I talk about yoga lot here, and I think about it a lot in my life. If I could go to yoga at a studio every day, I would consider my life most perfect. Meanwhile I try to make time at home for yoga a couple times a week, if not more, and then go to the studio when I can fit it into my schedule.

On Tuesday, I was going to Ana’s in the evening, but because I get off earlier than everyone else I had three hours to kill and didn’t want to drive home to drive back to the Valley. Enter 5:00 pm yoga class, and heaven.

It was a mixed community class, and I wasn’t sure what to expect – would it be too easy? Would it be too hard? Was it enough time (most classes are an hour and a half, this one was just an hour)? It was perfect, per usual. It was vinyasa flow, and it made me sweat, try some new transitions, and challenge myself.

At one point, we were in revolved side angle pose, and our teacher wanted us to move into a one legged balancing pose I had never encountered in my practice, something like revolved half moon but with your hands in prayer instead of bound or spread.

Basically from this, but with hands in prayer, then shifting your weight forward into this:

And keeping your heart open to the sky whilst doing it.

Anyways,  the first side was balancing on my right leg, and as I went to take the leap forward to balance on one leg, I slipped and tumbled forward on to my mat, giggling all the way. It is always fun to try your hand at a new pose, because it’s fun to see what your body can handle, what it can’t, and how to get yourself to trust yourself enough to just lean in. It’s like on my wedding day when Lauren tried to get us into baby grasshopper pose, and I just was laughing my head off.

The happiness emulated in this photo is everything – I was with my best friends in the world, I was about to get married, I was trying a new yoga pose, and my heart was light. I laughed and laughed at the progress I could feel and all the places I had yet to be and the effort it had taken to get where I was and the effort that it was going to take to get where I wanted to be.

But back to yoga class – the teacher in the moment whipped her head around to see where the laughter was coming from and said, “YES! YES EXACTLY. This is a playground. We should be hearing that – we should be hearing laughter. This is a safe space for you to explore. YES!” And it was so uplifting to me to be lifted to a place where I felt safe playing and laughing and learning. Later in the class I did a headstand for the first time in a class without a wall, and I felt an immense sense of accomplishment. I have so far to go, but I’ve come so far.

Happy Friday, friends. I hope you have time for yoga this weekend. Namaste.