Have you ever noticed that certain things just feel like home to you? 🏠️
Home isn’t always a place with four walls. It can be a thing, a practice, a movement, a smell, an action, a person.
I had the realization recently that yoga, in many ways, has come to feel like home for me.
After being away for a few days last week and all of the busy-ness that comes with unpacking, catching up on sleep & work, and just generally re-integrating back into regular life as the creature of habit that I am, a full week had gone by since I really practiced OR taught any yoga at all!
A week is a good deal of time, for me! I try to practice in some form on most days – if not by moving my body in an asana practice, then at least with a few moments of quiet meditation or breathing. I knew I needed to get back onto my mat to find solid ground.
So, I showed up to a class and found my way to my mat to move with other bodies in my community. It was glorious from beginning to end, but I had a moment of recognition that brought me intense joy & gratitude.
As we moved into our first downward dog, I suddenly felt a deep sense of knowing. Of familiarity. Of “home.”
I felt my body knowing, remembering, exactly what to do.
I felt the familiarity of dropping into the breath, and moving my limbs in a well-known shape, as my mind turned to the practice.
In that moment, I felt at home in downward dog.
It was familiar, it was comforting; it was home.
I think home is where we feel most at ease; where we recognize everything, even if a few items are out of place.
I think home is any place where we can welcome release, feel free to explore our eccentricities, and ultimately, come to breathe a deep sigh of relief at the end of the day.
My hope is that we can all find home in our bodies, and maybe, in our practices.
This feeling may not show up overnight.
It takes time to build body awareness.
It takes time to cultivate a relationship to the self.
The practice is there to guide us along the journey.
As your teacher, nothing would bring me greater joy than seeing you learn to feel at home in your body & your practice.
Keep practicing,
🙏💙