Breath is life - literally. And when you’re more intentional with your breath, the benefits are endless. If you want to learn more about breathwork but you’d feel more comfortable being guided or practicing alongside others, check out our weekly classes here.

Think of this time as a New Year reboot over here in the Western Hemisphere. The last couple weeks may have felt like upheaval and like you’re just barely treading water, but that time is coming to a close. Reflect on what you learned from it all, and insights you’ve gained, and prepare yourself for some forward movement and action as we move further into 2023!

Yoga is an ancient practice and if you’re new to yoga, it can all seem a little intimidating … with the intricate postures, the seamless transitions, the fancy-sounding sanskrit names and terminology. Our humanness has a tendency to complicate things because we like to draw meaning and patterns to everything.

But yoga is actually pretty simple, and the postures can be too. Like with anything in life, first we need to develop the foundation to build upon before moving toward the next steps.

Yoga is a holistic system. This means that yoga focuses on all aspects of the self: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. While asanas and meditation are likely the most commonly known practices within yoga, there are so many more… and there’s probably some you wouldn’t have categorized as yoga but fall under the yogic umbrella.

When most people think of yoga, they think of the physical postures seen in every yoga class and all over social media. It’s not just physical flexibility that develops, but flexibility of the mind and within life itself. Yoga doesn’t just do its magic on the mat, but off the mat as well.

Another year is ending, another beginning. As we close out 2022, a 6 year (we’ll dive deeper into that soon), it’s a great time to reflect on the year 2022 for you personally. Whether you believe in New Year’s resolutions or not, it’s always beneficial to pause and examine what’s working, what’s not, and adapt before moving forward.

Winter Solstice, December 21, marks the shortest day and longest night of the year. It is a turning point in seasons, where we reach the darkest point before the days begin to get longer and the journey towards light begins again. Internally and externally we similarly go through these cycles of duality, of darkness and light. Some days are chaotic and messy and disorganized and it feels overwhelming and scary and never ending. But then there’s a turning point, a change in the mundane, in mindset, in skill, and everything feels like it flows better, easier.

If you’re familiar with yoga I’m sure you’ve heard of a dozen or so different types of yoga classes. Restorative. Yin. Vinyasa. Hatha… There are many. At first it can seem confusing to know which yoga class is right for you. But trust me, there’s beauty in having so many options!

We want to nurture this community, which is why we sent out a survey last month - to hear directly from you about what you love about Sol Luna, what you want more of, and what you want to experience at Sol Luna Yoga. Well, we heard you and we love all the feedback! To kick off 2023 we are implementing some of your requests, suggestions, and feedback into the studio.

Community and connection heal. What benefits the whole, benefits the individual. The phrase “it takes a village” couldn’t be truer. Community and connection heal because it reminds us that no one is alone in this life. We are all trying to navigate as best we can and no one is immune to needing help and support from time to time.

Scorpio season kicked off this year with an eclipse on the Scorpio-Taurus axis on October 26, accentuating the Scorpio energy that was already in the air. Following two weeks later was the Taurus eclipse on November 8. Eclipses typically occur in pairs every 6 months each year. And they usually fall on an axis of opposing signs. I.e., Taurus is directly across Scorpio in the zodiac and therefore they create an axis.

There is a reason we experience these cycles during this time of year, and there is a call for each of us to tap in and listen to our body’s wisdom and modify our routines or our approaches towards ourselves during this time. There are also holistic approaches that have been passed down from the ancient science of Ayurveda which can create ease and more enjoyment as you redefine what your body is needing and craving during this season.

This liminal space can be felt on many levels, sometimes in an obvious way, and other times in more subtle ways. During this time of year, as the leaves begin to fall, the world around us becomes bright with color, warm, yet crisp in the air, and there is this fleeting fragment of time that feels comforting and enveloping before the cold, bitter snaps of winter. Or, rather than feeling comforting and enveloping, a realization of the cold approaching has an opposite effect. The approach and outlook of this liminal space can vary and in turn, can alter the ease of such a transition.