Sangha: Community choosing to practice together

This week I started back as a yoga instructor after almost five months of being away from the place I primarily teach. I have returned to a very different landscape compared to the one I left in March when the facility was closed due to Covid19.

I taught each day this week starting with an early 6:15 am class on Monday morning. I went in, masked and feeling uncertain. Class sizes have been significantly reduced with all participants required to reserve the coveted spots. There are check points to pass through at the front door and again at the yoga studio door. Along the way are gleaming floors and freshly disinfected everything, as well as, hand sanitation stations. There is no lounging or loitering encouraged. Your reserved spot is for the designated hour-long class. Everyone is accounted for in the building including staff. Inside the studio, mat orientation is predesignated with stickers. There is new signage, seemingly endless protocol. It all felt very different.

My first couple of classes I was in my head more than my body and still the practice unwound me. Students visibly unwound along with me. My voice was different from my intro compared to final savasana. Bodies in the room looked different from rigid start to ease-filled finish. Likewise, my Monday class was very different from the class I taught on Friday.

Yoga practice works.

This declaration isn’t a surprise of course. There is over 5,000 years of history behind yoga asana with stress reduction often sited as a prime benefit. Still, the transformative power of yoga practice this week was so tangible. I felt very lucky to both experience and witness it.

I also had the privilege to be part of the conscious sharing of physical space with others during a time in our history where ‘social distance’ has become part of our vernacular. My final class for the week in particular brought this sharply into focus. Sharing space with others who also chose to share space with me and other students was the most beautiful gift. We need each other. We are woven together in infinite ways beyond our understanding. We are part of a macrocosm of interconnectedness with our greater environment. Covid19 has pushed us away from each other and yet, in countless ways, brought us so much closer to one another.

Thank you, with all my heart, to my yoga community this week.

Much love, Katherine