At Union, we don’t “put you in a pose” – we adapt the yoga to the individual. Why take this approach?

Students have different starting points in practice, and unique goals and circumstances.   We all want good health and sustaining energy. We’d like to release unwanted physical or mental tension.  And we often come to yoga for peace, spiritual connection, or self-awareness. 

But if the practice is to be appropriate, the methods of reaching these goals are as varied as we are as people.   In the context of a full life, our intentions for practice usually change depending on our age, our psychology, our household commitments, and can even vary with the season or the time of day when we practice.

Despite the many approaches to yoga today, few are thoughtfully adapted to individual psychology and fitness.   Personal practice is not a style or a branded product, it is a restoration of Yoga in an era of standardized practice.  Sri T Krishnamacharya who founded this approach emphasized the principles of individualized teaching: place, constitution, time of day, context of daily work and avocation, interest, and capacity.  (Find out more about Sri T Krishnamacharya). 

Personal practice is a progressive, breath-centered approach. It respects individual differences in age and health — and even in culture, spiritual beliefs, and temperament.  Personal practice offers the student a positive synthesis of the physical improvements of yoga and psychological growth.  The result is a much happier life.