Yoga has changed my life.

A text from a close friend,

“Hey, is there any way you would want to come to a yoga class tomorrow afternoon? Let me know!”

I hesitated to say yes, but I decided to just go with it. Who knows? Maybe I would like it?

I walk into the studio, and my feet feel the warm, heated floors of the space in which I have learned to love so dearly throughout the past few years.

I lay my mat on the ground, and set up my space surrounding my mat. The teacher begins to play music as each student gradually enters and settles into the studio. I lay down and begin to breathe slowly and deeply, with intention for how the rest of the class will play out. I feel more calm than ever before.

The class begins, and the teacher guides each student through the start of the practice. With slow motions and soft music, I basque in the serenity and tranquility that overcomes me.

Breathe in, breathe out.

* * *

Fast forward to this summer, where I spent an entire week in Cape Cod with one of my very best friends and her family, whose mom just so happens to be a yoga teacher. Each day, we woke up and went to a yoga class at a local studio where I met some amazing yoga students and felt so welcomed despite the fact that I had never been there before. We came home, and practiced random yoga poses as we got a start to our day on the calm waters of Bucks Pond.

I will not soon forget the way that I felt when I practiced yoga in the comforts of our lake house in the Cape, or walked into “Cape Cod Vinyasa”, the small and joyful community that was formed through the yoga studio in Harwich, MA. The first day that I stepped into the studio, I felt the same way that I felt the first time I came into my studio here in Cleveland. Loved. Supported. Celebrated.

It was amazing, beautiful, and I was ever so grateful to have had this experience. After this week of yoga, practice, and meditation, I had one major takeaway that I will hold onto dearly,

“Yoga is universal. A universal community, a community that respects one another and acknowledges each person’s value.”

* * *

Yoga has done miracles for me. It has the power to release any of my stresses, worries, and responsibilities. It has the power to clear my mind, body, and soul, and I am forever appreciative. I feel like there is always a community to fall back on no matter my situation. I could be in my own city of Cleveland, or completely across the country, and I know for a fact that there is a community I can belong to.

Yoga has changed my life.