My name is Rachel London-Wallace. I’m a 23-year old student and I like sports, reading, writing, and engaging with media in a critical and also pleasurable way.
I started practising yoga at the Studio a long time ago, so I don’t entirely remember how I began. I think it was in part because my family and I are close friends with Tama and wanted to support her business. Also, my parents were going, so I thought, why not?
The way I think about yoga is this: yoga is to my body what therapy is to my mind. It’s like a check-in. Legs, how’re you doing? Oh, a little tight? Okay, I’ll try to stretch you out this week. Back, you good? A little hyper-flexed? Let’s dial that back. Yoga is such a delight when I can get myself to the Studio. It helps me slow down my brain by focusing on helping my body feel good.
Yoga affects my day to day life in a number of ways. I drop my pelvis a lot more now, releasing tension in my lower back. But there’s something that’s been mentioned to me a couple of times in class, which is “Why hold a pose for longer than is comfortable?” And I think that can be applied to many other aspects of my life. The mentality I’ve been struggling with for a long time has been “if I just white-knuckle through this thing I don’t like, it’ll be over soon.” But the yoga classes I’ve been to over the years at the Studio have taught me that if something is uncomfortable to do, regardless of what it is, then there’s probably another way of doing it that produces the same or better results; just like there’s always a variation on a yoga pose if the current one is uncomfortable or not working for me for some other reason.
The approach to yoga practised at the Studio is so accessible. The focus is on what I am most interested in, which is supporting my body and enhancing the connections between my body and brain. As well, there’s no focus on having to hold a pose for a specific length of time. It’s the opposite at the Studio. It’s all about feeling good and doing what is best for your body, for the length of time that you determine is correct for you.
I honestly think that anyone and everyone can benefit from this approach. I see people of all ages at the Studio, of all different levels of mobility, all different sorts of people. Anyone who wants to take some time for themselves in a day, or wants to check in with their bodies and themselves would absolutely benefit from this kind of yoga.