Yoga With Kelly

Lately I've been struggling with my disdain for most people. It bothers me that I am having such a hard time liking other people in society; outside of my friends, family, and coworkers and that is already a small group. There has to be a reason I am feeling this way, right?! So I took some time to think about why I am feeling this way... I pondered on some questions... Why am I finding it so hard to like the rest of society? I am a  genuinely nice person. I lend a helping hand when I can. I work hard. For the most part I follow the rules. But I will admit I bend them every now and then... So  let me elaborate. The other day I was walking along the street after just getting my coffee and breakfast. I passed a gentleman walking in the opposite direction, I gave him a smile (as I do to every person I pass). He simply just kept on walking with a smug face. Wow, kind of soul crushing. Is this how we want to treat other people who are being kind to us? No wonde...

My yoga opened my heart to light, love, peace and honor. It has done wonderful things to change my life. I believe all things are beautiful and I invite more peace into my heart. I began yoga because I hated working out at the gym but knew I needed to do some sort of physical activity, other than walking. I fell in love with yoga because it brought me happiness. I felt energized, I felt peaceful, and I felt good in my body after every class. It was a beautiful form of practice, like a dance. I felt free. After working on my physical practice for a few years I wanted to know more about where yoga came from and what it was all about. I began studying yoga on a deeper level. I realized that yoga was about more than just the poses. The yoga philosophy really spoke to me. And the more I read the more I wanted to know. Yoga philosophy teaches us peace, love and honor among many other things. It teaches us about joining the body, mind and spirit into one entity. And above all i...

I finally live in a place that allows me to have a space dedicated to my yoga and my practice, that is important to me. This is how I prepare my yoga space for my home yoga practice. Let me paint you a picture. Its walls are cream and the trim is white. The carpet is a dark brown and soft. The windows are big white rectangles that open inward, so in the summer I pop them open and let the cool breeze of the Northeastern Ohio winds blow in. It is a lovely feeling. Above the windows I have inspirational quotes, stickers and photos. I read these while I practice. They give me motivation and remind me why I practice. Fairy lights hang from one side of the window to the other. This space where the windows are is like a little nook. A space that is perfect for my ever growing collection of yoga props, my mat, my meditation cushion, multiple lights, a collection of memorabilia and of course reading material because what is a room or a space without books... My cranberry JadeYoga mat fits ...

Last post I introduced you into the world of Restorative Yoga. Now that we have a better understanding of what Restorative Yoga is... Let's talk about the benefits we get from doing restorative yoga. We've all heard that yoga is very beneficial to our lives and to our health. This is true when living a true yoga life.  When we continuously practice, when we listen to our bodies, when we have the right mindset, when we nurture ourselves, body and mind, when we live life to the fullest this is when yoga is most beneficial to us. We've all seen those people on social media who can bend themselves into crazy poses. But just like all athletes it takes continual practice to get to where they are. I have worked over many years to get to where I am at. However, that is not solely what yoga is about, the asanas (poses) are only one part of a much bigger yoga picture.  Yoga is a much deeper practice one that can be very fulling to our lives and our health, for everyone... not ...

I have been getting this question a lot. When I tell people that I do restorative type yoga their immediate response is... What is restorative yoga? Then I began to question it myself, trying to come up with the best answer. At first when I would try to answer this question my words get all jumbled and I was never exactly sure what to say. I know what restorative yoga is of course. I see how the body moves... I see it with my eyes; I see it with my mind. I watch how people move. I watch how people stand. I watch how people sit. I want to go around and fix all of their postures. Then I become fully aware of how I am sitting or standing. But when it comes time for me to explain it to someone with words I haven't come up with the best collection of them to full describe what restorative yoga is. So that's what I am here to do. To put into words what restorative yoga is... It begins with B.K.S. Iyengar. In his form of Hatha yoga the student and teacher focus on alignment ...