up because I felt like it was my only option. My why at the time was very shallow indeed.

However, after just one class, and at the end during savasana, my new and improved “why” made itself known to me in the form of an emotional breakdown.

Never before in my life had I experienced the stripping away of the ego, the control of the breath, or the ability to fully relax my physical body so that I could relax my mental one.

I left the class wanting more.

Why? Because I knew that I had just taken a bite out of enlightenment. I had tasted a life carefree and stress-less. I wanted to go back. Not only did I want to go back, I never wanted to look back at my idea of yoga being some boring exercise that was way too slow to be effective.

If we don’t slow down, how can our souls catch up with our bodies?

The subtraction of all distractions from the light within is why I practice yoga now and this reason runs so deep that I imagine I will never put my practice down.

With that being said, there are certainly days when I don’t have the motivation to unroll and tune in, but on those days, I know I need yoga the most because I’m so wrapped up in the distractions of the world, I am at risk of wanting to stay hidden from the light simply because darkness has been familiar to me for so long.

I always feel better after yoga. But the joy comes from me making time for peace and not because every muscle in my body is more stretched out, even if that might be true.

So without further adieu, the one thing you need to get started on your yoga journey is a comfortable seat!

Make room for yourself to breathe.

Your first pose is EASY.

Find an easy seat!

You can sit cross legged on the floor, or if that’s not so easy, you can use a chair.

The seat is the first and the most important part of your health. Sit tall. Imagine your healthy spine lengthen as you meditate on your intention to connect with a divine healing breath.

From here you can begin to open up your chest, shoulders, and neck, freeing them from tension.

Relax your jaw. Un-furrow your brow.

Notice how it feels to breathe.