What I try to do in my classes is to create a safe space for you to travel within yourself without forgetting the world around you, to find calm in the midst of chaos, moments of silence so that you can listen to yourself as perhaps you never have before, and connect with the beauty and truth that you are made of. Essentially, to be more you.
Breathing techniques (pranayama), meditation and body exploration using the postures, or Asanas, of the yogic tradition greatly enhance this whole process of self-knowledge. The intention is to take what we experience on the mat off the mat and into everyday life.
That's where yoga begins. Yoga is breathing, it's movement, it's feeling, it's being. Being now.
It's that last bit of air you breathed in. It's the light that surrounds you right now. It's what got you here. It's the release of your exhale. Yoga is touch. It's taste. It's knowing that you and I are one.