Why I Practise Yoga

I love connecting, spending time and socializing with people. Unfortunately, many social interactions end up with a hangover the next day.

I love body movement practises, and I am practising yoga from teenage years. At the time when I discovered Partner Yoga, I was living with my boyfriend. He was into body movement practises as well, and the discovery of Partner Yoga slowly became such a precious practise for us to connect, and play together on a weekly bases. The fascination of the journey from Partner Yoga into a more acrobatic Partner Yoga sequences gave us a rich mix of experience of connection, accomplishment, and fun quality time together. Slowly, and steadily, I jammed Partner Yoga with my friends wherever I could, in any social gatherings, from birthday to house warming parties.

In general, I feel that majority of problems we experience personally and globally come from the lack of connection, a sense of belonging, and the lack of movement. We as modern women and men emphasize self-esteem via individualism and ‘specialness’ so much that we have built walls around ourselves in comparison with others. We sit in chairs all day, lacking time for a good stretch, exercise and a warm hug. Human touch is so important for all ages, and by the time we reach our teen years, we generally receive only half as much touching as we do in the early part of our lives. As adults, because of societal inhibitions, we touch each other even less. Our inner world becomes quite a lonely place in the achy and rigid body.

There is plenty of research about the body and mind connection where a healthy body is being reflected in a healthy mind and vice versa. Human touch and the sense of belonging have also been proven to be such important factors to our emotional and physical health, regardless of our age.

So all of these ‘ingredients’ of Partner Yoga have inspired me to teach it to people of all ages and abilities. The smiles of people when they participate in Partner Yoga class and seeing people connect to their wonder of life, and even finding new friends… all of this never stops inspiring me.

What is your story of belonging and connection?

I would love to hear this!

Big Love
Ieva