We're Turning TWO!

Wow, I cannot believe two years have already passed, and we are still standing strong and growing even stronger in our Blue Sky Yoga community. When it comes to creating changes and making a difference one must take risks. There is no doubt that taking risks can be very scary and it takes a lot of work and dedication to create a thriving community. Each person in the community makes a difference, contributes, and plays a part in creating the whole. Without each person, even the most minute things can have a profound impact and without them it wouldn’t be the same...that is how I feel we are at Blue Sky. I said this in the beginning when we began, and it all still rings true. Taking a look at our community-created logo also reminds me of the union of the community and our connection through yoga. The eight birds flying overhead represent the 8 limbs to the royal path of yoga (yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi). The human is representation of our self in the practice and seated as life on this earth that is the home for each of us. The circle surrounding the yogi represents the circle of life and complete wholeness or oneness, the yoking together of each part of our self spiritually, mentally, and physically and also to each other. The circle also represents how we can find ourselves limited in our beliefs, and it’s through our practice of the 8 limbed path that we find presence, peace, and the ability to expand beyond our limitations.

From the bottom of my heart, I believe we can take our vulnerabilities and suffering and turn that energy into strengths and grow from it to find clarity. The name Blue Sky represents a connection to the light without the distraction of clouds or rain but pure clarity and light. The blue sky has always been symbolic of clarity and peace for me from the time I was a child coming out of a coma and having to learn to walk again, having to find the strength to go back to school and dealing with pain and imbalances in my bony structure which had a domino effect on the rest of my system. Yoga has helped me find peace and presence and gratitude in the moment, and when I see a blue sky and sunlight, I feel hope and happiness. And when there are clouds and rain, I know that is a time I need to relax even more and take time to go inside, reflect and maybe even dance in the rain. I know the rain will pass and I’ve learned to live in the moment and appreciate both the light and the dark through this practice that brings us all together. 

Life is celebrated by coming together with your community. For our anniversary, let us come together and offer each other the gift of practice and community. Join us on Friday night, July 19th at 6:30pm for a yoga relay class with many of our beautiful teachers: Annie, Kelli, Roxanne, Andrew, and Bryna offering a singing bowl savasana. You simply show up, have a fun practice with us and perhaps bring food or drink or a good story to share with the rest of the community. Hope to see you July 19 630pm!

Spiral & Sweat: Meet BUTI Yoga Instructor Malissa McLaurin!

What is Buti Yoga? I’m sure you’ve seen it show up on our class schedule at least once a month, and maybe you’re curious, but also don’t know what you’ll get yourself into. So what better way learn how great Buti is and get to know your incredibly charismatic instructor than an interview with her. Here’s Malissa McLaurin!

• How did you begin practicing and teaching Buti yoga?

  I began Buti in fall 2014 after a friend posted on Facebook about trying this ‘new yoga class’. It was a time and place in my life I was looking for something to inspire me. I fell in love with the practice and decided to get certified a year and a half later.

• How has Buti been transformational in your life?

  Buti found me when I was in a transitional point in my life. I was working on connecting physically and mentally. I had recently come off a mental breakdown and was looking for something to connect myself with myself again (actually connect myself for the first time ever, if I’m being honest). After attending my first class, I cried. Buti fuses traditional asana with dynamic movement. There was something about moving through sequences in addition to a great music-driven playlist that for the first time I felt free. I felt my body love itself for the first time. It was glorious.

• What’s your favorite part about teaching Buti?

  Watching students find themselves. Having fun. Laughing, smiling, taking shirts off and sweating in little clothing. Not caring what size their bodies are and smiling though the sweat.

• What do you do to prepare for class?

  Take a nap, HA! 

• Do you have a favorite pose or movement?

  I love the movement of Buti but I am a fan of binds and folds. I love getting juicy and swuishy with my insides. 

• What’s your favorite type of music to play while practicing? Do you have a playlist you’d like to share?

  Buti uses tribal beats, EDM, hip hop, and rap. Depending on your instructor you may find a class leaving more toward one genre over another. Personally, I love soulful music and deep house beats. Spotify is a GREAT music resource. Many other Buti instructors all over the country use it and upload playlists, so there’s so much opportunity to share and learn. Here’s a playlist I love because of the musical diversity.

• What would you like people to know about Buti yoga? How would you describe it to someone? What do people gain from the practice?

  Buti Yoga fuses tribal, dance, kundalini, power Vinyasa and cardio to create a whole body experience. Mixed with a spiral structure technique, it’s where your body meets your soul. I want people to know that yoga is for EVERYBODY as is Buti. Movement is a gift, and it doesn’t matter what body you’re in; movement is medicine. Start where you are and go from there. Through the practice of Buti I have seen students shed notions about themselves and their bodies. They begin to love their bodies at each and every size. Through this practice, we offer acceptance and no judgement. We’re all in this together.

• Does your personal practice differ from how you teach?

  Somewhat. Because Buti is such a yang practice I’m trying to incorporate a more yin approach to my personal practice. Stillness, sitting into asana and breathing, or not moving at all and meditating. 

• Recommended reading (yoga and/or non-yoga)

  • The Law of Divine Compensation: On Work, Money & Miracles by Marianne Williamson (this is number one!)

  • The Yamas & Niyamas by Deborah Adele

  • SH*T The Moon Said: A Story of Sex, Drugs & Ayahuasca by Gerard Armond Powell

  • Ayurveda Beginner’s Guide by Susan Weis-Bohlen

  • Chakras & Their Archetypes: Uniting Energy Awareness and Spiritual Growth by Ambika Wauters

• How would you describe yourself? What do you want people to know about you?

  I’m a silly, hilarious, big-hearted, and loving person who just wants to create space for others to be and love themselves. I have lived a colorful life and had many experiences and am still here and exist in the world living a beautiful life. 

• Outside of yoga what is your passion/Where can you be found?

  You can find me relaxing on my couch, playing in my garden, drinking wine on a patio, traveling for live music, and loving on my fiancé, family, and friends. Oh! And entertaining. I love being the hostess! 

• Tell us a fun fact about yourself!

  I took Chinese in college and performed a skit in Mandarin for a Chinese New Year Party.

• Anything else?

  Whatever it is that you find, I hope it moves you and makes you smile. 

Join Malissa in the studio!

#sweatwithintention

#bebravewithyourlife

Death, Struggle & Vulnerability: The Birth of a Yogi

What does being a man mean? What does being a male yogi mean? I was struggling with this question. I closed my eyes and asked my dad to write this for me.

I might not have ever wrote such a “hippie dippy” opener (his words not mine) to an essay before yoga…before my dad died. It can be so difficult as a man, to embrace the vulnerability of a yoga practice. Stepping into a studio where you might not be the best in the room. This can be incredibly discouraging. But, my dad always told me to try my best. That’s yoga. Try your best.

My first yoga experience was around the time I was living with my dad in our home in Affton, when I was getting ready to go to school for acting in Northern California. I started working out and running that summer because I was out of shape. I knew my new school would be physically demanding, so I wanted to start preparing before I packed up my things and moved away on my own for the first time in my life. Yoga was anxiety producing for me in those early days of practice. I thought the only point was to sync your breath with movement and that I would be judged by everyone else in the room if they noticed I was failing miserably at this task.

My dad was taken to the hospital in late July after falling in the parking lot outside a Shop N’ Save. While in the hospital he contracted pneumonia, fell into a coma, and died a few weeks later.

A month after his funeral, I packed up all my belongings and drove to California to study at Dell’Arte International: School of Physical Theatre. Every Tuesday and Thursday morning we practiced yoga as an all school daily practice. My mind was so busy during those days, especially in savasana. I couldn’t stop my mind from wandering.

I loved my school. I loved the physical training. I met lifelong friends that were there when I needed a shoulder to cry on, to talk about my dad. Over the next couple years, I also developed a social drinking problem, thinking I was living a stress-filled life--where I ignored my health, both mentally and physically--with no place to call home, and a constant whirlwind of trying to find myself, crashed hard. My anxiety and depression were at record highs.

A year ago, I came back to St. Louis, and at the recommendation of my therapist again developed a yoga practice as one of many tools to deal with my anxiety and depression. Last fall, during my final semester of undergrad, my personal practice grew. I had been reading books on being present, and eventually, I gave up trying to be perfect on my mat. I gave up trying to get it right and just do my best. That meant giving up listening to breathe cues for weeks at a time and breathing as I needed. It meant letting my mind spiral in savasana knowing that I would get through it. Trying my best.

My journey to this moment could be seen as a man’s struggle with grief. Living in a world where openly struggling, being vulnerable, where being emotional as a man is seen as weak. The world of yoga does not hold such norms as truth. Yoga allows me strength. Yoga allows me vulnerability. Yoga allows me flexibility. Yoga allows me safety. Yoga allows me tools to survive — tools to thrive. Yoga allows me love. As a man, no, as a human that’s everything to me.

My dad was the first in his family to get a college degree; I got my BA in Communications last fall from his alma mater, UMSL, and then went to India to get my yoga teacher certification. When my dad died, he had been sober for 30 years; I have been sober for over a year now. My father never tried yoga, or the physical aspect of being on a mat (asana). But yoga is so much more than that. And, my father was so much more than that. He inspired the best in his children and in others. He held space for emotions and vulnerability. He was unconditionally loving. He was a yogi as much as anyone. They say the father lives on in the son. So in a way, my father has now tried asana, too. And I gotta say, he loves it!