Yoga Sanctuary

Courtney and Tracy and Laura are at it again!
Planning, plotting, and preparing with full hearts, big plans, and lots of notes... another year of Enhanced yoga studies and our 320-hour Holistic Yoga Teacher Training!

If you've completed your 200-hour certification, perhaps this is the year to deepen your practice and studies while stepping more empowered into your authentic self.

We have an upcoming info session if you'd like to learn more. Join us on Zoom September 15th. Or connect with us sooner and join Tracy or Courtney at a yoga class or by email. Visit YogaSanctuaryMpls.com/300-hour-yoga-training

As we approach the Anniversary of the devastating shooting that shook Annunciation and our communities, our hearts are with you. To those facing grief, fear, and memories held in the mind and body, you are not alone. If you are looking for a place to rest your heart and mind and be in community, we invite you here, and you are welcome here as you are.

We see you, educators. Thank you for being change-makers, hope-givers, and a steady presence of care in our communities. We honor you with the invitation to discounted classes- our Educator Pass is back! 9 classes for $90. Purchase yours at YogaSanctuaryMpls.com/class-pricing

We are always telling ourselves something.
We might not notice the narrative because it’s been there for so long. Or we might believe it so deeply that it just feels so obvious that we don’t realize we play a role in its repetition.

When we set intentions around heart-felt desire, it often feels like a lie at first. We say our intentions in the present tense, so that we can practice believing that this is true. And practicing to believe the impossible is the only way we notice when impossible things become true.

"Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said. 'One can't believe impossible things.' I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”

― Lewis Carroll from Alice in Wonderland

"Not everything you do has
to be self-improving.
you are not a machine
you are a person
without rest
your work can never be full
without play
your mind can never be nourished.

-Rupi Kaur, 'Balance'

Only a couple more weeks of OUTDOOR YOGA at Lake Harriet Rose Gardens before we are done for the season. Join us from 6-7pm Tuesday evenings with Krista for a class tailored for all that focuses on breath-body connection and holistic integration.

It's time to soak up the sounds, smells, and senses of late Summer! We would love to move with you!

Register and learn more at YogaSanctuaryMpls.com/class-schedule

Hi, I'm Dre! The new teacher for Tuesday night's calming yoga beginning August 25th!

As a teacher my goal is to help you navigate your own path toward balance, peace of mind and physical ease. I believe that every person deserves to feel strong and grounded in their own skin which is why I am deeply passionate about the human body and functional movement.

A fun fact about me is that I love to swim — it's honestly my favorite thing in life to do. I grew up in Minnesota, so the lakes have always felt like home.

When I'm not in the studio (or in the lake), you'll find me outdoors camping, hiking, or just hanging out in nature. I also love cooking, spending time in community with friends, traveling and picking up new hobbies.

I'm so excited to be a part of the Yoga Sanctuary community and hope to see more of you in the studio!"

Join us in welcoming Dre to the teaching team!

"Do your insides match your outsides?” My friend and fellow yoga teacher said this as we were walking last weekend.

I’ve been pondering it ever since...

..thinking about how impossible it is to match something ever-changing (but not fleeting) like our INSIDES and our OUTSIDES. And yet, from my experience, we have more ease when we are living aligned as best as we are able.

🫧✨ I think of our breath as the SPACE BETWEEN, like a bubble.

🫧✨A bubble breathes: it expands, contracts, holds a shape without a hard wall, and lets things pass through it (temperature, light, air pressure) even while holding its form.

🫧✨A ‘breath bubble’ with flexible edges can meet our insides and outsides like a Venn diagram - linking, uniting, bridging - as we wander inside and outside and try to make our way.

“Inside and outside her head, a billion, trillion stars, beyond count, circled and exploded, A million frogs croaked, trees fell in forests echoing down valleys; children cried. The flux of everything throbbed on and on. Songs were heard in spheres within spheres, electric, crackle, sharp. She heard nothing. How could she, when not once had she even heard the sound of her own breathing?” - Duane Michaels “inside and outside”

"When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason or argument; just understanding. If you understand, and show that you understand, you can love, and the situation will change." -Thich Nhat Hanh

LESSONS from the MAT (And the potter's wheel)
If you have used a potter’s wheel, you know there is the experience of spinning in balance - not that you have to stop everything in order to find peace, but that there is a special way of aligning so that as you spin you can can unfold into your life naturally (without the wonky clunk clunk that happens when the bowl suddenly becomes a wobbly mess - but even then at the wheel, you just start over, ground the clay back into a ball, re-center…)

Yoga talks about SUKHA - which translates as sweetness, literally means “good space” but also refers to the easy effortless spin of a perfectly aligned axle (a chunky spin on a wheel is called DUKHA, which also means suffering)

How might your experiences change when you cultivate spinal stability with an inner resource of centeredness?