 Funny how things change in the course of a week, isn’t it?
And by funny I really mean... life-altering, potentially fear-inducing, and funny-not-funny. Now, more than ever, is the time to practice. As the first yoga sutra says, "Now, yoga begins." The impact of this pandemic on small business promises to be massive across the country, and Yoga Hive is not exempt from this, not by a long shot. But one thing you can always count on from us (and one thing we’ve learned over the last four and a half years) is that we practice yoga like our life depends on it. In honor of helping to make “social distancing” the catch phrase of our time, we've spent the last five days crafting a plan to support the sustainability of Yoga Hive, and support this community like never before. At the recommendation of Yoga Alliance, Yoga Hive’s physical locations in Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Kalispell are officially closed, effective immediately, for in-person group yoga classes until it’s safe to reopen. Plus, we’re completely out of toilet paper! 😜 And... here's the fun part. Yoga Hive Montana is proud to offer a full online schedule of LIVE classes starting TODAY on Zoom Video Conferencing (full "how to" directions and FAQs below!)
As for the state of our world amidst a pandemic... as someone with so many family members, friends, and colleagues with chronic health conditions... I keep getting asked, “Is this for real?” In short? Yes. It’s absolutely for real. Whether you're part of the "at risk population" or not, we're all part of the same ecosystem, and this thing moves in ways we can't always anticipate, Chlorox wipes or not. It’s not something we need to resist, or fear, or turn a blind eye to. As yogis — I told you last week — we respond to the need of the moment. And right now, all over the USA, we are called to physically distance ourselves from others not for our own safety. I’ve been traveling through Alaska, Wisconsin, and now to Montana. I’ve seen the way communities are responding in so many places for the last month, I’ve watched my colleagues in Denver, Miami and beyond boldly take their studios completely online. We can’t sit back and wait for this to become small town Montana’s problem. The time is now, and this concerns everyone. Deep. Breath. We have nothing to fear! And yet… fear is there, isn’t it? If it’s not fear, then it’s some other emotion. Denial. Anger. Disappointment. Confusion. So do we smother it down and deny we’re “having a moment”? No. In times like this, we practice yoga IN ORDER TO have emotions like this bubble to the surface. You heard me right: Yoga brings it all to the surface. That's the sneaky purpose of yoga when you really start practicing in earnest… to bubble things up so we can see them, acknowledge them, and delete them. What seems sneaky at first becomes a technology we can use to free ourselves from unnecessary suffering. And even with fear, or denial, or anger on board, those emotions don’t define us even though they might feel all-consuming. Emotions are like tools that give us an indication of what’s happening on the inside. If we recognize where we feel fear in our body (tight hips, clenched jaw, etc.) then we can recognize it and treat the body as it’s happening by doing breath work, meditation, and yoga. The emotion becomes a tool for self-healing. This moment-to-moment awareness of our emotional state is called emotional intelligence. As yogis, we remain vigilant, we tune into what’s happening on the inside through this emotional intelligence, and we practice like our lives depend on it. And know for sure: Yoga Hive has you covered. You can count on:
In light, Mollie
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MollieOriginally hailing from Wisconsin, Mollie is a cheesehead transplant to Northwest Montana, with degrees in Retail and Journalism from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Today, she lives off the grid, half the year in a Tiny House & half the year in a yurt — both of which she and her husband, Sean, built by hand. Nonprofit Executive Director by day, Mollie also owns and teaches at Yoga Hive — a chain of community yoga studios in the valley. Archives
November 2024
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