Valentine’s week is the perfect time to celebrate love in all its forms, including the love we show ourselves. For class this week, I encourage you to wear reds, pinks, or whatever makes you feel joyful and come move, breathe, and connect with our cozy community!

🧘‍♀️ Class This Week
✨ Thursday, 2/12 at 5:30 PM
📍 Fewell Park Recreation Center

💌 Bring a Friend
This is a great week to invite someone you care about to experience yoga. Share this class with a friend, partner, or family member and celebrate love together on the mat.

🌿 This Week’s Yogi Inspiration - Self-Love Through Practice

Self-love isn’t just bubble baths or affirmations. It is a practice of awareness, patience, and honoring yourself exactly as you are.

For over two years, I have been dealing with chronic low back pain. Yoga initially helped, but over time, my body had its own plans. Multiple attempts with professionals have shown me that sometimes the nerves just have nowhere to go but against one another and the pain remains. Some days are better than others.

Since the beginning of the year, I have dedicated myself not only to my yoga practice but also to strength training. Five weeks in, I see some progress, but the pain persists. I know this is the beginning of a long process of retraining my body in a new way, and my hope in writing this is to remind myself that this is my one and only body and to find love with it even in the midst of challenges.

Patience is not my forte, yet I am learning that self-love can look like:

• Pushing myself to my edge, gently testing limits to grow

• Pausing when my body says no, even if my mind says yes

• Saying "yes" and "no" intentionally, choosing what is right for the long run

Yoga philosophy teaches us this through the Niyamas:

• Svadhyaya (self-study): observing our bodies and minds honestly

• Saucha (purity and clarity): clearing unnecessary weight such as expectations, judgment, or comparison

I am lucky to have support. My husband helps me physically, goes to the gym with me, and shares this dedication. But ultimately, I am the one who knows my limits and must honor my body where it is that day, whether in the weight room or on the yoga mat.

This week, I ask you: How can you practice self-love in your life right now, honoring your limits, showing patience with yourself?

📸 Photo of the Week

SNEEK PEEK!!!

Thank you for being part of this community and for showing up with open hearts, for yourselves and for one another.

Hope to see you Thursday 💛

-Sarah