It’s 2021 and everyone is looking forward to a new year full of possibilities.
Many of you, no doubt, already have resolutions and goals for this year, but please allow me to put forward a suggestion: give yoga a try.
This month, I talked to the owner of local yoga studio One Yoga Vernon and holy cow, did I learn a lot! So please, sit back and relax as I tell you all about the spiritual practice of yoga.
Yoga is vital for improving both the mind and the soul according to One Yoga Vernon owner Shawn McMann, and is important to both meditation and self-reflection.
The core of yoga’s purpose is a deeply emotional one, designed to exfoliate the body of pent-up stress and to allow the mind to sift through your thoughts and memories. After all, monks can get restless too and no doubt need to burn through all that excess energy prior to meditating!
Shawn said he initially sought out yoga as a way to become healthy again, yet Shawn was in his early-40s, which, combined with working long nights made it difficult for him and the pain was soon too much to bear.
Fortunately, the story does not end there as he was soon on the path to a better life by taking steps such as becoming completely sober.
He went back to yoga soon after and finally realized it for the medicine that it is.
Shawn knows there are individuals going through tough times, especially right now, and aims to act as a conduit for the knowledge that he gained, both from his time doing yoga and his time spent learning how to become a Yogi.
“I’m not an instructor,” said Shawn. “I’m a teacher and a conduit for the people who seek the knowledge I once sought myself.”
Now, you may still be skeptical of this, but please trust me when I say Shawn and his team’s 30th Avenue studio is definitely worth a visit.
Sam McNair is a fan of adventure novels, as well as writing about the people and places that make Vernon a great place to live. He got his diploma in Writing and Publishing from Okanagan College in 2020.
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