Come Together

As Thanksgiving weekend draws to a close, and everyone in the house is recouperating from a nasty alien illness, I'm tired. It's hard to keep up with this-ing and that-ing at this time of year, but always really. Fragmentation is kind of tiring. This version of me doing one thing, while another version thinks about -- or worse -- worries about another. It's a very real concern in a time when we are impatient waiting for a text reply. (Remember how slow things were before text, email, fax -- or dare I say it? - before answering machines?) You have to really consciously go off the grid for that kind tempo these days. Herein lies the yoga for me. Something to stay with, to keep me staying with all the other stuff I have to be/do. Yoga forces me to be with the breath. When you think about it, it's no wonder when I get tired, then sick, that it's my breath that struggles: congestion, cough, wheeze. In fact, one of my teachers, Gabriel Halperin was talking about the importance of pranayama the other day during practice. The breath helps us come back to ourselves, uncovering the essence of yoga that resides within us, and through it we feel more whole -- whatever that means in any given moment, practice, day, week, year, lifetime. So as I breathe new life into this space, I'm also bringing it together with my new-this-fall website www.elizabethgalloyoga.com. My yoga, my writing, my life are all one thing when I get right down to it, so why be fragmented? Join me here, there or anywhere!

My yoga room and all is coming

It's so close I can feel it! Walls painted. Storage solutions pending. I just need a little space with not too much clutter. A place to put my books. Light streaming in the windows, especially on these wintry days. A big pile of blankets, bolsters and straps. A few (really good) mats. An elephant or two. And that's it. How will this space change my practice? I don't know yet, but I'm mostly hoping it makes more practice -- more practice to find more of my yoga, my me, teaching more privates to help others find their yogas. Pictures soon, I promise. What about you? Where do you practice at home?