Rachel's Yoga Restoration

Introduction: My classes are modified Baptiste style power yoga classes. I often play music, although I will teach without music whenever asked, and students can request to bring their own music as well. Students should be prepared to feel challenged, but at the same time, be aware that I offer instruction to all levels, and I will crack a lot of jokes. I try not to take yoga too seriously; this is your free time after all -- enjoy it! At my first teacher training in 2006 with David Swenson, I was asked, "Why do you practice yoga?," to which I replied, "Joy." Who cares if you fall down? Who cares if you aren't flexible? Who cares if you didn't understand that Sanskrit word I used for a particular posture (most of the time I won't use Sanskrit anyway)? Who cares if you aren't perfectly aligned? Just enjoy the music (or silence) and the sensations of your body opening during your practice while following your breath. I don't hold perfection as a goal for my own yoga practice, and I hope my students learn not to expect perfection from their practice either, but instead learn to embrace and relish the process. I hope to teach others what I gained from yoga -- rediscovering the joy of simply being in your body, a joy universally experienced in childhood when we spontaneously did handstands on our front lawns or in the schoolyard. Yoga is my pathway to the simple and invaluable state of contentment and often ecstasy, in just being in my body.