It’s All Yoga
by: Libby Young
When I first started yoga that’s what I thought it was: yoga. But whenever I talked
about it with other people I began getting the question, “What kind of yoga do you
practice?” I would blankly stare back and they would begin to ramble off names of
countries? Desserts? Pig Latin? I had no idea what they were saying.
Now that I’ve dove into the yoga pool, I know my way around from Ashtanga to Yin.
But I still get that same question, “What kind of yoga do you practice?” Heck, I’m
guilty of it too. I’m now of the philosophy that all those years ago, in my ignorant
state, I had it right. I practice yoga. Not Kundalini, not Iyengar, not even Vinyasa, but
Here at Maitri, we are a Vinyasa studio. But honestly, it’s just a name. If you attend
classes with any of our instructors, you will experience snippets of many styles; you
may not even be aware of it. It’s one of the reasons I love it here. So many
practitioners get stuck in the philosophy of “my style is better than your style”. I’m
here to say, that’s simply not true. Whether you regularly practice Hatha or Bikram
or Restorative, it’s all yoga. And more importantly, it’s all worth experiencing. All of
our instructors take what we love of every style, of our own experiences, and pour it
into our classes, into our students. Because we all love yoga. Not just Vinyasa, not
just Kripalu, or Jivamukti, or Power, or Yin, but yoga.
I always challenge my students to learn about the different styles and experience
them. But more importantly, to realize that one way isn’t the end-all-be-all of yoga.
It’s all yoga, folks. And practicing under that umbrella of knowledge will lead you to
places in your practice you didn’t even know were there.
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