My love affair with yoga started about 13 years ago. At the time I was fiercely committed to cardio workouts and weight lifting—I loved spinningclasses, boxing classes (in an actual ring), indoor rock climbing, and boot camp. My mother, who thought I needed to slow down a bit, wanted me to try yoga, which she’d been practicing since the 1970s. Since “mom always knows best,” I decided to give it a try, gradually weaning myself off of my gym classes and weight lifting until yoga became my exclusive exercise routine. I’ve never looked back.
“Yoga is a union within ourselves and then with ourselves [and] the world around us. It is the joining of the breath, body, and mind,” says Ashley Dorr, who teaches at the Shala, a Manhattan yoga studio that I frequent. Personally, I started yoga to try a different type of exercise. I wasn’t really thinking about the mind, breath, and body connection. But as the years have passed, I have found this connection fascinating. During my practice, I think less about my busy schedule and more about what my body is capable of doing.
With so many different types of yoga available today, choosing a practice can be overwhelming, says Chrissy Carter, senior teacher at YogaWorks in Manhattan. “You need to know what you’re getting yourself into because not all styles are for everyone,” Carter says. “I know a lot of people who love to sweat but walked into a calm, meditative class and left saying, ‘I don’t like yoga, it’s too slow for my taste,’ to which I respond, ‘You went to the wrong class.'”
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