calling all yogis!

I’d love to follow and get to know all of you! But I can’t do that yet because I don’t know who’s out there. Like/reblog this post and let me know if you’re willing to make a new friend today :) I’d be glad to follow you. 

Poor yogi problems

darth vader was the first yogini

As yogis, you all know that our breathing during practice must be very, very deep. After all, yoga is about uniting your breath with your movement. I’ve heard instructors say that a room full of yogis in the studio should sound like the waves of an ocean. 

But my instructor? He says we all should sound like mini Darth Vaders. And he says this, without fail, during every single class: “I want you all to sound like Darth Vaders! Remember how he sounded when he breathed out, ‘Luke, I am your father!’” 

My instructor is perhaps anything but conventional. He compares his students to the most evil space villain of all time and can barely tell his right from his left and vice versa. He cracks the same jokes every class. Not to mention he steals the receptionist’s Manduka because he doesn’t have one of his own yet and he loves the way it feels under his feet. He’s a hilarious man. And his breathing definitely sounds much more like something Darth Vader would be proud of. In comparison, I sound like, at best, the sound you get when you sit on one of those prank fart bags. But I’m getting there.

I’m a beginner to yoga. I’ve only been doing it regularly for a couple of months and this instructor is my first out of what I’m sure will be many. But I think I’ll remember him well. I think we all remember our first instructors the most because they were the ones that were there for us when we were all baby Darth Vaders. They guided us gently into this new lifestyle with a ready smile and a heartfelt, “Namaste.” They were the ones that gave us our Darth Vader masks; that taught us the importance of our breath. 

My instructor always says, “Give up the illusion of control and remember the one thing you really can control. Your breath.” 

So although everybody’s tripped up on inversions and balancing poses and all handstands and whatnot, I suppose we all need to remember that focusing on your breath, focusing on your inner Darth Vader, is always important. And if you don’t have that, your practice will be one hot mess. Because if you don’t have control over your breath…what do you have control over?

Who knew Darth Vader was so zen?