I remember walking into my first yoga class 14 years ago.
The teacher greeted me warmly and told me to grab a mat. I told her it was my first time. I didn't recognize anyone. I was worried I might be taking someone's usual spot. I had no idea what to expect.
There were white Christmas lights along the front of the room, and when the teacher dimmed the lights, I remember thinking, This is going to be way too easy for me.
At the time, I was a 43-year-old runner and spin instructor. This was not what I considered exercise.
But I was nursing a running injury, so I kept going back. Twice a week.
About five weeks later, I was settling onto my couch at home. I threw my legs up and crossed them, and stopped.
I couldn't believe how comfortable I felt in my own body.
Oh my God. It's the yoga.
That was it. I was sold.
And when I like something, I tend to go all in.
I started visiting different studios and trying different kinds of yoga. I wanted to hear how different teachers cued the same poses. I learned something from every class. To this day, when I travel, I look for a yoga class because I want to experience another teacher's take on the practice.
Then I discovered YogaDownload.
Suddenly I had hundreds of classes, teachers, styles and lengths of practice available to me at home.
I dove in.
And somewhere along the way, without really realizing it, I became a home yogi.
I loved the freedom.
If I've been sick and my body needs something gentle, I can choose a restorative class. If my brain won't shut down before bed, I can find 20 minutes of yoga for sleep. Some days I want to sweat. Other days I just need to stretch.
I can choose the teacher, the style, the length of the class and the time of day.
And I don't have to leave my house.
There was only one thing missing.
Community.
Once a year, I go on a yoga retreat. For a week, I practice twice a day with people who also love yoga enough to build a vacation around it. We talk about teachers, classes, poses, injuries, routines and everything else that comes up when you're spending a week together.
By the end, we've become our own little community. And we're genuinely sad when it's over.
It recently occurred to me, Why can't home yogis have that too?
I don't want to give up the freedom of practicing at home. I don't want to attend the same class at the same time every week just to have a yoga community.
And I can't possibly be the only person who feels that way.
There must be other people practicing yoga in their bedrooms, living rooms and basements who would love to talk to someone about the online teacher they just discovered, the retreat they loved, the class that finally helped their back, or the fact that they've had a hard time getting on the mat lately.
So I decided to create a place for us.
It's called The Living Room.
It's an online community specifically for people who practice yoga at home, a place to talk about our practices, teachers, routines and challenges and to learn from one another.
And I want it to be deliberately low commitment.
Come into the Living Room once a week if you want. You don't need to check a feed every day. You don't need another social media platform demanding your attention.
There are no political ads. No current-events outrage. No endless stream of people telling you to eat better, work harder or somehow become better.
Just other home yogis.
Because maybe the thing we love most about practicing yoga at home, the freedom to practice our own way, doesn't have to mean practicing alone.
If you're a home yogi and this sounds like something you've been missing too, I'd love to have you join us in The Living Room at HomeFlow Yoga.