My mom had been practicing yoga in my home town for about 12 years and had insisted since she started that I would “love it”. I resisted for about 10 years, with the misconception that yoga was only for “old ladies” who could no longer run or bike. About 1 year ago, I finally let her drag me to a yoga session and it only took about 20 minutes and I was hooked. Not only that, my body received it’s most complete workout in years!
When looking for yoga studios in Madison, Dragonfly caught my eye. I loved the number of classes, the childcare, and just the spectrum of options that it provided. I did the Groupon and within the first week, knew that I was here to stay.
Since starting, I have incorporated yoga into many of our vacations and time away from Madison. My husband makes fun of the fact that I will often pick vacation spots based on their proximity to yoga studios.
There are so many things I love about Dragonfly – I love the smiling faces when you walk in the door. I love that my son likes his childcare time as much as I enjoy my practice. I love the teachers and the different levels of instruction they provide for all their yogis. I love the free towels. Most of all, I love the fact that I walk in the door feeling like I’m carrying the world on my shoulders and leave feeling like I can breathe again.
When I began, I thought yoga was all about strength and flexibility. I now realize that it is so much more than that. On the surface, it is about linking breath to movement, but I think it is also about release: releasing your mind, body and soul. There is so much in life’s journey that you can link to your yoga practice and I often think of the saying, “The pose begins when you want to move on.” It is a reminder to me that I need to recognize when I start looking to the next thing rather than enjoying the moment and the journey. I always end my practice with reflections of gratitude and thankfulness. I feel that this completes each lesson for me and allows me to be ready to face life again when I walk out the door.
I try to practice at least 4 times a week, 5 times if I am lucky. I find if I don’t get my fix in, everyone suffers – my kids even start asking if I’ve gone to yoga lately.
I LOVE the flow classes and although all of the instructors are of the highest caliber, my particular favorites are Kaila, Katie, Erica, Carrie and Kristin. You’ll often find me at the Monday 9:30am Core Flow with Katie, the Tuesday 11:00am Flow with Carrie, the Thursday 4:00pm Flow (used to be with Kristin), and the Friday 9:00am Flow with Kaila. On Saturday mornings, I often find myself with Erica (before maternity leave) at 8:00am as well.
I can’t thank you enough for enabling all of us to experience and embrace hot yoga as part of our lives.
Instructor Katie Frank: “Kaitie has a powerful and spiritual practice. She is someone I love to observe in class, demonstrating un-boasting strength and fearlessness and providing inspiration for my own practice. Always the first to greet you with a smile, Kaitie is a true Dragonfly yogi!”
