Strong bodies and steady minds
What community led means to me, and what it commits me to. Strength that lasts, minds that hold steady, and a room that stays mixed on purpose.
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Blog
Notes from the studio.
We write these between classes, mostly about the things people ask us at the door and never quite get a full answer to while somebody is putting their shoes on.
Start anywhere. Nothing here needs reading in order, and none of it assumes you have practised before.
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More from the studio
Practising in the heat
August in Nayarit is humid enough to change how a class feels. What that does to a practice, and what to do about it.
Why there are ropes on the wall
New students usually notice the rope wall before anything else, and usually assume it is for people who are already very good. It is closer to the opposite.
Feet
Twenty-six bones each, thirty-three joints, and forty years in shoes. The most neglected part of most practices.
What to expect at your first class
Turning up to a yoga class in a town you are visiting, in a language that may not be yours, at a studio you have never seen. Here is what actually happens.
The rainy season
Sayulita empties out, the humidity arrives, and the studio stays open six days a week. Some of the best practice of the year happens now.
What all levels actually means
The most reassuring two words on any timetable, and the ones most likely to put a beginner in the wrong room.
Pilates and yoga are not the same thing
They get shelved together, they are both done on a mat, and they are after different things. Which matters if you are choosing one.
The mat is not the practice
An hour in a studio is a small fraction of a week. What you do with the other hundred and sixty-seven matters more.
Practising in your sixties and beyond
Starting late is not a disadvantage that needs managing. It changes what you should be training for, which is a different thing.
Bringing a child to their first class
Ballet, tap and jazz for children run seven times a week and cost $120 MXN. Here is what to sort out before the first one.
Knees
The joint that gets blamed most and causes least. What is usually going on, and the positions worth being careful with.
Practising around an injury
Two of the teachers here came to this work through their own injuries. That changes what a room feels like when you arrive carrying something.
What Jivamukti actually is
Strong physical practice, chanting, music and a theme running through the class. It is not what most people picture when they hear the word yoga.
Reading a timetable you did not write
Fifteen class names, eight teachers and six days. A short guide to picking the right box for a body you have got today.
Iyengar is not gentle
The props and the slow pace make people expect an easy hour. It is frequently the hardest class on any timetable.
Starting again in January
January is the month people decide to become someone who practises. Most of them stop by February, and the reason is almost never willpower.
The end of a year of practice
An argument against the annual review, and for the only measure of a practice that has ever meant anything.
What to bring
A short list, one thing on it that nobody expects, and one question you should ask rather than guess at.
Practising with a cold
Where the line is, roughly, and the part most people get wrong, which is not about you.
High season starts
A practical note for both halves of the room, written for the fortnight when the town changes character.
Día de Muertos
A note for visitors about what is happening at the start of November, and how to be in it without being a nuisance.
Dance for adults who were told they could not
Somebody said something to you when you were nine and you believed them for thirty years. Here is the case for the class you keep not booking.
Props are not a downgrade
The block is not the beginners' version. In a lot of positions it is the only way the pose does what it is supposed to do.
The quietest month
September again. A year on from the last one, and an argument for treating the empty weeks as the useful ones.
A private class is not a luxury
It gets treated as the expensive option for people who want to be pampered. It is the fastest way to fix a specific problem.
A body that has just sat on a plane
Day one of a trip is the worst possible day for an ambitious class, and it is the day most people book one.
Why the teacher keeps saying your name
Being singled out in a class feels like being told off. It is almost always the opposite, and here is what is going on.
Hips do not open
The phrase is everywhere and it describes nothing. What is actually limiting you, and why it is not the same for the person next to you.
One class a week is a practice
The people who quit are rarely the ones doing too little. They are the ones who decided too little did not count.
Practising when you cannot sleep
Bad nights change what a class should be. The instinct to train harder is almost always the wrong one.
Tap, and why it is worth it
Of the children's classes, tap is the one parents ask about last. There is a good argument for it being the one to start with.
Surfing and yoga do not automatically go together
They get sold as a package everywhere on this coast. What surfing actually does to a body, and which practice answers it.
Coming back after a long gap
Two years off, or ten. The re-entry is nothing like the beginning, and people prepare for the wrong one.
Your shoulders are not the problem
Overhead positions are where most people feel stuck. The restriction is usually somewhere they are not looking.
Semana Santa
The busiest week in the Mexican calendar, and the one visitors most often walk into without knowing it is happening.
Breathing is a skill, not a mood
Being told to breathe is the least useful instruction in yoga, right up until somebody explains what they mean by it.
Whale season
There are humpbacks in the bay from December to March. A note on what that has to do with getting to a morning class.
Yin is not restorative
Both are slow, both are mostly on the floor, and they are doing opposite things to you. Worth knowing which one you booked.
Standing poses are the whole thing
The postures beginners are most impatient to get past are the ones carrying everything that comes later.
Resolutions do not survive a timetable
Deciding to practise more is not a plan. Picking two specific classes on two specific days is.
The week between Christmas and New Year
Nobody knows what day it is and the town is at its fullest. A short guide to using the strangest week of the year well.
Practising through December
The month with the most reasons to skip. A case for the low-effort version instead of the nothing version.
Barre hurts somewhere you did not expect
Small movements, light or no weight, and a burning sensation in muscles you had not been introduced to. Why that happens.
The town fills up in November
The weather turns, the flights start landing, and the same class you had to yourself in September becomes a different room.
Practising in a language you do not speak
Sayulita runs in Spanish and English, often in the same sentence. Here is why that matters less in a class than you would think.
Qigong is not slow yoga
It looks like something you already know. It comes from somewhere else entirely and is after something different.
What a soundbath is, and what it is not
You lie down and someone plays instruments at you for an hour. Reasonable questions follow. Here are honest answers to them.
Green season
September is the wettest month of the year here, and the one most visitors never see. It is also the best the hills ever look.
What air conditioning changes about a practice
A cooled room is not about comfort. It changes what you can safely ask of a body in August.
From reading to practice
Come and explore a class.
Find a time that suits you, or ask us where to begin.