A yoga participant recently wrote a wonderful testimonial that got me thinking. We frequently think of yoga as a great way to reconnect the mind and body, to find movement in sticky fascia, or through mindfulness finding calm. This testimonial focuses on “lift” and draws a parallel between yoga and aviation. Read what they have to say:

Dogwood studio wishes you and your family a happy holiday season and continued health in the new year.

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Dogwood Studio has been focusing classes on different yoga archetypes. If you are not familiar with what this means, an archetype is “the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies (Merriam-Webster). An archetypal approach to yoga is where yoga poses or movements are categorized based on their target during use. Poses and movements can fall under more than one archetype. An archetype has a primary target of certain myofascial groups and skeletal segments. Paul and Suzee Grilley (link HERE) pioneered this approach to yoga. Yoga poses and movements are meant to target certain areas, and archetype poses connect intention to the pose. This approach does not focus on the look of the pose but the function or target, and therefore accommodates many differences between each of us in our skeleton and in out fascia. At Dogwood Studio, we expand the archetypes to overlap with the major groups of fascial planes in the body.

Many of us still feel uncertain about how celebrating the holidays will be during a pandemic, when you will get a vaccine, when everything will be safe enough to fully reopen, and we can return to our previous routines. An article in The New York Times “Pandemic-Proof Your Habits” notes that routines help us to feel safe. When we follow a routine, however small, we are telling ourselves that there is no danger present and we can relax. Because we cannot know when or if things will return to the way they were pre-pandemic, we need to stop waiting for normal and our old routines. Instead, we need to take charge of ourselves and create new routines.

Yoga has been steadily increasing in popularity, even before the pandemic. During the pandemic, the need to stay safe at home but remain active has been a challenge for many. Yoga is an activity that can be done at home. Dogwood Studio offers classes live over the internet or On Demand when and where you want. Yoga can be for any body, young or old, fit or new to exercise, arthritic or post-surgery. Many have not yet tried yoga because of a lack of understanding what it is. Here are some common myths about yoga debunked.

Many people are intimidated by yoga if they have never tried it before, largely due to the increase in fitness style yoga and the inundation of images of thin people practicing “perfect pose” yoga. Fitness yoga is a valid choice for some, but yoga is also so much more. Yoga can be for anyBODY regardless of body type, age, or medical history.