Having attended a wide variety of yoga classes at a number of studios - I immediately found that yoga was wholeheartedly doing me good. From my cardiovascular health and fitness, to my increased flexibility, to learning to accept my life circumstances and lessen my internal resistance towards them. At some point however, I began to notice that my progress in class was plateauing. I was no longer becoming more flexible no matter how often I stretched and nor was I able to make further peace with my life circumstances no matter how much I lessened my resistance towards them. Things came to a halt.

Coincidentally enough, at roughly the same time, Penpa was stepping down from her position at a studio I attended. I asked Penpa why after class and she explained to me that she was looking to teach in a more personal, more genuine and more intimate manner/environment and was looking to take on a handful of pupils for personal practices outside of the studio. Fast forward the clock a few months and I was finally beginning to understand what yoga was really about. It wasn't about forcing my fingers to touch to my toes while sweating profusely and scrunching up my face - it was about relaxing my joints, closing my eyes and tilting gently forwards while remaining focused on the breath. At peace with the end results as my intent need only be in the doing, not in the achieving or the gaining. 

Yoga wasn't about rushing through positions in a class setting so as to keep up with the instructor or the many students surrounding me. It was about going at my own pace, even if that meant becoming out of sync with everybody else. Being in sync with Myself was much, much more important. Yoga wasn't about accepting my life circumstances because I cannot alter or change them. Because I can. It was instead about accepting Myself for who I was in that moment, moment to moment, all along. The circumstances are merely waves upon the surface of my being. Without discrediting classes or the classroom environment - It was only through gentle, subtle, intimate lessons with both Penpa and Brett that I became aware of such realizations and began changing my attitude not just towards yoga, but towards Myself.

Penpa and I have chosen not to practice traditional poses, sun salutations or cardiovascularly demanding practices. We have instead decided that the best course of action for my situation was to instead focus directly on my central nervous system and calm it down energetically from the inside-out at the beginning of most sessions. From there we circulate through a variety of different simple poses each week so as to continually reveal that my lack of flexibility and posture do not stem from the muscles or the joints themselves but from something much deeper. Something of which that I can only get in touch with through the steady and ongoing practice (both inside and outside of the studio) of broadening my internal awareness.  

So in conclusion for anyone out there whose looking for something beyond your typical classroom setting which runs through poses A-Z, for anyone seeking a more personal or intimate teacher, for anyone seeking a practice which will be constructed and designed specifically for you and your needs or maybe someone whose simply looking for a genuine teacher, one who holds compassion in their heart and who cares more about your progress and well being then payment. Then look no further. You've arrived.