Thank you Lauren for helping to create a powerful community at Vista Yoga!

What led you to yoga?
My spiritual side has always yearned to be fulfilled. I started running when I was 15 and the rhythm and quieting of my mind during that practice was very fulfilling. My other spiritual outlet when I was a child was in the mountains, walking on a beach or any time spent in the great outdoors.

I took my first yoga class in 2000. I was in my undergraduate in Boulder, Colorado and had a professor who required for the class to practice some sort of meditation. I took up yoga and zen. I practiced regularly for the next several years and then life, having kids, etc. consumed me and so I did not practice again until 2011 when I discovered Vista. I committed to daily yoga and Marti’s Saturday morning class in 2013 after my second son was born and I came out of my breast feeding haze. I have been practicing ever since and now it is part of my daily life.

What way has yoga changed your life that you are most grateful for/most amazed at?
That is really hard to answer because it is subtle and a slow process and I am still slowly discovering habits that are deeply imprinted in me. I guess that is it, the discovery and the slow transformation of letting go of things that I thought I needed but were actually causing me great suffering: over-trying – trying to fit a square peg into a round hole; gossiping – using negative words to connect to someone; taking things personally; not listening to others and my own inner voice.

One of my favorite daily mantras is – right thought, right word, and right action. Living with these principles is transformative.

What is your favorite yoga pose?
Vrikshasana or Tree pose. I love to feel focused and I envision how a tree has been just being for 100 years while everything changes around it.

How do you take yoga off the mat?
The mat in my worldview is just a way to hit refresh every day. Yoga is really a way to live life.

We have a family motto – be kind, work hard, and live simply. When my boys leave the house in the morning that is the last thing we say. Being present, engaged and non-harming is what yoga is to me and that is what I try to live every moment of the day.

What makes Vista so special?
The blending of the teachings and the movement. The spiritual practice is the root of the practice not in addition to the practice.

So many different people come to the studio. Today, there were older women and men, middle aged, teenagers and everyone had in common the dedication to the practice.

Marti and Marty are amazing too!