Inspiration - A yoga teacher’s job is to inspire her students to get deep into their yoga practice, and to transform themselves into source-connected spiritual beings in the process. This may mean focusing on one particular theme for the class, such as forgiveness or presence. Jessica, my yoga teacher fiancee, is constantly discussing her themes or what quotes she is going to say in here class with me all the time, asking me for feedback. This causes that inspiration to rub off on me, as I’m constantly pondering these great quotes and themes and feeling inspired to do better in my life.
Doing lots of yoga, for free or cheap - Yoga has amazing benefits that improve health and energy, and of course by dating a yoga teacher I get to do yoga a lot more often. Before we started dating, I didn’t really do yoga, I had done it, but I was really bad at it, like amazingly inflexible, and had a really tough time getting through a class. Now I can easily touch my toes, sit comfortably in positions that were excruciating to me in the past, and feel much more limber, loose, and strong. I get a 50% discount at the studio she teaches at now, and take full advantage of it, along with being her guinea pig for new flows, I get to do a lot of yoga compared to before we were together, and I’m not paying $140 a month for it.
Spiritual Healing - Being around yoga all the time and doing yoga a lot inspired me to learn a ton about the ancient yogic view on spirituality. As I learn from the teachers in class and get exposed to yogic knowledge and texts, I start to take a look inward at myself and see where I’m truly struggling and suffering. I learn to look at my deep wounds from an objective spiritual point and use my mind body connection to forgive what is causing the pain and allow the wounds to heal. This is something that happens over time with yoga, and is likely why yoga has helped so many former drug addicts and others with troubled pasts.
Better Health - It’s hard to be yogic without getting healthy. Not only are their benefits of the physical practice, such as a calmer energy and increased strength and flexibility, but I also started being more yogic in other areas of my life, such as my diet and my reactions to stressful situations. It seems really silly me to be even a little bit devoted to yoga and still allow myself to eat shitty fast food or anything that doesn’t have that life giving prana that should be in all the food that I eat, and make me healthy and strong. Eating crappy would ruin the effects of the yoga itself, so I eat much healthier that I ever did before. I also react more from a place of deep inner calmness and strength when faced with stress, or things that could cause stress if I let them. By controlling my reactions more, I improve my health by keeping my energy calm and less chaotic, which I believe helps maintain my overall health.
Becoming part of a yoga community - Yoga people are some of the most amazing people I’ve met. They are motivated, entrepreneurial, spiritual, and are mostly conscious on a very high level. It is an amazing community to allow myself to absorb into, and the great qualities of these people rub off on me as I hang around them and get inspired. There’s festivals, events, talks, and workshops that I’ve attended with these great people, but most importantly, Jessica always has great friends and community to help brighten our lives as a couple, and belonging to a community is really important to feel connected to the world, especially if it is a great community of people you are really inspired by.