i used to do yoga in my mud hut.

i hadn’t done any yoga before (even though i had been to india once already). but when you are in the village, you have time for trying new things.

at the peace corps office in town, we had an eclectic collection of books that we would share. somehow, this little library of ours had 2 paperback books from the 1970s about yoga poses. the pages were yellowed, the model wore a fantastically high cut leotard and there was a lot of discussion about breath.

i had these books at my house for most of my time in zambia. i would page through the book and have fun doing yoga poses on my reed mat. even the kids would join in! but this wasn’t motivation enough to start a regular yoga practice.

then i moved to india.

and you would think, because i was living in the birthplace of yoga, that i would be super into it. nope. not really. i would go to the occasional yoga class, but nothing serious or regular.

i did find myself at an aerial yoga class though and let me tell you, that yoga is FUNNNNN!!! cate and i went to go try out an 80s dance class. when we got there, the dance class was canceled. but the lady said, ‘oh, we have aerial yoga on right now, do you want to try that?’ i immediately said YES, even though cate was scared out of her mind! we went and tried it and had so much fun! and cate pushed through her fear and flipped over!!!!! it was a lot of fun!

and then i went to tassie.

jen became a yoga instructor and started jenbarronYOGA. 2 australian summers ago, i went to tasmania and helped her when she started her business.

i love going to jen’s yoga classes. she isn’t judgmental and it isn’t about doing each pose perfect and it isn’t about being the skinniest in the class (which is sometimes how you can feel during yoga classes). it’s about you and connecting with your body and mind. and this is what yoga is supposed to be all about. (not just going to a class and getting super sweaty and being the bendiest person in the room.)

that summer was so much fun! we did SUPYoga in the mornings, yin yoga at night and had tons of fun in-between! i didn’t even mind waking up early to cart around the paddle boards! 

and now i’ve declared this australian summer as the SUMMER OF YOGA! Read more here and I hope you’ll join me!