Personalizing Your Yoga Practice
Stepping into your favorite version of yourself. Spoiler: it's not your "best" self.
Hey It’s Jenny, your favorite yoga-loving Alaskan!
Welcome to my weekly newsletter where I share stories about my life, insights from my personal yoga practice and the best online resources, handpicked just for you.
June is here, and that means it’s time for a new theme: Personal Practice
We spent the last two months discussing the inevitability of change. Life unfolds in its own time and rhythm, no matter how much we resist, complain or wish it were different. We have very little control over what happens. Acceptance is the key to contentment, peace and greater happiness.
Developing a personal yoga practice is the next step in this process. It’s your chance to live life on your own terms. I’m not saying that yoga will magically change your circumstances, because it won’t. It will, however, change the way you relate to your experiences…and that is all the magic you will ever need.
For the next nine weeks, we will be exploring the ins and outs of “Personal Practice”. This two-month series is designed to help you move from simply "doing yoga" to discovering your ideal, personal yoga practice. Our focus will be on creating a routine that fits seamlessly into your life, meets your unique needs, and supports your personal growth.
Today’s issue is all about how my personal practice supports me and enriches my life.
Go be your favorite self.
We are used to “highest” or “best”
But favorite leaves room for grace.
I’m going to be the version of myself that I like right now in this moment.
There are a lot of reasons to prioritize my personal yoga practice, but the statement above is why I am unwaveringly devoted to it.
I’ve spent a lot of time imagining what my highest, or best, self might look like, how she would behave and handle her life. I like the idea of her, but I’m not sure I’ll ever actually meet her. She feels like some distant princess in a tower, guarded by dragons and evil wizards. To reach her would require an epic journey of heroic proportions and I’ve already been through enough hero’s journeys to fill three lifetimes. I’m ready to settle in and enjoy my life.
Now, my favorite self…I know her well. We’re besties, especially since I’ve taken ownership over my personal yoga practice and molded it into a meaningful daily ritual that adapts to meet my needs on every different day.
My personal practice is a place without pretense. A time to let my guard down and simply be. Whether i’m bedraggled, bone tired, full of anxiety, sad, insecure, angry, or all wound up. There’s room for all of me on my mat.
The theme of every practice is: come as you are. The rest flows from there.
Most sessions consist of gentle stretching and deeply restful Yoga Nidra practices. Occasionally, I crave an energetic flow before settling into a juicy savasana. When I’m short on time I move through a few rounds of cat/cow before centering myself with a brief meditation.
I always get what I need.
My personal practice gives me space me to shift from holding the weight of my world on my shoulders, to being held - by my practice, the support of the earth beneath me and by my own loving presence.
When I embrace and accept my true self in the present moment, my most desirable qualities rise to the surface. My favorite self steps forward, off of my mat and into my daily life.
My favorite self is deeply flawed. She is all fight and no flight. She has adult acne and eats way too much candy. She gets snippy with her family when she’s tired and she ignores her responsibilities to read books about dragons.
She’s full of wild, chaotic energy and curiosity. She’s fun and funny, laughing easy and often. She is cheerful and positively delusional with optimism. She is warm, grateful, and abundantly joyful. Her playful energy doesn’t falter, even when her enthusiasm borders on unhinged.
She’s weird and favors dark humor. She loves rap music and she has never met a stranger. She’s fucking awesome and she’s my favorite self. I love moving through the world with her at the helm. There is quite literally, never a dull moment.
My favorite self shines bright because of my personal yoga practice.
Every time I return to the sanctuary and support of my yoga mat, I grow more comfortable taking up space and showing up as my most exuberant, vivacious self. Not the imaginary, future self who has achieved every goal, eats a balanced diet and keeps her house spotlessly clean. Screw her. Little miss perfect doesn’t exist and she never will. I refuse to live in her shadow.
My practice has taught me to embrace the one who refuses to take life seriously and orders French fries with her salads. The fun loving one who sees everything burning down around her and grabs a bag of marshmallows. She may not be perfect, but I wouldn't have her any other way.
Who would step forward if you stopped trying to be the BEST POSSIBLE version of yourself? Who would come out to play in your life, relationships and yoga practice? Who is hiding in there, waiting to show themselves when the little goody-two-shoes isn’t bossing everyone around anymore?
Don’t you want to find out?
For this week’s practices, I’ve curated a collection of my all time favorite classes. These are my tried and true, go to personal practices, the ones I return to time and again.
I have shared a lot of them in previous issues. I went back and forth about whether or not to reshare them, but I thought it would be nice to compile them into one issue, so I’m going for it!
As a departure from the usual format, I won’t be providing a summary. Just see what calls to you. Then pick one, several, or all of them and go for it. You cannot go wrong with any of these.
Cozy Yoga | Yoga With Adriene
38 Minutes | All Levels | Beginner Friendly
15 Minute Morning Yoga | Wake up & Start EVERY DAY Perfectly | Boho Beautiful Yoga
16 minutes | All Levels | Beginner Friendly
Annamaya Kosha Yoga Nidra | Ally Boothroyd
38 Minutes | All Levels | Beginner Friendly
15 Minute Gentle Morning Vinyasa Flow With Mel Douglas of the Black Yoga Women’s Collective
15 Minutes | All Levels | Beginner Friendly
Awakening Joy Yoga Practice | Being Yoga
15 Minutes | All Levels | Beginner Friendly
Day 2: Dream : 10 Minute Morning Yoga Stretch | Yoga With Kassandra
11 Minutes | All Levels
Yoga Nidra For Gratitude | Ally Boothroyd
36 Minutes | All Levels | Beginner Friendly
I gave you a lot of classes to choose from this week! You might not find time for all of them. So, bookmark this issue and come back to it anytime you need a high quality class to plug into your personal practice.
I am so excited to spend the entire summer discovering the practices that you light up and call forth your favorite self.
See you next Sunday!