Welcome to Aiya Yoga!
Simply put, yoga is about finding and connecting with yourself in a healthy and empowering way so that you can live an authentic life that is guided by your deepest values. The practices of yoga can help you discover how you live your life in relation to your values.
Meditation, pranayama (breathwork), and asana (poses) are tools for exploring the way you interact with the world. For example, when experiencing physical or mental discomfort, do you make war against it or do you give it space to be? When approaching a challenge, do you say "not at all" or "not yet?"
Though these types of questions may seem simple, they provide a gateway for self-inquiry that can help you have deep and authentic experiences both on and off the mat.
Asana, the central focus of most yoga classes in the West, is not only a wonderful way to open and work with the body to create balance, opening, and strength, but it also provides a space in which the mind has the opportunity to challenge itself and its perceptions of what is possible.
Challenging poses provide a space for exploring whether the mind accepts a limitation when, in fact, the limitation is a temporary...or perhaps not a limitation at all.
Conversely, poses that come with ease provide a space to enjoy the experience of being alive and connected with one's body and mind, as well as the universe around them. Ease in a pose can be the beginning for bringing ease into other parts of life.
Every moment in every pose is an opportunity for self-reflection and growth when approached with curiosity, an open heart and mind, and compassion for oneself.
