Before We Begin

My notes on how to start our classes

This isn't a list of rules.

Think of it as a contract.

Not between you and me.

Between you and yourself.

1. Be kind to yourself.

That's the first thing.

And it sounds obvious.

But in a yoga class… it's easy to forget.

You see someone bend deeper.

You remember what you could do last week.

You push a little harder than you should.

Don't.

Flexibility comes with time.

Range of movement comes with consistency.

It doesn't come from force.

Don't do the ego stretch.

Don't chase the ego pose.

Your body will open when it's ready, not when you want it to.

And that looks different every single day.

2. Everything I say is a suggestion.

Nobody knows your body as well as you do. Your yoga instructor is not in your body.

You are.

If something doesn't feel right, don't do it.

If a pose isn't available to you today, that's completely fine.

If you're nursing an injury, honour it. Be extra cautious with it.

Rest is not failure.

Choosing your body over the pose is always the right call.

Love your body, it is the only constant being that stays with you your whole existence.

3. Use three breaths to reach your edge.

In any pose, you probably have a sense of how far you can go.

Don't go there in one breath.

Use three.

  First breath: go partway.

Second: a little further.

Third: approach your edge, if it still feels right.

This gives your muscles time to warm into the movement.

It gives your joints a chance to respond, not react.

Your body isn't a machine.

Treat it with care, it is the only constant being in your whole life.

4. Two checkpoints. Every pose.

Can you smile?

Not a forced smile. Just… the possibility of a kind one, to yourself.

If your face is scrunched and your jaw is clenched, back off. You've gone too far.

Can you breathe freely?

If you're holding your breath, or only taking shallow sips of air, back off. You've gone too far.

There will be sensation. There will be effort.

But never sharp pain.

Never something that makes you hold your breath.

5. Keep your body on a plane.

You may have heard it before, but it's worth explaining.

Do you remember how we define a plane in space? Mathematical background emerging!

One way is by pointing to three points in space. That defines a plane.

For our torso, that plane is defined by your two shoulders and the top of your hip, where the spine connects to the hip bone.

In many poses, we want to maintain the integrity of that plane.

Imagine pressing your torso flat against a wall.

Both shoulders. Your tailbone. Everything touching.

No twist. No crunch. No uncomfortable collapse to one side.

That's what I mean by staying on the plane.

In many poses, the intention is to also include the arms and legs on that same plane, if we can.

When we say “flat back” or “stay on the plane”, come back to that image. Like a wall you’re leaning against, completely flat.

Could your whole torso press against a wall right now?

Why we finish with one Om and three Shantis?

Om.

In Sanskrit, it's said to be the vibration that runs through everything.

The hum of the universe.

I know, that might sound a bit out there.

That's okay, for me too, still!

But there is another side: we don't need to believe it to feel it.

Just close your eyes. Hum with everyone in the room.

For a few seconds, we're all making the same sound, at the same time, in the same room.

We come together for a moment.

We become one sound. One breath.

That's what it does for us.

Shanti

Means peace.

We say it three times to wish for three kinds of peace.

Each time, we send it somewhere different.

• First: within us.

Our mind. Our body. Our breath.

• Second: around us.

Our family. Our friends. Our community. Our country.

• Third: beyond us.

Everything we don't fully understand.

The big stuff. Our karma. The astrological, the unknown.

Three Shantis.

From the inside out.

That's it. That's the whole agreement.

Show up. Be kind to yourself.