The Joy of Winter Yoga

in photography •  6 years ago 

Kurma Wheel Prayer Lunge.jpg

Winter is a glorious time to enjoy nature, and to explore everyday activities in diverse ways.

My partner built me a 'sound stage' from which to create yoga videos embedded in our woods. It is a lovely place to practice, but I had only previously made use of it during the summer months. Somehow I missed the singular joy of practicing out doors in the winter months. There is an entirely different light, different ambiance that is created under the hush that befalls a thick carpet of snow.

The air is crisp and the birds punctuate that feeling of everything being pulled taut with their sweet, haunting songs. The bushes are filled with tiny buds, seemingly well ahead of spring, but their presence offers the hope and promise of warming weather and the fertility associated with spring. New life.

Winter is a liminal land of ice and snow, where we take our cues from the animal kingdom and hibernate. We consciously create cozy environments (Hygge) to support comfort.

I was surprised and delighted to learn that the cooler outdoor air isn't something to 'suffer', but rather wrapped me in a blanket of increased sensations of being alive and alert and attuned.

Try something different to shake you out the rut of winter. Embrace the shifts in light, energy and environment. Explore how you relate to space, time and weight differently. Take your mat outdoors (they are cleanable!) and try yoga out doors in the midst of winter. You never know, you may love it!

Photo Credit: Byron Foli, my beloved partner and yoga platform builder

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Very cool! Haven't thought about outdoor winter yoga before. I always find the cool air refreshing.

Looking forward to seeing some of your yoga videos! I know I've been hoping for some yoga-practice videos to be posted to dTube for quite some time now.

We've resteemed this to the front page of EXHAUST! Thanks for sharing!

Dear @mstafford WOW! Thank you so very much. You've introduced me to Exhaust... I didn't even know it existed. And thank you so much for the encouragement to create content for DTube, another application that I'm just getting familiar with. I am ON IT! Thank you again so much.

Any time! (I'm @mstafford, and I'm the slow person behind the scenes of the EXHAUST website). Most people around are super helpful -- so feel free to ask questions if you have any. The way that STEEM functions can be pretty confusing when you're just learning about everything. If you have some questions about how best to leverage dTube -- you might want to give @ninjavideo a shout. He'd probably be very willing to show you the ropes).

Didn't realize until now that you're just over in Vancouver. I happen to be in Victoria, and pop over to Vancouver semi-frequently. Glad that apparently SOMEONE is enjoying the snow ;)

Oh my! Can we put having tea on our bucket lists? Gotta happen living this close!

It sounds delicious :)

Yes, winter freshness adds a whole another dimension to the exercise of any kind. I am looking forward to your winter outdoors yoga videos too.

Thank you so much! I'm just getting started on production, and the task of getting to know new platforms like D-Tube. I so appreciate the warm welcome I've received here, as I learn how to navigate, negotiate and interact with these incredible cyber communities.

Excellent. Take your time to learn. It can be quite a task. Both video production and these platforms 😉

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Um, oh, mama! I was very naive the first few days... quickly running into sticky places today! Thank you for your encouragement. So helpful and supportive.

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