My Obsession with Practicing Outdoors, Explained
Ever since I became a yoga teacher, teaching outside has been my thing.
The word yoga is derived from the Sanskrit yuj, which means “to yoke” or “to join.” In one sense, yoga - the postures (asana), breathing practices (pranayama), and meditation (dhyāna) - helps us connect mind, body, and spirit. More expansively, though, it reminds us that through practice, we are also connecting to everyone and everything around us: family, friends, ancestors, community, the natural world, the universe, even the unseen spirit world.
As an anxious over-thinker who is also easily overstimulated - and a bit of an introvert -I find grounding in nature essential. Teaching outside helps me reconnect, and it helps me guide others toward that same sense of connection. To feel woven into everything around us - that is, to me, the essence of yoga.
On the beach, yoga feels less like exercise and more like remembering—remembering we are part of something vast and timeless.
Practically speaking, teaching outdoors also makes me a better teacher and a more self-compassionate practitioner. The environment is never the same: temperature, humidity, breeze, sunlight or clouds, the firmness of the ground, the presence of others nearby (hello the craziness of practicing in public spaces!). Even if I led the same sequence again and again (I don’t, but one could), it would never be the same practice.
And that matters, because the body we bring to the mat is also never the same. Sleep, food, hydration, commuting, stress: each influences how we feel and move. What feels possible one day may feel unreachable the next, and that doesn’t define the quality or depth of practice. We change just as much as the weather, and that’s a natural state.
Outdoors, we’re reminded that everything is fluid, always shifting. Practicing in nature invites us into peaceful - and sometimes playful - surrender to what actually is.
When I guide yoga, it’s never about the poses themselves. It’s about creating space to experience connection within ourselves and with our surroundings, right here in the present moment. The asanas are just one doorway into that experience. And when the setting happens to be the beach… well, the view can’t be beat.
“Try to accept the changing seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the changing seasons that pass over your fields.” — Rumi
And so, as we move into autumn, I still keep an eye on the weather and sunrise/sunset - and we’ll be out on the beach practicing together whenever we can!
❤️ P.S. - Bring a sweater, and note the time changes for both evenings and weekends.
Breathe as deep as the sea, be as steady as the sand.
