Before Bella Prana moved in down the street from my house, my yoga practice was, in one word, inconsistent. I was always a gym rat, so yoga for me was more about the stretching and relaxing. I never stuck with a certain class and always seemed to be very bored half way through. I was also a little apprehensive to go to studios and classes that had more of a religious feel to them. Being a Christian, I was concerned my ohm-ing and chanting would tick off the Big Guy upstairs. Bella Prana opened when I was pregnant with my now 2 year old son and I’ve got to say, it was love at first down-dog!
I choose to practice at Bella Prana for many reasons. The teachers are all amazing, every teacher brings something totally different to the table and I learn so much from each of them. It’s a total body work out and I’ve never been so content with my body; which is amazing because I do so much less than I used to. There’s also a family feel at the studio. I know the other students, I know what they do for a living, and what they like to do on the the weekends. It was never like that at the gym when I got on a treadmill with my headphones on and didn’t look up from my magazine.
One of the most important things I get out of practicing at Bella Prana is it keeps me humble. This is the first studio I’ve been to where it’s not about mastering yoga or knowing what pose comes next in the sequence. It’s about, ok, you can do that pose well, now try this… to which I spend the next 4 months falling on my face again. I also leave wanting to be a better person. I want to spread the peace to my family that I gain when I’m on my mat, use the patience I learn to be nice to the person that cut my off, breathe deeply when I’m stressed, and to be grateful that I’m able to make it to a yoga class, pay for yoga, and stretch my body like it’s never stretched before. I don’t know where I’d be without Bella Prana, well perhaps I do, I’d still be on the treadmill at the gym reading a magazine!