One reason yoga is so popular in the U.S. is the two-fold benefits it offers. On the whole, Americans need to exercise more and yoga offers many physical benefits. Yoga builds strength which creates larger muscles that burn more energy and keep you lean. Yoga also helps develop a better sense of balance, increases flexibility, and resolves many issues with posture.

On the other hand, yoga provides emotional, mental, and energetic benefits that help reduce anxiety created in our fast-paced, and oftentimes high-stress lives. Interestingly, to achieve the utmost physical benefits from your practice, students should focus on the non-physical elements of yoga. Our culture encourages the “no pain, no gain” mentality where pushing yourself to the edge of your physical capacity is the best way to exercise. However, ignoring signals from your brain to stop or ease off a particular posture or movement can lead to injury.

By linking to the breath, a yoga student learns to stay present, mindfully noting the body’s response to different poses and intensities of practice. By carefully minding your body’s needs, you keep yourself safe and can practice more consistently with fewer needed breaks to address fatigue and injuries. Further, staying focused in the now pulls the mind away from the thoughts that can create stress and stress-related ailments like insomnia. –Michelle Laxton

The doors to our new studio opened on May 1, 2010 and we couldn’t be happier in our new home! In the eleven or so months that I’ve been working and practicing at Pilgrimage, I’ve seen so much change at the studio, but the heart and energy of our community has continued to be strong and bright.

We’ve had amazing teachers leave San Diego to travel, to study, and to have new life adventures. At the same time, we’ve welcomed new teachers who have amazed us with not only their teaching skills, but also their warmth, grace, and ability to connect deeply to yoga and their students.

We’ve been in a constant state of change working to keep the studio running as smoothly as possible for our community. We began offering a reservation system for classes (which we no longer need in our big new space!), placing mat markers on the studio floor, and re-arranging the Welcome Area to be the most spacious and offer the most seating possible.

Now with our new home, we have room to stretch wide. Both inside the studio room and in the lounge area, students, teachers, and staff are comfortable waiting for class to begin or relaxing after class has ended. There’s lots of room to sit and chat with friends or just close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.

Pilgrimage of the Heart began as a gift shop and organically morphed into a yoga studio in response to our community’s requests for more meditation and yoga. As we move forward in our new home, we will continue to listen to your suggestions and work to meet your needs and hopes. Thank you for all that you’ve shared with us and for being the driving force in our flourishing and open yoga community. –Michelle Laxton

My first year practicing yoga was filled with more than a few challenges. I felt inflexible in almost every posture and barely had the strength to make it through the flow classes I attended at my local gym. Still, I came to class twice each week and through sheer will and an intense competitive drive to keep up with the other students, I managed to get through all the poses and all the vinyasas.

I particularly remember my struggle with Triangle pose (trikonasana). My legs felt incredibly tight and I had a hard time balancing while gazing towards my top hand. Given that my focus at the time was simply keeping up with everyone in class, I saw my fellow yogis with their bottom fingers balanced on the earth and wanted to do the same. As my hand reached the floor, my hips closed and I lost the openness that characterizes Triangle.

Many moons later, I still feel the urge to bring my fingers towards the floor. While I see this one expression of the posture as being the goal, I know this attachment doesn’t serve my practice. If you experience a similar feeling in Triangle, here are a couple suggestions to be more mindful about your alignment and less concerned with dropping your hand to the earth:

- Practice your triangle at home against a wall. Feel both hips connect to the wall and feel an equal degree of broadness through your back and chest. As you begin to lower your fingers, make sure to maintain this expansiveness. From here, you can see where your fingers rest on your leg when in proper alignment. Remember this spot on your leg so that when you’re in class you can adjust your hand accordingly.

- Another option is to close your eyes while upright, before lowering into your triangle. Feel your hips and chest open and focus on that openness as you lower your fingers. The moment you feel your hips start to close, lift your fingers higher until you regain that openness.

Only when expectations are released can you achieve the full benefit of the pose, physically, mentally, and spiritually.

–Michelle Laxton

For many of us, social interactions bring to rise a degree of insecurity about how we’re perceived. At a party, you might meet someone new and worry, Does he think I’m too tall? Or too heavy? You might lead a meeting at work and question how you presented yourself, Does she think I’m good at what I do? Or that I’m not very intelligent? As these self-doubts arise, we might respond by feeling anxious and defensive, and might even begin to judge the person we seeking to connect with.

If you sometimes find yourself with these worries and subsequent judgements, consider approaching social situations mindfully. Consider that your thoughts create your emotions, and your emotions inform your behaviors. By keeping your thoughts positive, you’ll find your criticisms and insecurities subside while treating yourself and others more kindly. –Michelle Laxton

When I first began my yoga teacher training, I was over the moon about yoga. I was thrilled with all the new things I was learning, my developing physical practice, and my new community of yogi friends. I wanted to tell anyone and everyone I knew about how amazingly life-changing a yoga practice can be.

However, the lead instructor in my training suggested that we not proselytize yoga, but instead wait to field questions from those persons who might be interested. He said that a person who is ready to make a change in his or her life will see the light and happiness in our hearts and approach us to inquire about that special spark.

Years later, I work and practice at Pilgrimage. Everyday I notice and smile at all the beautiful sparks around me. I am one of those lucky people who truly enjoys coming to work. The teachers spark, the students spark, and the staff sparks. Coming into the studio, it’s impossible not to absorb this light and feel more loved, more light. Students will often mention to me that Pilgrimage feels very “right” to them, as if they’d been brought here at just the right time in their lives.

I would have to agree as I feel the same way. Observing a busy Thursday night at the studio with students chatting after class and teachers welcoming new faces, I can be fairly certain that these sparks are contagious. –Michelle Laxton

When I first started to commit more fully to my yoga practice, I was enamored by challenging Vinyasa-style classes. I couldn’t imagine staying in a single posture for 5 plus minutes while exerting absolutely no physical energy.

At this point in my yoga life, I consider gentle and restorative yoga classes to be extra sweet treats I give myself as often as possible. I think Meredith May, a staff writer at the San Francisco Chronicle described restorative yoga beautifully when she said:

“The point is not to stretch but to relax, turn inward and stop thinking. Practitioners use props such as blocks, bolsters, pillows and blankets to build forts they can lean or lie on. Falling asleep is allowed.”

The American lifestyle rarely includes time for relaxation, which is something that offers incredible mental, physical, and emotional benefits. I understand that for many finding time to exercise is challenging enough, let alone time to relax and decompress. If that’s your situation right now, perhaps you might consider committing to just one mellow class per month. While it might not seem like a lot, this class might become something that you look forward to and something that helps reduce your headaches or ease your back pain.

For more information on restorative yoga, check out the article from the San Francisco Chronicle mentioned above by clicking on the link below. –Michelle Laxton

(http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/18/DDDE1BDCLK.DTL)

The physical challenge of my yoga practice keeps me present. When my muscles are firing off and I’m working hard to balance or find a new degree of flexibility, my mind becomes more focused and the stresses of my day are nowhere to be found. While some yogis feel arms balances like side crow, and full inversions like handstand, take them out of their peaceful space, I find that they offer me a rarely achieved sense of grounding.

If you haven’t yet tried these advanced postures and believe that you have a mind best quieted through physical challenge, you may want to try a Hatha II or Vinyasa Flow II class. In these classes, your instructor will teach you, step-by-step, how to work into asanas like headstand and crow pose. While these poses might appear suitable only for gymnasts and Cirque du Soleil performers, they really just require a little bit of strength and a good bit of courage. If you put trust in yourself and in your teacher, and release your expectations, these poses are incredibly achievable.

The comments I love hearing most from students are: “I can’t believe I did that!”; and “That was the first time I was able to balance in X pose!” Yoga can offer us more peaceful minds and at the same time, it can provide us newfound confidence and a child-like playfulness. Balancing on your hands, flipping upside down, and even tumbling to the ground can be a whole lot of fun. — Michelle Laxton

Quickly the holidays arrived and quickly they flew by. We’ve entered into a new year and with this fresh start we’re offered an opportunity to consider our current lives and set intentions for the future.

Each year I set the same intention: to breath deeply. It’s something I don’t do enough and something that is tremendously beneficial to my health. Every time I turn on my cell phone, I see my opening message, “Breath deeply”, and I do just that. When I wake up in the morning and brush my teeth, I read “Breath deeply” on a note posted on my bathroom mirror and I do just that. As I see it, I take an absolute minimum of four deep breaths each day thanks to my intention and feel much better for it.

I am particularly fond of this intention because there is no option to fail. I succeed constantly by reading these little reminders and taking big belly breaths. My intention makes me feel good and is 100% positive. If you don’t have an intention this year maybe you’d like to take a few extra deep breaths each day or a few extra smiles. You’re success is guaranteed. –Michelle Laxton

Some yogis study ancient texts. Some chant mantras. Some meditate. Like many, I enjoy a variety of yogic practices, but my passion lies in asana, the physical practice of postures. I’ve learned that through asana, I am able to develop not only a strong body, but also a strong mind.

A beaming example of inner and outer strength achieved through asana is the world-renowned yoga instructor, Ana Forrest. Ana has battled many challenges throughout her life including a physical handicap at birth, physical abuse, drug addiction, epilepsy, and bulimia. Today she is a strong woman and a beautiful yogini.

If you’re feeling weak in your body or your mind and looking for an inspirational boost, check out Ana’s yoga demonstration at the Yoga Journal conference a couple years back. –Michelle Laxton

Ana Forrest – Yoga Demonstration

While an exciting time of the year, the holiday season also tends to be a very busy one. We sometimes attend several gatherings in a single day. Holiday shopping can be time-consuming and stressful. Each day seems to pass by at a rapid pace and it’s no wonder you might find yourself feeling exhausted every evening.

It’s easy during the holidays to shelve your yoga practice for a few weeks in order to make space for the new influx of commitments. However, a break in your practice during a period of stress can do more harm than good. Time on your mat is time for you. You can release the thoughts and energy that burden your mind, body, and heart, making space for the part of you that you want to share most this time of year: the joy, love, and kindness that reside within. Next time you find yourself making plans for the day and crossing yoga class off your “to do” list, take a moment to consider what will best serve you, your family, and your friends. –Michelle Laxton