WHAT YOGA MEANS TO ME.
(sharing here what i wrote for yoga tree blog.  beloved home studio and sangha.  15 years old, just like my daughter..good things were born in 1999!  Of course..;)

What Yoga Means To Me.. For Yoga Tree 15th Anniversary.

Union. Integration. Celebration of Life. Expansion. Being, anew. This is what Yoga means to me.

I've been on this yogic path for over 20 years now; theory, study and practice in all layers of being. 

In many ways I feel like yoga has saved my life. I know indeed, it has given so much more LiFE 

to my life!  So grateful.

    Some times I am a beginner, my practice is basic. I move to refresh stuck areas of the

bodymind. I investigate in the poses. I reconnect with breath, mind quiets into heart 

as it opens to the Universal. Many days yoga just IS throughout the day as I drive and breathe 

and relax my countenance and go out into the world and share this practice for the healing and 

peace of all beings. Some days I am simply grateful that the practice soaks my life as I don't 

know how I would get through otherwise. Some days are all play where I dance yoga, sing 

yoga, breathe the fire of yoga, laugh yoga and eat yoga... Yoga 

means everything is everything, one grand celebration of being!

For me Yoga is the ultimate reminder & tool(s) to reconnect. 

Both of its primary definitions shine for me;

 1. Yoking, Union- firstly, the reconnection of body, mind and spirit,

 & ultimately the remembrance of everyday self as divine, timeless self.

 2. Going where we have not gone before-

allowing myself to be born anew, to experience things and people anew, to find new ways to 

move and breathe and heal and celebrate that are informed by the foundation of tradition but 

that flow uniquely from this conglomeration that 'I am' out into the world of today...

    I allow this practice to strip and humble me, to leave me faceless, red and sweaty. I welcome 

this practice to decorate me, to reflect 'me' as Goddess and shine with the light of the Universe. I 

am so grateful. Yoga and it's evolution mean personal, spiritual, community, & world wide 

evolution. I am so grateful. We have been given, to nurture, this gift rich with 

science, art and spirit. These tools and beauty are fluid to fit any being or situation. I am in 

service to the wisdom of the dynamic truth of Yoga. We are all One. We are blessed to be 

embodied and we get to choose what to do with this blessing. May we choose with clarity and love. All 

else, be burned away in the fires of practice! Jai Ma!