Yoga is an embodiment practice. Like an ideal holiday gathering, feeling safe in class is a prerequisite for having a good time. Yoga teaches us how to connect with the moment and feel our experiences more fully as they happen in the present without judgment or expectation.

This year, what if we lean into exactly how we feel during the holidays and enjoy what the journey reveals to us along the way?

Throughout the year we practice yoga to feel freer. That ease is the counterpoint to the stresses that we encounter off the mat. We practice because it feels good and brings us closer to our true selves. Our instructors cue us, but ultimately, we make decisions in asanas that are right for us. We evaluate our need for stability or challenge at each moment. We become temporarily...

Tina Turner’s We Don’t Need Another Hero was written in 1985 – almost four decades ago – and it could very well be the most appropriate song for our post-pandemic yoga playlists. In it, she sang, “Love and compassion, their day is coming.” As more COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and we relax from the constriction of living in forms of survival mode for more than a year, let’s ask ourselves how our yoga practice can help us celebrate love and compassion today?

It’s been a long season of life during a global pandemic, and it feels like the tides are starting to turn. Things are opening up and there is a new rush of energy ready to be released. It’s like we’ve been in a really long reclined hero/fixed firm pose and are now letting the synovial fluid rush back through our...

What do you have on your mind when you sign up for a yoga class? Is it to relax? Stretch? Get stronger? See friends? While our personal impetus for going to a yoga class is often egocentric and self-care driven, the practice makes us better, more functional people in the outside world too. When we have met our needs for self-care, service, and self-love, we are able to share that care, service, and love with others.

Radiating kindness is not just a lofty aspiration for more zen-like people. A consistent yoga practice can help us get to know the best version of ourselves. We are all capable of embodying the virtues we admire. Yoga gives us that path to mindfulness. Having said that, some days we walk into the studio and just don’t feel great. In those times, it’s important to show...

We are lucky to have technology that enables us to take live-at-home yoga classes. As we transition our practice from in-person at the studio to Facebook Live and other live streaming platforms, we may be wondering whether this new format of class will be as good.

Here are three unexpected benefits to doing a live-at-home yoga class:

• Live streaming class at home means we have to establish a space to practice.

This involves a little preparation on our parts mentally and physically. In addition to clearing a physical area, we also require respect from others. Dogs, kids, partners, roommates, calls and texts all are paused while we are in class. Unlike going to the studio and being out of the house, this might mean creating a tangible example...

NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS AND YOGA

January is a popular time to make resolutions about health such as losing weight, getting more physically fit, and eating better. Gym and studio memberships spike, athletic apparel companies see increased sales, and our social media feeds are flooded with content about starting fresh.

Although the idea of a blank slate is filled with potential, let’s pause here and ask ourselves, do we just throw out everything we did last year?

Didn’t we learn important lessons that contribute to our growth in our personal and professional lives?

Don’t we want to build on those lessons for continued betterment and evolution?

BECOMING “GOOD” AT YOGA

Resolutions are usually about trying to improve, but...

The flow state.

Yoga is an opportunity to set our intention to have a graceful practice. Being graceful in yoga may equate to feeling ease in the body and mind. It may also be expressed as the unity that yoga helps us establish connecting ourselves with our collective community.

Grace is an expression of ease. Ease does not mean easy. Grace in yoga is given space to grow when we focus on flow.

When we come to our mats, we draw our attention to the flow of our breath. As we move through our asana practice, we become attuned to our inhales and exhales. In. Out. Ease. Flow.

Sun salutations warm our bodies through stretching, folding, breathing, and engaging our muscles. We mindfully link our breath to each movement. We may set an intention at the start of class that we begin to explore...

The heart symbolizes love, but what exactly is an open heart? In honor of Valentine’s Day, let’s take a look at the yogic practice of “heart opening,” and how incorporating heart openers into our practice can lead to pure love and a blissful state.

At Collective Yoga, we celebrate diversity. Our instructors do not strive to make everyone look the same in any pose. Instead, we encourage everyone to find their own variation – their own “shape” – of each pose while still practicing safely.

In our studio, it is common to see our teachers practicing alongside our members. Why is this? Because we truly love our space, the vibe, the friendships, and our community, as well as the creativity and freedom that we experience in our individual practices.

If you suffer from anxiety, you should know that you aren’t alone. In fact, there are over 40 million others in the United States who suffer from anxiety, putting you in a lot of good company. While the stigma of anxiety disorders and mental illness is starting to fall away, there are still a lot of people who are reluctant to get help. According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, only a little over a third of the people who suffer from anxiety get treatment for it.

If you are looking for a healthy way to deal with feelings of anxiety, yoga classes can be a safe and supportive environment that may help. Our Virginia Beach classes welcome everyone,...