Spontaneous Yoga

The holidays are still fresh in my mind, how about you?  During the Holidays I took some time away from LA to visit my family in very cold Ohio.  My immediate family lives all over the globe, from Finland to California to Colorado to Ohio.  I arrived at LAX at 5:00a in the morning for my flight.  From the long lines and overbooked flights, clearly a lot of Angelenos traveled over the Holidays.

To stay active and out of hibernation mode, I shoveled snow and practiced yoga.  Even though I grew up outside of Cleveland, with temps in the low 20’s throughout my trip, I experienced special moments with my close family and friends, inside.  I am excited to share with you a few of the spontaneous yoga sessions I had the opportunity to lead.

Teaching yoga is in my blood no matter where I go.  Like many of you, I want my loved ones to feel freedom from anxiety and physical pain, especially over the holidays.  I’ve given up on teaching a family/friends yoga class when I travel back to Cleveland.  With all the various sleeping, eating, and hanging out schedules, I’ve found it best to go with the flow.  It was pure joy to share my love of yoga in spurts with loved ones when the moment presented itself.

Instead of practicing yoga in a quiet room by myself, I usually practiced in the living room while my nephews jumped around doing gymnastics.  They are adorable.  I also practiced yoga while my brother and dad were watching movies and football games.  I call it a better than nothin’ yoga practice.

One evening after my practice, I did legs up the wall.  As you can see, my socks are on, it was chilly.  However, it warmed my heart when my youngest nephew joined me.  Awwwwwwwww, he is so cute!!!

Another evening, I had just finished a short cardio routine and was getting ready to take a shower.  I was meeting a dear friend downtown.  At the same time, my brother and his high school friend, Scott Solomon, just finished a guitar jam session in the basement.  Scott was talking about all of his ailments and joked about doing yoga some day.  You know the type:)  Before I knew it, he walked over to me and said, “OK, teach me some yoga.”  I was shocked and I jumped at the opportunity to spread the yoga love to a cynic.

Right there in our family living room I guided Scott through a ten minute yoga session.  Lenni jumped in as well.  We practiced a hip opener, a backbend, a few twists, and lastly, savasana.  Scott said he felt much better and that he was going to give yoga some serious thought in 2013.
Over the years I have learned not to shove yoga down my friends and family’s throats.  In the beginning it was challenging.  Starting in 2000, Yoga was a new passion that had given me the mental and physical results I had been searching for.  I wanted everyone to be on board because I said so, ha, ha!  Now I am open to the possibility of loved ones being interested in yoga without forcing the issue.  When these moments appear, it feels genuine for everyone.

Yoga Tip

No matter the situation, be PRESENT and meet people where they are.

Image credits: Stephen J. Lee