Beginner’s Mind: Being in the Moment
- Watchherwords
- Sep 15
- 2 min read
by Sarah Reilly
The most important way we align in life and on our mat is with the breath. For many of us upon walking into our place of Yoga, we notice the breath deepens, our shoulders relax and we haven’t even unraveled our mat yet. This is why we go to Yoga. (I have a daily home practice and still I attend classes at my local studio several times a week. Always a student, but that is a different theme for another time.)
Approaching the breath by simply noticing the sensation of the air at the tip of the nostrils and the expansion of the lungs brings the practitioner out of their mind and into their whole body—all the way down to the ends of the toes.
Which brings me to your feet. Your lovely, adorable, underappreciated feet! Walk on your mat. Do you notice a texture? Does your mat feel cool or hot to the touch? Spread the toes. With the right foot, press down from the big toe mound of your foot to the inner heel of the foot, then from the pinky toe mound to the outer heel. This helps lift the main arch of your foot. Notice the power you created from the ground up. Now do the same with the left foot.
There is so much more to explore with the beginner’s mind, and this is exciting. When we take the time to go into the space on the mat and breath and feel, we get to know ourselves better. We leave class and we notice the color of the grass is a deep rich, green. We are less likely to take life for granted and to hurry through. Other times we may leave yoga class and have a big cathartic cry and then we feel lighter and better because we finally felt safe enough or even slowed down long enough that we are able to process our emotions.
In the beginner’s mind to Yoga, we savor the experiences that are all around us. We taste our food instead of just tossing it in our mouth holes. When we practice yoga with a beginner’s mind, we celebrate every day more in the zone of the present moment and that is why life is called a gift.
6-Week Beginner's Yoga Course with Sarah
Join Sarah Reilly for a 6-week beginner's yoga course that will expand and deepen your practice. Over the course of 6 weeks you'll dive into breath techniques, guidelines around alignment for your body as well as learn about some of the traditions of yoga. Whether you are new to yoga, new-ish or are a yoga teacher looking for continuing education, this course is for you!
When: Saturdays from 2:00pm - 3:00pm
October 4th - November 8th
Cost: for Students $125 (6-week course) or $35 for individual
sessions*
for Teachers $175 (includes 10 CEU's and 2 additional hours
of training on Saturday, November 15th; must attend all 6 weeks
to get CEU's
*individual student sessions can be booked through on website via the Class Schedule page. You can go to the date of the course you wish to attend or you can filter the schedule using "tags" and select "workshop"
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