The Truth Is… We Are All Hairy and Weird to Someone

Welcome to our space, where we will share with you the hilarious to the mundane, the spiritual to the ordinary, we will share our best selves to our day-to-day humanity. Our stories and take on life is informed through our yoga practice; taking traditional teachings and making them relevant to our modern day lives.

We are an unlikely duo. Like sisters, we are years apart in age. Shauna is confident, extroverted, loud, and she thinks she is very funny. Chelsea is introspective, sweet, calm, and matter-of-fact. Two very different life experiences with greatly different personalities sharing our views on topics from; lifestyle to relationships, health and the body, happiness, pain, drama and everything in-between. Not much is off topic - yoga is a way of life reaching into every aspect of our existence.

From doctors to teachers and plumbers, to performance athletes and soccer moms (even their kids!), many every-day folk in Kelowna are embracing the benefits of yoga. They are finding it a great way to stay fit and healthy, de-stress, connect to deeper sense of well-being and become a better human being. So here we are, Shauna Nyrose and Chelsea Ray, a couple of good-natured Kelowna yoga teachers offering a unique way of making sense of the world.

First thing's first, what is yoga?

As an ancient tradition that only recently exploded in popularity in the west, of course, there is a lot of curiosity and many misconceptions about what yoga really is. Despite what it might look like on Instagram, yoga is not just contorting your body into a pretzel in skin tight clothing, although it can be. It is also about;

Yoga has for us been a way to unite many aspects of ourselves, drop many of the stories that had held us back, and best of all silenced that monkey mind.

So, let’s kick this off with a little myth-debunking and give you lots of reasons to consider how yoga could benefit your life.

1. Yoga is only for young, fit, girls. Sigh. Yeah, we know, social media is totally NOT doing us any favors on this one - and yeah we know you’re looking at our bio pic right now with a raised eyebrow and a half-cocked ‘yeah-right’ smirk. Still, in all seriousness the truth is yoga is for Every Body. We see students of all shapes, sizes and life stages. We have several students in their seventies and even eighties still rocking arm balances, with more grace and less ego that we could only hope for. Chelsea’s finance Rene and lots of other guys are becoming a welcome fixture in classes all over the city. Yoga is for little people, big people; black, purple, brown and red people. If you are a human being that wants to feel better in your body, heart and mind, then yoga is for you. So, we will see you in class.
   
2. I am not flexible: Oh my goodness if we had a dollar! What most people don’t realize is that the asana (postures) are just one part of yoga. It’s so much more than just stretching your hamstrings (although we do that too). If you can breathe, you can do yoga. Consider that flexibility is really more a state of mind - that it is a more important practice then touching your toes.
3. I heard there’s a lot of farting, hairy and weird people. Ok, and we know this be a shock to some of you, but people fart. A lot. Especially boys. It happens at the office, it happens at home, it happens at the grocery store, and yes, it happens in yoga. Same story with the hairy, weird people. After a while, you stop seeing people as different and just focus on opening your hip flexors, cause it feels so darn good. The truth is, we are all hairy and weird to someone. Don’t let that (or a fart) stand in the way of your true bliss.
   
4. I don’t have time, life is just so busy. It’s true. Life is busy. We live in a cultural reality that wears ‘busy’ like an accomplishment. One of the great things that yoga teaches is that busy is also a state of mind… One that is actually utterly exhausting and totally not sustainable. We often ask our students to leave their backpack of ‘busy’ at the door and when they step on the mat, they are free of busy. It is the time to reconnect to the most important person in your life. And it sounds like you could use a break.

Yoga is actually a way of living, with the intention of being more present in your life. To be awake and conscious, bringing all aspects of yourself into view - the good, the bad and the ugly. We do this in an effort to be better humans; better mothers and fathers, sons, daughters, friends, sisters, athletes, professionals and so on. Happier. Clearer. At peace.

Want some advice on that? Email us your questions about life, health, relationships and being human. We will meet you here every other week, and save you a spot on our world class yoga retreats right here in your back yard.

Check out the details www.OkanaganYogaRetreats.com

And be sure to check back in two weeks - next up, the debate that’s rocking the yoga community to its core…

Love,

The Yoga Sisters