Salute to Our Early Adopters!

Six years ago in the summer of 2014, students from our Garden Yoga group asked for deeper learning, and our semi-private group was born.

One of the best ways to advance our practice is by using props. Typically, yoga studios provide these tools—blocks, blankets, straps, bolsters, and wedges. Since we were not a traditional brick & mortar studio, it’d be tricky for me to lug them all over town. A favourite teacher of mine once carried props to his corporate classes at a prominent SoCal company, and he said, “I felt like a homeless man. It was so undignifying. But what else could I do?”

Yoga gets us dialoguing. We state our preferences. We listen…to ourselves and to one another. So just as I was thinking about how to make this happen, one student piped up: “I want my own props. I want to take them home and practice with them during the week. And I want to clean them myself. I don’t mind taking them around.”

Done!

Over the years, when new people considered joining semi-private classes, they thought this was strange and cumbersome. They were right; it’s a lot to schlep around. It was a deal breaker for them.

And to do yoga outdoors?

Fast forward to March 2020, when the pandemic necessitated social distancing. Yoga studios were among the first to close. People scrambled to adapt. Moving their practice online, students had none of the props.

With re-opening, studios scrambled again to provide props for students. Re-opening shut down. All of a sudden, people are working out outdoors—Garden Yoga is no longer weird. Now re-re-opening is in the offing. So many changes, so much unpredictability!

Our semi-private pupils? Unfazed! They carried on effortlessly! They are early adopters of a trend only just now germinating.

When we practice yoga consistently, besides being comfortable living in our bodies, we innovate!

Welcome to creative problem-solving! Hats off to our Early Adopters!

I was given permission to name some of our Early Adopters: Olive, Rufus, Mila, Annie, Duke, Jim, Gracie, and Rosie! If you were an Early Adopter, and your name isn’t here, please tell us in the comment section!