 What brought you to your yoga practice?
I was initially drawn to yoga as a way to “work out” when I was younger. However, I soon came to realize it’s so much more than that, and called a “practice” for a reason. I quickly found the benefits both mentally and physically. What benefits did you notice once you started practicing consistently? Continuing off my previous answer, I found yoga to not only be extremely beneficial for my body, but also my mental state, including stress levels. What would you now tell yourself before you started practicing yoga? I would have told myself to do the yoga teacher training (I completed in 2024) much, much sooner. My body has more limitations now than when I first started practicing. But on the flip side, I’m learning for the first time how important props are, and this is in large part due to the amazing instructors at 5 Keys!
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 Photo by Lucas Doddema on Unsplash Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean. - Ryunosuke Satoro This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 4.25 विशेषदर्शिन आत्मभावभावनानिवृत्तिः Viśeṣa darśina ātmabhāva bhāvanā nivṛttiḥ Understanding the distinction between the mind and the Self causes a cessation of the perception that the mind is Self. If you’ve ever wondered why there is consciousness at all if it is distinct from the Seer, Yoga Sutra 4.24 is for you! Patanjali answers that although the mind is afflicted with innumerable desires and subconscious impressions, it “exists for the sake of another” - that is, the Self - because “consciousness has no existence of its own but is dependent on the seer.” (Iyengar, 272)
Makunda Stiles calls this existing “solely for the sake of being close to the True Self.” (53) The Shoshoni Yoga Retreat calls the mind a “close ally” (50) of the Self. So clearly, the mind is subservient but also beneficial to the Self. Why? Patanjali has actually already addressed this back in Yoga Sutras 2.21, 2.23 and 2.24.  What brought you to your yoga practice?
I was a law firm associate in New York City. A colleague whose wife is a yoga teacher invited me to take her class. I had no idea it would change my life! At first, yoga was a wonderful way to challenge myself physically. I thought of it as achieving beautiful poses. Eventually, I came to appreciate yoga as much more - a practice of integrating body, breath, and mind. Yoga became a portal to living according to personal principles and honoring the value of community. I found 5KY in December 2025 after foot surgery because of the livestream classes. I'm grateful to now be able to practice at the studio because the 5KY community is welcoming and open - to me, that is a huge part of yoga practice. What benefits did you notice once you started practicing consistently? Physically, yoga helped me maintain strength and openness. Mentally, yoga has helped me to regulate the intense stress of being a lawyer and maintain balance in my life. What would you now tell yourself before you started practicing yoga? See beyond the asana (physical poses). Appreciate and begin to understand how asana connects you to breath, serenity, and finding your own truths and other people who support your living those truths. Be okay with where you are today - stretch yourself, but stretch yourself appropriately with the trust that you'll attain a different place in your practice at the right time.  Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash The secret of success is constancy to purpose. - Benjamin Disraeli This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 4.18 सदा ज्ञाताश्चित्तवृत्तयस्तत्प्रभोः पुरुषस्यापरिणामित्वात् sadā jñātāścittavṛttayastatprabhoḥ puruṣasyāpariṇāmitvāt Fluctuations of the mind are always known to its master, the Purusha, due to its constancy. Before going any further, let’s get reacquainted with Purusha. Vedanta sees the physical manifestation of the world as dualistic.
All things spring from the combination of prakriti, which is nature, and Purusha, which is variously defined as the “soul” (Iyengar, 266), the “seer” (Iyengar, 267) the “True Self” (Stiles, 51), the “transcendental self” (Stiles, 117), “the owner of the mind-stuff or… its master” (Satchidananda, 262) in the texts I am referencing. Surely, it has many, many more translations and really, it’s up to you to pick the one that suits your fancy. I will pick “universal consciousness” here to stay consistent with the rest of our Yoga Sutra blog post series. As great scientists have said and as all children know, it is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception, and compassion, and hope. - Ursula K. Le Guin This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 4.9 जातिदेशकालव्यवहितानामप्यानन्तर्यं स्मृतिसंस्कारयोरेकरूपत्वात् Jāti deśa kāla vyavahitānām apy ānantaryaṃ smṛti saṃskārayor ekarūpatvāt Even though birth, place and time separate us, the continuity between memory and subliminal impressions (samskaras) gives us a common identity. Continuing on from the discussion of sattvic, rajasic and tamasic actions in Sutra 4.7, Patanjali delves deeper into karmic philosophy.
In Yoga Sutra 4.8, he says that the residual impressions created by former actions will only manifest in a particular birth according to the “ripening” (Stiles, 114) of the soul. The soul must have the maturation needed to at least attempt to overcome this karma.  Photo by Samuel Austin on Unsplash Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word happy would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. It is far better to take things as they come along with patience and equanimity. - Carl Jung This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 4.7 र्माशुक्लाकृष्णं योगिनस्त्रिविधमितरेषाम् karmāśuklākṛṣṇaṃ yoginas trividham itareṣām The actions of the Yogi are non-white and non-black; but in the case of others are threefold (white, black and gray). Yoga Sutra 4.7 is a final punctuation to the thought we were exploring last month in Yoga Sutras 4.4 - 4.6. When the mind of a yogi has been conditioned through meditation, the ego is slowly dissolved. Thoughts created within this meditative, ego-less state are not subject to karma.
As we saw through the progression of the third pada of The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, by effort in concentration one develops the ability to meditate. Through meditation, the seeker can learn to live their life in a deepening state of continual meditation and complete equanimity. At least this is the goal.  What brought you to yoga?
Yoga came in and out of my life as a teen and college student as a workout and outlet for community but it wasn't until the COVID-19 pandemic that I began developing a more consistent yoga practice and showing up for myself. Living in isolation and dealing with lots of uncertainty in the pandemic, I experienced a lot of anxiety and yoga was my outlet for presence, regulating my emotions and nervous system, and staying consistent with movement in a time where we couldn’t leave our house. What is your approach to teaching? I am passionate about creating a welcoming and inviting atmosphere in my yoga classes, where all students feel respected. I believe that yoga is for everyone - no matter your race, body type, economic background, language, or gender. Representation and accessibility matter, and I aim to uplift all voices in my classes. I enjoy teaching yoga as a tool for personal growth and helping students feel more confident and empathetic towards one another, and themselves. Why did you choose to teach at 5KY? Because of the community atmosphere! When I first discovered 5KY as a student, I loved how accessible, intimate, and community oriented the studio was. Additionally, I love how 5KY is women-run and has a diverse range of classes and teachers. There’s something for everyone at 5KY, whether you are a beginner or have taken hundreds of classes, and the instructors have diverse backgrounds and styles, so always something new to learn and try. :) What makes your soul sing? Hanging out in the sunshine, walking in the forest, spending time with my loved ones and kittens, and eating a good vegan donut.  What brought you to your yoga practice?
I was looking for something like this because I felt like I needed this for healing and to help me move and build my self esteem. I was feeling not myself during the COVID time, feeling isolated, stagnant and wasn't feeling right mentally and physically. I wasn't feeling good about myself and kind of depressed. I tried yoga a few times before but never really stuck to it more than once or twice. What benefits did you notice once you started practicing consistently? More flexibility, my body is able to be more flexible, and it taught me how to breathe and meditate and stay in the moment. It also helped me with digestive problems that I started having during the pandemic. What would you now tell yourself before you started practicing yoga? That I need to get out and do something for myself. Life is not always comfort because if you stay comfortable it doesn't help you in the long run and after a while you start to digress. I will keep coming back.  What brought you to your yoga practice?
I tried yoga in high school and loved it, but had focused on my on-again-off-again relationship with cardio for the past years. Last summer, I attended yoga classes at Gallagher Way hosted by Five Keys, and I fell in love with yoga as a communal and cultural practice. I've been attending a class at least once a week ever since. What benefits did you notice once you started practicing consistently? Immediately, I experienced pain relief in my hips and back. I grew in confidence, and experienced a much deeper relationship with my body; one based on respect and love for its capabilities. Those things make it easy to turn yoga into a priority in my schedule. What would you now tell yourself before you started practicing yoga? I would tell myself that respecting and honoring what my body is capable of is much more important than meeting my own expectations of image. Health is so much more holistic than you think. How I show up to class mentally is almost as important as the practice.  Photo by Ashley Batz on Unsplash No one can deny his own being. - Ramana Maharshi This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series. Want to start at the beginning? Yoga Sutra 4.4 निर्माणचित्तान्यस्मितामात्रात् Nirmāṇa cittāny asmitā mātrāt Fluctuations of the mind are created solely from the sense of individuality. Patanjali’s explanation of karma extends to our own psychology in Sutra 4.4. If we think back to Yoga Sutra 1.2, wherein Patanjali explains the concept of citta, or the fluctuations of mind we call thought, remember that Patanjali defines yoga as calming these fluctuations.
Now Patanjali tells us that the citta is born solely from our sense of individuality or in other words, from our ego. Ego is not inherently bad but it is the thing giving rise to our thoughts and what we must overcome in order to feel at peace in all situations we encounter in our lives. |
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