Style: Yin
Teacher: Mark Laham
Studio: Rama Lotus

After a long day I'm feeling physically, mentally and emotionally drained. The Sun has set in the horizon and the stars are starting to pierce through the dark quilt of night one by one. I'm on the road heading toward Rama Lotus for some friendly reconfiguration. As soon as I find myself a piece of floor in the Earth room and settle in, the class is off to a start. Tonight we'll be focusing intensively on hips. After only a few seconds into the first pose I realize I have quite the challenge laid out before me. My body is tight and stiff, responding sluggishly like it's been in a deep freeze for a few hours. Tonight more than ever before I am aware of the emotional storage capabilities inherent in my connective tissues, especially in my hips. After a few short emotionally-charged days, I can blatantly see its effect on my body. It's the best example yet, and I find myself mentally scanning and studying my physical makeup in detail, learning just how much energy I harbour inside. I realize that more than anything, I need to be gentle with myself and respect the state I'm in. I take things slow, settling into positions only as far as I am able to, doing my best to hold back comparisons of where I was last week or how much deeper I was able to take the poses in the past. By the end of the class I feel a freeing sense of lightness, understanding more and more how much truth there is in the concept of Yoga as medicine. No prescriptions necessary.