Featured In This Issue / Yoga Outdoors

Yoga Outdoors
with Colleen Verton, Pink Lotus Yoga

Taking a Yoga practice outdoors gives the practitioner a whole new understanding of Yoga. So often we use the outdoors as a transitional space to get from one destination to another, rarely taking the time to observe our surroundings. Taking the mat outside allows us this opportunity. It creates a deeper connection between the mind, body and postures.

In a typical Yoga class, the teacher instructs his/her students to root down into the earth. What better way to do this then to be in contact with the actual earth below your feet? In many postures the eye gaze is up. The sky, in all of its beauty, is the perfect gaze point. Outside, Yoga practitioners do not have to image they are gazing at the clouds or feeling the sun warm their skin; they are actually experiencing these things first hand.

Yoga, traditionally, is meant to be practiced outside. Many postures are named for elements of nature or things associated with nature: tree, fish, lotus, cobra, locust, etc. Connecting to these various aspects of nature creates a deeper sense on the practice.

Nature has a way of helping us put things in perspective. We just need to take the time to get outdoors and discover the wonders we miss out on because of the daily hustle and bustle of life. Salem County has many beautiful locations to practice. Pink Lotus has been lucky enough to conduct classes at Auburn Road Winery and Pratt Garden. 

Join Pink Lotus the second Saturday of every month, through October to experience the wonders of Yoga outdoors. Visit our website, www.pinklotusnj.com for details.