“In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures. The bed is white and silent, and much life can hide beneath its blankets.”
― Cynthia Rylant

Hello!

As we head into Thanksgiving time, which I know can be a season of contention for some, I do hope that you take some time for yourself; to ground, and to find joy in this moment in time.

That might be easier said than done. There is a lot of struggle right now in the world (maybe there always is) and sometimes we can feel guilty for having the things that we have while others have to beg, scrounge, and kill for basic necessities.

But I don't think that we should feel guilty, personally. I think those that are struggling wish that they weren't (obviously) and that if they had good food, a stable roof, and safety that they would be taking advantage of it.

So, what good does it actually do for us to go without, or to punish ourselves? That's a legitimate question, so if you have an answer, please reply. I know that I go through moments of guilt, but they don't last and then I feel guilty for not feeling guilty and the cycle continues.

As we say in yoga..well there are a few things we say in yoga that might be relevant actually. But one is that we can't give from an empty cup. But also that we do not dim our own candle by lighting another. If possible, it is always best to share when we can. But I don't think that it hurts anyone to find joy and gratitude for your own life either. In fact, gratitude for your life is of the utmost importance, not just around this time of year.

Gratitude is what can turn a mundane life into an extraordinary one. It is what can make life bearable for those who have nothing. Gratitude to exist, to be alive, to maybe be with loved ones, or to be loved.

Maybe I'm rambling a little bit today, but I appreciate you being here, I appreciate you practicing with me, and I appreciate this wonderful opportunity I have to share these classes with you.
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Today's class should fill your empty cup. It is grounding, slow, nourishing, and oh so important before the craziness that surrounds this holiday season. Let me know what you think in the comments!

Enjoy!

​Sat Nam ❤️
Dylan

"Change is the only constant in life, and the seasons have their own unique way of reminding us of that."
- Anonymous

Hello!

I'm back from Florida now and honestly so grateful to be home. Not that I got to see much of Miami during training, but what I did see wasn't quite my vibe if I'm being honest. The beaches and water though..those were stunning. I could have stayed on those beaches forever, as long as the jellyfish stopped floating by.

But I am happy to be home with my babies, and my beautiful mountain views.

Travel, whether for training, work, or fun, can be hard on the body and mind. Being away from home, away from your routines and habitudes, easily throw your Vata out of balance, which is further exasperated during the transitions between seasons (or transitions between anything really).
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Today's class​ is meant to counter the lightness and mobility of Vata energy by slowing down and grounding. It's the perfect practice to do anytime you're feeling a bit too airy, too in your head, anxious, or during travel or changing seasons. So....really it's good to do any time.

Enjoy!

​Sat Nam ❤️
Dylan

“In Mexico, I learned to live in the present moment and to accept life as it comes.”
​– Emma Watson

Hola!

I love when I get the opportunity to share a class that was filmed on location. Why? Because it means that I got to travel, and I really do live for traveling.

Which, I discovered, people didn't know about me. I suppose that means that I've been stagnant here for too long. But yes, I love to travel, and have lived in two other countries, and traveled a little bit in lots of places all over the world. And I intend to keep doing it.

So this class is from my trip to Mexico in August, which was my first time in Mexico proper (rather than Baja) and I have to say...it was wonderful! Everyone told me that I wouldn't like Puerto Vallarta and that I would love Sayulita, and I've gotta say.....I had the opposite experience. Don't get me wrong, Sayulita was fine, but PV was much more my vibe. At least while I was there.

I will admit though, the view from the hostel was the prettiest view I've experienced in a long time. And now you get to experience it too!
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This class clocks in at just under 30 minutes, which means you can fit it into most days. It's quick, but it still packs a punch, and includes some really great hip stretches. The goal here? Support mobility after travel, and squeeze in a workout while you're at it.

Just cause you're vacationing (if you are) doesn't mean that you should skip your yoga practice!

Enjoy!

​Sat Nam ❤️
Dylan

“Who we are is the result of how we live and act on a daily basis. Our daily actions reflect our prime values and motivations.” ― David Frawley

Hi there!

The next two classes we have coming out are classes designed specifically to balance Pitta dosha in the body, that may be caused by food choices, by the season (summer can be tough on Pitta people), or by life stressors.

According to Ayurveda, Pitta is the transformative, alchemic energy in the body. It is made up of the elements of fire with a little bit of water, and thus is hot, fluid, sharp, penetrating, and light.

We need this Dosha, or bodily humor, to assimilate our food, to see, to regulate our body temperature. But when it is thrown out of balance, like can easily be done during the summer (Pitta season), you can suffer from rashes, acne, indigestion, and anything else relating to excess heat in the body.

Today's vinyasa flow is designed to balance the pitta in the body, which is especially useful during the summer months, but can (and maybe should) be practiced often by those with naturally high Pitta.

The seat of pitta is in the small intestine, where transformation of food takes place, but it also resides within the blood and the liver, so in today's flow we move in ways that support clear blood flow and massage the organs of the digestive tracts through prone backbends.

It's a bit longer, but it also includes a lovely long savasana at the end to ground and center.

Practice this class often, especially in the summer months, but also if you're a naturally high pitta person. You can find out by taking my Dosha Quiz HERE!​

​Sat Nam ❤️
Dylan

It is exercise alone that supports the spirits, and keeps the mind in vigor.
– Cicero

Good morning!

I've been working on a little offer I'm creating (check it out here!) and I've been thinking about why it is that we do the things we do. Why it is that we stop on our mat everyday, or why we make the food choices that we make, or why we believe the things that we believe about ourselves.

A lot of it, I've noticed, come back to what it is that we feel that we need, or that we value.

I started practicing yoga, not because I wanted to connect with my body or my spirituality, or get grounded, or be able to do a handstand.

I started yoga because I wanted my belly to be flatter because I believed that would make me more attractive aka more lovable.

Nowadays, the goal for most women (at least the ones I see online) isn't to get as skinny as possible (like it used to be back in the early 2000s) now it's to grow a peachy booty and build some muscle.

So people hit the gym to achieve that look.

I'm not here to say that any of this is good or bad. I'm here to simply ask...what are you here for?

Why do you get on your mat? Why are you trying to lose weight? Why are you trying to build a body you love?

Because it's all valid, and it's all good because at the end of the day the important thing is that you're paying attention.

You're trying to do what is right for your body and your health, regardless of the reason behind it. Those reasons change over time, as your body changes, and your life situation changes, etc.

Now that all that's out of the way, I do have a new class for you.

And it's a bit different, because it isn't focusing on building the peach like most classes do, focusing on the gluteus maximus.

No, this one focuses on the smaller muscles of the side hip that I bet you didn't even know you had!

Or they will feel like they didn't know they existed after this class. Oh such a lovely burn.

Enjoy! Build a body you love! And join our free FB community to share your wins and challenges and find the support you need to keep on keeping on.

As always, I'm grateful for your trust in me and this practice we share.

​Sat Nam ❤️
Dylan

“Morning is an important time of day, because how you spend your morning can often tell you what kind of day you are going to have.” ― Lemony Snicket

I am not a morning person.

I know we're not supposed to label ourselves things, because then we create stories about said things and don't really give ourselves the opportunity to embrace change or growth or try to be different.

But this is one I have not yet been able to shake.

I do wake up earlier than I used to, for sure. I mean...I wake up before 12 now, so I think that's huge progress from the Dylan of 10 years ago.

But I am not one that rises from bed like I'm excited about it.

More like I have to pep talk myself into getting up and I put it off for as long as possible. And then, all at once, allez hop! Out of bed and up and functioning.

One thing that does help, though, is knowing what yoga class I'm going to do that morning.

I have it all written out (less thinking in the morning, you know), pull it up on the computer, and settle in for 30 minutes of movement to prepare me for the day.

And when the class is able to stretch out all the kinks from bed, and build up the energy in the body, leaving you ready to start dealing with the rest of the world...that's a magical class and a magical morning.
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This class​ is kind of like that. The movements in this class are all expansive, opening, big movements that will really wring out any tightness or stagnation that you built up while sleeping (or working, or living your life, whatever).

And it's just short enough to squeeze in while the coffee is brewing.

Tell me, what makes a morning for you? I'd love to know!

Please, let me know that you're practicing with me by sharing when you do on ​Instagram​ if you have one, or by commenting on ​YouTube​!

As always, I'm grateful for your trust in me and this practice we share.

​Sat Nam ❤️
Dylan

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
― Henry David Thoreau

Are you a dreamer? Someone who spend a lot of time with their head in the cloud, without paying too much attention to the feet on the ground?

I have a tendency to be like that as well, which is why I find it odd that my 6th and 7th chakras are so deficient...but I digress.

I'm all for vaulting yourself towards your dreams and aspirations in whatever way you feel will get you there.

But if that way doesn't work out the first time, I'd like to invite you back here to earth to discuss the building of foundations.

We need to have strong foundations if we are to build a structure that takes us to our dreams (or holds our dreams. However you want this metaphor to go)

And those foundations need to be the base of the cathedral, the roots and trunk of the tree, the walls of the house (again, your metaphor).

In today's free class, we build those foundations. Not, as in, this is a yoga foundations class. No, no...

Definitely intermediate, in terms of strength. (But you know, you can modify, make it your own, and build yourself up to that level. In fact, I highly recommend that you do just that and level up! Don't shy away from the challenge!)

Anyway, we work on the bases today. The balance. The booty. The core. The planks.

In a brilliantly designed (if I do say so myself!) 30 minute sequence.

Make sure to schedule it into your day, and I'll see you on the mat!

Please, let me know that you're practicing with me by sharing when you do on Instagram if you have one, or by commenting on YouTube!

As always, I'm grateful for your trust in me and this practice we share.

​Sat Nam ❤️
Dylan

"Summer loving had me a blast
Summer loving happened so fast
I met a girl crazy for me
Met a boy cute as can be

Summer days drifting away
To-ah! Oh, the summer nights"
- Grease

Did you know I was in Grease in high school? I was Frenchy. And everyone seems to think that makes sense...I don't know if it's because I study French or for some other reason...

Anyway, summer IS my favorite month, and I also love a strong booty class, so this week's ​free class​ is really the best in my world!

It's truly a full body class (the best kind!) because we want to have a strong body to make the most of those summer nights, amirite?

Booty, arms, core, wrapped into a ​40 minute workout​.

Which is absolutely long enough. Who has time for workouts that last longer than that, honestly? That is SUCH a commitment that I don't think anyone needs to make (unless it makes you happy).

30-40 min is great.

Hit your mat daily. Get your heart rate up. Have a bit of fun. Sweat it out. Shake it out. And then get out and enjoy your summer.

See you on the mat!

Please, let me know that you're practicing with me by sharing when you do on ​Instagram​ if you have one, or by commenting on ​YouTube​!

As always, I'm grateful for your trust in me and this practice we share.

Sat Nam ❤️
Dylan

“When diet is wrong medicine is of no use, when diet is correct medicine is of no need.”
– Ayurvedic Proverb

Happy 4th of July!!

First and foremost. And I hope you're doing something to celebrate with your friends or family if that's something that brings you joy.

And if you're not, well that's great, too! It is Tuesday after all and Tuesdays mean new yoga classes!

I want to take a second here to talk about this class. It is the season after all, of heat and sweating and less clothes.

And for many of us that means a lot of discomfort, either directly due to sweat and chafing and all that jazz, or indirectly through feeling uncomfortable in our skin.

And if you think you're the only one who feels like that, think again love.

Every one of us has something about or body that we dislike, and that's a really shitty thing. I wish that part of our brains would kindly shut itself off so that we would go about life in bliss because who actually cares what this body looks like, it's all temporary anyway.

But that isn't how the brain works for most of us, so we have to learn how to love and accept ourselves the hard way.

I think we all struggle with it.

I also think that it's going to take more than one yoga class or one email or one attempts to change that.

But, one yoga class can help.

Because one leads to two and two leads to a practice and a practice can change your life. I know. It changed mine.

A consistent practice is 1/3 of the process.

Then there is diet, another 1/3.

And finally mindset, to complete this pie chart.

You need these three things to develop love and acceptance for yourself, for your body.

No, it's not easy. But it is incredibly gratifying.

With that, I'll share today's class. A class to build a ​bikini body​. Yep, I said it. Because we work on booty and core and those two things are quite exposed in a bikini.

But the bikini body? Doesn't have to look any certain way. If you want a bikini body, put your body in a bikini and let it be.

Let is be strong, through daily practice. Let it be healthy, through mindful eating. And let it be loved, through daily gratitude.

Enjoy this ​week's class​. Enjoy your Tuesday. Enjoy your 4th of July. Enjoy your body. Enjoy your life.

Please, let me know that you're practicing with me by sharing when you do on ​Instagram​ if you have one, or by commenting on ​YouTube​!

As always, I'm grateful for your trust in me and this practice we share.

Sat Nam ❤️
Dylan

“All that is important is this one moment in movement. Make the moment important, vital, and worth living. Do not let it slip away unnoticed and unused.” ― Martha Graham

I love a class that covers it all, don't you?

It's actually what brought me to this style of yoga in the first place. I wanted to lose weight. I don't even think I considered going to a gym...and I found quick fusion yoga classes (like this week's ​free class​) online and dedicated myself wholeheartedly to the practice.

And it worked! Daily practices like this one are truly enough to cover all of the bases of your workout routine.

You don't need to run endlessly on the treadmill or drag yourself through another session on the stationary bike. (it sounds dreadful to be honest)

Add cardio, add strength building, add functional movements to your yoga routine and you really have it all.

And if you haven't realized, that's what I try to do for you here. These classes changed my life (and my body).

My dearest hope is that they do the same for you, and that you have fun doing them.

Please, let me know that you're practicing with me by sharing when you do on ​Instagram​ if you have one, or by commenting on ​YouTube​!

As always, I'm grateful for your trust in me and this practice we share.

​Sat Nam ❤️
Dylan