If you’ve ever met our Top Dog Katy, you already know that slowing down isn’t exactly her thing. She’s a fast-moving self-starter who doesn’t require a lot of sleep or rest — and the fact that she’s a hardcore yoga devotee might have you scratching your head a little bit if you’ve come to us with the (totally understandable, but sorely mistaken) impression that yoga has to be a slow-moving and introspective practice. It can be slow-moving and introspective, of course, but if you thought that was the only way to experience yoga, you obviously haven’t done it our way.
And our way? It’s perfectly suited for the high-intensity, highly physical hustlers out there who’ve never seen themselves as good candidates for yoga before.
If you don’t believe us, take Katy’s word for it in our latest Mat Chat.
As Katy so perfectly explains, a little so-called “slowing down” on the yoga mat is a really productive way to get in touch with your body without sitting lifeless on the couch with a bucket of popcorn (though, for the record, we are very pro-popcorn and very pro-couch).
As bulldoggers, we challenge ourselves to get uncomfortable physically and emotionally by pushing our bodies to just be in positions that can feel, well, weird. We try to conquer our natural instincts to rush through exercises that feel unnatural to us by pausing a little more than we would in our typical routines and workouts. This kind of slowing down is an important reminder of the growth that happens in our lives outside the studio when we stop hurrying through tasks and instead see what happens when we just sit with those tasks a little longer. Like a low lunge held for a few extra seconds on the mat, those tasks can feel a little painful — ow! — but you probably won’t regret taking that extra time.
Don’t get us wrong: We don’t exactly do slow here at bulldog yoga (even our Activate classes are going to get your blood pumping a little). Around here, you can rest assured that you’re going to be moving — and probably sweating, too. But even in our crazy active brand of yoga, we try to find ourselves stretching that mental capacity for taking measured pauses where it might be easier to move on to something past the pain… and there’s absolutely no shame in that kind of slowing down. Everyone needs it! Even when it hurts.
Do you make a point of slowing down in your own life? If not, why? Tell us more on Facebook + Twitter!
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