Mat Chat with Michelle

Yoga is more than shapes on a mat.

These recaps from my in-person classes explore the deeper layers of yoga philosophy, breathwork, and Ayurveda, helping you bring the practice into everyday life. Sign up for blog updates and receive fresh inspiration, class recaps, and deep dives into Yoga and Ayurveda—delivered straight to your inbox.

Balancing More Than the Body

Throughout the month, we explored how steadiness applies to the breath, to our thoughts, to our intentions, and to the way we consistently return to our practice—even (especially) when life gets full.

The Dance With the Tension of Life

The dancer’s pose—named after Nataraja, a form of Shiva, the cosmic dancer. In the story, Shiva dances the rhythm of creation and destruction, a divine movement so powerful that when his lifted foot touches the earth, the world as we know it dissolves. A potent symbol of transformation—and of the fragility and beauty of every moment.

Strong Yet Supple

Yoga offers us tangible tools—like tree pose, warrior sequences, and mindful transitions—to experience physical balance. But it also reminds us that balance isn’t just about the body. It’s about mind, energy, and intention.

Steadiness Amidst the Swirling

In our yoga practice and in life, this principle, known as sthira in Sanskrit, reminds us that steadiness isn’t something we wait to feel before we begin. It’s something we cultivate as we move through the whirling.

The Breath, the Body, and the Breakthrough

I wasn’t even sure if I was going to share this. But the more I sat with it, the more I realized how much these personal events of fear, breathlessness, and of surrendering this past week, lives at the very heart yoga, of my yoga in practice.

Healing Through Surrender

There’s a funny thing about surrender… it’s often the lesson we resist the most, yet it’s the one we need the most. Surrender is not something that comes easily to most of us, especially when life throws us challenges that we don’t feel ready for.

What Are You Holding Onto?

If you’ve been practicing and following along with me, you know we’ve been working through heart-opening postures this month. But opening the heart isn’t just about deep backbends—it’s about letting go, trusting, softening the grip we so often hold on life.

At the Heart of Surrender

By embracing heart-opening and surrender, we create room for more love, more ease, and more trust in the unfolding of our lives.

Honouring Agni Beyond Food

Here I was, having spent the past month teaching about the importance of tending our digestive fire and personal power, only to find myself completely burned out.

Finding Your Inner Drive When Motivation is Low

If you’ve been feeling stuck, unmotivated, or just plain meh, you’re not alone. The urge to hunker down under eight blankets and mindlessly scroll is real. But here’s the thing—how we spend our energy matters.