*Try to arrive to class early enough to be prepared and on your mat at the start time. Consider this part of your practice.

*Please turn your cell phone off. Additionally, maintain awareness of others in the room: the time before class is often a quiet, meditative space for us. Protect that space for others and they will do so for you. During class, maintain that space. Do ask for help if you need it, but questions and comments should be reserved until after class has ended.

*Yoga is practiced in bare feet, so please take off shoes and socks. Our feet have tiny receptors on the bottom that will not be able to touch the ground with socks or shoes on. Bare feet also prevent slips and falls and teach us balance.

*Come to class on an empty stomach. Wait about two hours after a big meal, one hour after a light snack.

*Wear clothes that you feel comfortable in but are not too loose or baggy. Shorts, athletic pants, and a tee shirt will be fine. You do not need to bring a thing to yoga class. I ask that you bring a mat if at all possible. If you like, you may bring a bottle of water, a small towel, etc.

*The aim is to calm the mind, open the heart, and stimulate personal transformation.

*You do not need to be flexible, strong, or ‘healthy’ to do yoga. The benefits of yoga begin in the most basic expressions of the postures, and can be reached by children, the aged, and the injured with ease.

*If it hurts, don’t do it.

*Sensation is the language of the body. Listen.

*Yoga opens your awareness to the world both within your body and outside it; be sensitive.

*The breath is the link between body and mind, conscious and unconscious, inside and outside. It directly affects the health and vitality of every tissue and every cell in the body. Changing the breath has immediate effect on the nervous system. Learning to use your breath allows you to change your energy level, ability to focus and concentrate capacity to respond well, and be at ease. It changes our bio-chemistry, lowers sucrose and serum cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and heart rate; balances secretion of hormones, enzymes, and neurotransmitters throughout the body; and works through both current and accumulated stress.

*In every class, there will be a posture that you can’t do. There may be times you need to rest. Rest when you need. Do what you can. With an ongoing practice, you will change quickly and profoundly.