There is a special kind of love that happens in a yoga class.  I don’t think that most people come to yoga consciously seeking that love, but if they stick around, they will experience it. 

At the start, love takes form from the different relationships created within our yoga class.  There are the interpersonal relationships, where a love forms between the student and teacher, the teacher and the class, and the students with the yoga community.  There are the intrapersonal relationships, where love develops with the self (our physical, emotional, and mental bodies).  And, there is the ultimate expression of love, perhaps with “other”  ~ that is the yoga itself.  

Now this doesn’t happen for everyone, but for the lucky ones, it is within the dynamics that play out in those relationships where we get to develop and honor this love.  And, it is through the expression of this love, that the real heart of yoga is exposed.  For you see, simply put, yoga is love in motion.  

As a practitioner and a teacher, I have been one of the lucky ones to experience how love develops within all of these relationships.  First, there is a special kind of love that exists between the teacher and the student.  Let me be clear, I am talking about love in a platonic way, not in the, how should I say this, um, Bikram way.  Not in the dinner and a movie way.  

“In genuine platonic love, the beautiful or lovely other person inspires the mind and the soul and directs one’s attention to spiritual things,” so says Webster.

And, as the teacher (think “guide”), I am constantly in awe as my students show up week after week, day after day, and unroll their yoga mats to share in a practice.  Some are brand spanking new to yoga, others are coming for a workout, and some are completely dedicated to a practice that has become something more than just doing poses.  Each person in the class is in a different place, for a different reason, and at their own unique level.  Yet, they all come and move and breathe in a class and I have the privilege of being part of that journey.  I get the front row seat on this ride and see first hand how people use their breath, focus, and the poses to peel away all of the tension and blockages that have built up.

I watch people show up, with whatever the day, week, and life has given them.  They step onto their mat and allow themselves to be there with all of it.  We start class, drop into our breath and begin to explore the present moment.  Then we start to move our bodies and unite some movement with our breath.  

In the space between a breath, without even trying, we have connected.  

We have connected with each other – within the yoga.  And, it is within this connection that the yoga will take form as love.  This is the part where the “I” and the “you” become “we.”

There is a community of inhales and exhales.  There is a collective gesture and motion from our bodies moving together.  Sometimes, there is eye contact and a moment of really seeing someone.  Really truly seeing someone.  We have created a space in our class where it is ok to be seen.  The yoga has made a space where it is safe to take off our masks – if we choose.  

The light in me, sees the light in you.  

And, the natural result of shedding our stress, (letting it all fall away), is the reveal of our true nature ~ Love.    

And, I know some days this is easier than others.  Some days people would rather focus on the floor and push their physical practice to the edge.  Some days the want is to exercise only the body.  And, that is cool.  Exercising our body is a good thing.  Showing up on our mat in any way, shape or form is a good thing.  

If we can just get to our mat, the yoga will take care of the rest.

This process amazes me.  We start out as strangers gathered in a room and then the practice starts to open us.  We open on a physical level and before you know it, we are opening mentally and emotionally as well.  Before you know it, we feel like the people on the mat next to us are somehow a part of our journey.  And, the yoga holds it all.  

I have the opportunity to be a guide along this yoga journey and it is within the allowance of my role, that I experience a deep love for my class.  I watch how they thoughtfully consider my suggestions, and I know that our relationship is not of the ordinary kind.  They take a risk and then trust that I will be there to help see it through.  I offer an adjustment and I see how a body will release and move a bit further into a breath or a pose.  We set a dristi and there is a mergence of focus in the room. And, the yoga holds it all.  This exchange that happens from trusting and connecting, (damn -if we could only bottle the feeling!), is love.

And what I always return to is ~ yoga is love in motion.  

There is also a love that a student has for their practice.  And, there is a love that blooms from coming together as a community.  

Over time, students develop a love for their practice.  At first, we love the feeling we have after a good class.   The “yoga high.”   It is sometimes hard to believe how alive and relaxed we can truly be.  A-mazing.  Then, we start to love what the yoga is teaching us.  We trust our yoga guide, the process, and ultimately the yoga.  Yesterday, I had a student whose shoulders were rounded forward and I could see that she was carrying something heavy.  I offered a supported backbend and then I watched how she began to breathe there and let her heart open a bit.  She believed in the yoga enough to stay with it.  Every breath took courage.  I saw the emotional pain in her eyes.  Every moment she chose to be with the uncertainty of not knowing, the more present she became.  The more accepting.  I finally saw her shoulders relax and I knew she had begun to let go of what she was shouldering.  Her entire face softened.  

You see, she let the yoga in.  She let in the love.  

Once you have experienced the absolute peace and harmony that can come from this, you fall in love.  We love that we can strengthen and free up our bodies, relieve pain, connect with what is important, and improve our health and well-being.  We love the learning, the ride, and the infinite wisdom our practice brings.  

And, we love the feeling we experience when we become still

and

breathe in our true nature ~

L O V E.

Bring a group of yogis and yoginis together in a room, each experiencing the individual benefits of their yoga practice, and there starts to be a leaking of those love-ly feelings from deep inside ourselves, out into the room.  The practice starts to serve a higher purpose (sometimes we don’t even realize this!) as a community connection is created.  The action of our yoga has made the space for us to not only acknowledge our true nature, but to experience it.  We do that within our yoga class, right next to someone else who is having a similar encounter, and we become aware of how yoga is love in motion.  The work we do in our yoga class, makes our love visible.  Tangible.  

And, it is the returning to the mat and to the true nature of love, over and over again, that then makes it easier to connect to this center of love when we are out in the world.  When we are sitting in traffic, when the kids are screaming and demanding, when life just becomes heavy.

Recently one of my students came up to me and said, “Thank you.  Now I feel love again.  Earlier today my daughter was pulling on me and crying and I just wanted to yell at her. Now I can go home to my daughter and I have love to give her.”

It is simple.  When we take care of our self.  When we actually make space and time to experience the infinite love within, we can be of better service to the greater good.  

This is the kind of love that compels us to be better and to do better.  

This is the kind of love that can change the world.  Heal the world.  

And it will.  And it does.  Because, yoga is love in motion.