Refuge Yoga

This is the most common excuse I hear. And it's the most backwards one.

A systematic review published in the International Journal of Yoga by Woodyard found that regular yoga practice improved flexibility, strength, and balance while simultaneously reducing cortisol, blood pressure, and markers of chronic inflammation.

You don't need to be flexible to start yoga. Yoga is how you become flexible. Stiffness is the invitation, not the disqualification.

Yoga isn't about the shape your body makes. It's about the conversation between your breath and your tension. Every exhale is your body releasing what it no longer needs.

And the benefits go far beyond flexibility. Reduced anxiety. Better sleep. Improved balance that prevents falls. Lower blood pressure. These aren't side effects. They're the main event.

Your body isn't too stiff for yoga. It's stiff because it's been waiting for you to move it gently, consistently, without judgment.

What's one stretch you could try tomorrow morning before you check your phone?

Breath is one of the fastest ways to interrupt momentum.

Not the kind happening around you.
The kind happening inside you.

The spiral.
The rush.
The story getting louder while the body starts treating it like danger.

A steady breath will not solve everything.

But it can stop the nervous system from handing the situation even more power than it already has.

That matters.

Because once the body is less hooked, clarity has a chance to come back online.

Breath isn't decoration.

It's one of the simplest tools you have when your mind starts running faster than the moment itself.

Great affirmations/mantras!

We will be sighing more in class…..

Sip, Sip, Sigh: Could Three Words Change How Your Nervous System Works? The neuroscience behind your body's built-in calm button, and how to press it on purpose.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSehCrI3CqwG7TSdFiIpE6ZSOXJYHUxZgI5wdr4DeUTxg-moAQ/viewform

Hi friends! Please fill out the 2026 Refuge Yoga Participation Form - - even if you are a regular student. I've done a terrible job in the past keeping up with waiver forms in paper form at class. I think this system will help streamline things. I appreciate you!!

2026 Refuge Yoga Participation Form This is your waiver and data collection form to participate in any/all activities hosted by Refuge Yoga in 2026. This form must be completed entirely before the start of any in-person or online event or yoga session, public or private. Be assured, your personal information remains private with me. I...

In case I ever forget to say this.

I wanted to share this with you, my much loved students, on this Ash Wednesday ❤️

In a time when so much is crumbling, is burning, I don’t want to romanticize the ashes that come with destruction and devastation. As we approach Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent, I do want to keep asking what the Holy One can do with dust, and to keep looking for how I can be part of that. So many blessings to you, beloved ones, as the new season arrives.

BLESSING THE DUST

All those days
you felt like dust,
like dirt,
as if all you had to do
was turn your face
toward the wind
and be scattered
to the four corners

or swept away
by the smallest breath
as insubstantial—

did you not know
what the Holy One
can do with dust?

This is the day
we freely say
we are scorched.

This is the hour
we are marked
by what has made it
through the burning.

This is the moment
we ask for the blessing
that lives within
the ancient ashes,
that makes its home
inside the soil of
this sacred earth.

So let us be marked
not for sorrow.
And let us be marked
not for shame.
Let us be marked
not for false humility
or for thinking
we are less
than we are

but for claiming
what God can do
within the dust,
within the dirt,
within the stuff
of which the world
is made
and the stars that blaze
in our bones
and the galaxies that spiral
inside the smudge
we bear.

—Jan Richardson
from Circle of Grace: A Book of Blessings for the Seasons
janrichardson.com/books

Image: “Ash Wednesday Cross”
© Jan Richardson
janrichardsonimages.com

Lent starts on Wednesday , February 18. I'm reading the plan 'Lent 2026 | Guided Journey to Matthew & Psalms'. Check it out here:

Lent 2026 | Guided Journey to Matthew & Psalms Celebrate Lent with a powerful forty-day journey following Jesus through the Gospel of Matthew, with traditional Lenten Psalms each Sunday. The story comes alive each day as Through the Word’s ten-minute audio guides walk you through each chapter with clear explanation and engaging storytelling. F...

I (Brenda) will be unavailable to teach 2/24-4/24. Please note, my amazing sub, Cheri, will teach 2/25, 3/4, 3/25, 4/8, and 4/22.

Send a message to learn more