Dream Yoga’s Home Page says, “Come Home!”
This is because…many folks through the years have said that coming to Dream Yoga Studio is like “coming home.” The Studio is very comfortable and friendly…and students say they feel it's a “home away from home.” But our Studio—like yoga itself—can also be a “respite” from many of the concerns and responsibilities that can await us at home or work. Little respites reduce stress, and help us approach life with a clear mind and a more open heart.
There’s another way to look at “coming home.” The practice of yoga can be similar to the experience of traveling. In the poem to the right, Kripalu poet Danna Faulds describes yoga as “a journey and a coming home.” Just like geographic travel, the biophysical and emotional travel of a yogic path pushes us to experience every unknown sensation, so that we can find our center.
Why do we bother to try to stand on one foot or twist ourselves into a pretzel? Besides some physical benefits, we are learning to observe ourselves through the journey of sensations. Every day and every pose are completely new and different, as our minds and bodies are changing constantly. As yogis, we try to experience every possible combination of sensations, and then we learn to identify the one and only thing that stays constant throughout every single asana and meditation: our true self. We come home to who we truly are.
May you have the joy, comfort and excitement of “coming home”… again and again! We at Dream feel blessed to be a part of your journey.
Namaste,
Luann
Director, Dream Yoga Studio
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Are You at Home with Yourself?
Some Tips for Practice
By Luann Fulbright, MA, 500-KYT & RYT
When we’re at home with ourselves, we’re fully embodied. We feel grounded, well, peaceful and self-accepting. We’re less likely to worry. We’re not overly concerned about what anybody else thinks or says that isn’t loving, kind or helpful.
Yoga, meditation, prayer and other contemplative practices can help us be more at home. Whatever you do—it could be gardening or playing music—you know you’re doing something good for you…if it helps you feel at home. Grandmaster John Kells of the British Tai Chi Chuan Association says, “If there isn’t a feeling of coming home and finding a lively peace within, then you are missing the point.”
To come “home” to yourself, first be aware of your foundation. Feel your “home base”—your seat on your chair or cushion, or your feet on the floor. Then bring your attention to your breath at the tip of your nostrils. Follow your breath inside and become aware of your heartbeat and your body’s sensations. Then simply relax and BE. Can you give yourself permission to simply be at home for awhile…and not have to DO (or over-do) anything for a few moments or longer?
While you’re home, you can check out how it feels to be there. Be aware of openness. Tightness. Aches and pains. Level of energy. Heat. Cold. Tingles. The nature of your mind and emotions. Your sense of aliveness…or deadness.
Fully embody what’s real for you, so you can know your truth in this moment. After that, you can decide if you need to take better care of your home. On the yoga mat and off, this means not pushing, forcing or doing things that harm your structure and destroy your peace in body or mind. It also means cleaning house--having discipline and working hard enough to get rid of tensions, toxins or other harmful elements.
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Coming Home to How It Is
By Stephen Cope
Psychotherapist Stephen Cope is a senior Kripalu Yoga teacher, author and Director of Kripalu’s Institute for Extraordinary Living. In this article, he investigates how and why practices like yoga and meditation create a sense of well-being and ease.
Recently, I was talking on the phone with my friend Sandy, who had just gone through an unexpected relationship meltdown. Her partner, Tim, she said, had suddenly developed "intimacy issues" and had fled the relationship "like a rat off a sinking ship."
For an hour or so, we talked about the difficulties of her situation. She expressed her sense of disorientation and sadness. Toward the end, she said something interesting: "Thank God I have my yoga practice." I could feel the gratitude in her voice. "It’s a little island of sanity. Like coming home. That hour between 7:00 and 8:00 a.m. has become the most important hour of my day."
Musing over our conversation later, I thought I really know what she means. Coming home. That’s my experience precisely. I go to my yoga mat almost every afternoon around 4:00. I look forward to it, and most days I find it remarkably soothing. As I go through my little rituals of preparation—rolling out the mat, tidying up the yoga space, perhaps putting on some quiet music—my body begins to relax. Even my mind begins to relax. And this happens before I’ve done a single posture.
Almost everyone I know who has a regular yoga practice experiences some version of this feeling. But how does it work? How, exactly, does yoga cultivate this sense of well-being—one so profound that it can antidote even Sandy’s current emotional devastation? …
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