How to integrate integrity into your yoga practice

In yoga, integrity refers to the alignment of one’s actions, thoughts, and values. It involves living with honesty, authenticity, and a sense of moral responsibility in all aspects of life. Integrity is one of the foundational principles of yoga, guiding us in our journey toward self-awareness, personal growth, and spiritual development. So how exactly can we apply integrity in our yoga practice? There are a few elements to consider. When you step on your mat, allow the intention of integrity to guide your physical movement, breath, and focus.

1.       Asana (Physical Integrity)

When it comes to the physical poses of yoga, integrity refers to the positioning of your body in each posture to promote safety, stability, and optimal energy flow. It involves moving with awareness, mindfulness, and proper alignment. The goal of physical integrity is to prevent injury while promoting muscle engagement & strength, joint health and stability, and enhancing the mind-body connection.

2.       Pranayama (Breath Integrity)

In Sanskrit, “prana” means life energy and “yama” means control. This gives us pranayama: regulation of your breath (or life force). Breath integrity means maintaining conscious, steady, and controlled breath throughout your practice. It involves aligning your breath with specific movements, patterns, and intentions. One example is inhaling when you’re opening your body (like in extended mountain pose) and exhaling when you are closing your body (like when you bow into a forward fold.) Another example is using breath focus to keep your awareness in your body and out of your head. By cultivating breath integrity, you can access the profound benefits of pranayama, supporting physical health, mental clarity, and spiritual awakening.

3.       Drishti (Focal Integrity)

Drishti is a Sanskrit word that translates to “gaze” or “sight.” Finding a focused gaze or point of concentration plays a significant role in enhancing focus, balance, and inner awareness. Drishti can be used during the practice of asana, as well as meditation. Finding your Drishti in a balancing pose can help your stability in the posture as you fix your gaze on a specific spot in front of you. In meditation, finding your Drishti means focusing on a specific inner focal point to anchor your mind and deepen concentration. By integrating Drishti in your practice, you can experience deeper levels of presence, focus, and transformation on and off the mat.

Be Kind to Your Mind 20-Day Journey

Ready for a refresh? Join us for the Be Kind To Your Mind 20-Day Journey!

We’ll embark on a 20-day journey starting May 9th - May 29th to support our mind-body well-being through a daily yoga + meditation practice!  Whether you join us in-studio or online, it’s going to be empowering, nourishing, & challenging in the best way. 

When you sign-up for this challenge, we'll send you:

• A LIVE 10-minute community meditation @ 7AM every day via Zoom. Can’t make it? You’ll receive a link to the replay with access for 7 days. 

• Simple strategies to support your mental health and develop a meditation practice.

• A calendar with a recommended meditation or yoga practice from the OnDemand library. Taking a class in-studio or on Zoom is always an option for each day of the 20-day journey!

• A playlist to accompany your yoga practice at home or bring a little more joy as you move about your day!

Benefits of meditation*:

• promotes better sleep

• reduces stress & anxiety

• relieves pains

• improves symptoms of depression

• boosts memory & slows cognitive decline

• sharpens focus & concentration

*Research from Laura Dan, BSc, NDTR & Medically reviewed by Dr. Christopher Knee, ND

All the ways you can practice during the 20 days May 9 - 29th:

• In-person at our two studios, La Crosse & Holmen

• Live, Online over Zoom

• OnDemand recording or replays from a live Zoom class

Win prizes! Complete the challenge, snap a picture of your calendar to email to hello@palmandpineyoga.com, and be entered to WIN swag for you + a friend! In order to be eligible to win all daily yoga practices must be with PALM + PINE.

Bonus entries: Share your journey on social media by tagging @palmandpineyoga

How to participate: FREE for members! Not yet a member? Sign-up today and cancel anytime with a 30-day notice. New to PALM + PINE or haven’t visited for a while? Sign-up for our 20-day membership trial for $40.

• $88 if you sign-up to become a member today. Auto-renews every 30 days. Cancel anytime with a 30-day notice. 

• $99 to gift this experience to a loved one or join yourself as an unlimited member for one month (not auto-renewing, only available for purchase till May 9th)

• New to PALM + PINE? Sign-up for our 20-day membership trial for $40

February from the Mat - Join Us for a Community Challenge

Drawing inspiration from the book: Meditations From The Mat, we’ll explore ways to live and practice yoga every day for the month of February.

“Everything all the time…” - The Eagles

“At first glance, the eight-limb path appears to lend itself to a linear approach. It would seem to make sense: you do the first limb, then you proceed to the second, and so on. In fact, we take up all the limbs together. As the line in the Eagles song goes, we do everything all the time. It’s not possible to practice the first two limbs, the yamas and niyamas, without the support of the practices outlines by the other limbs. As we practice asana and pranayama, the postures and breathwork that comprise the third and fourth limbs, we refine our relationship to our body, creating the necessary circumstances for brahmacharya, or moderation, the fourth yama. To practice living in the truth, or satya, the second yama, we must have a mind that has to let go of the habit of distraction and developed the habit of concentration. Concentration is deliberately cultivated in dharana, the sixth limb. We must actually do everything all the time.

Our yoga practice makes this possible. Each time we come to the mat, we have an opportunity to work the entire path, moment by moment. As we move through the postures we are constantly enacting each aspect of the path. Our bodies, our breath, our minds, and our choices are being refined in the laboratory that is our yoga mat. As this symphony becomes established on our mats, it becomes established in our lives as well. Driving to work, mailing a letter, meeting a friend for lunch all become part of the uninterrupted flow of our yoga practice. We are doing our yoga all the time.” - Meditations from the Mat

What’s Included

This challenge will be totally remote. Showing up to the yoga mat in the studio or at home both count towards your daily practice.

• A guided exploration through the 8 limbs of yoga framed by Meditations From The Mat by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison

• A weekly email with themes, selected readings, journal prompts, suggested practices & resources

• Access to the entire Digital Studio library & live Zoom classes for your daily practice

• A private Facebook group to chat with each other about the challenge, ask questions, share your aha moments and support each other

• A weekly live 15-minute practice each Tuesday within the Facebook group

• Shared Google doc to track and check-off your daily yoga practice

• Four live Zoom gatherings every Thursday from 7:15 - 8pm to align on a shared intention and discuss nuggets of wisdom from each limb. These will be recorded and made available to anyone who can’t attend

We’ll start the month by committing to 25 minutes of practice every day and building to 40 minutes a day by the end of the month.

Cost & Sign Up

Active Digital Studio subscribers can sign up for FREE! At checkout, you will receive an automatic 100% discount. If you’re not a subscriber yet, you can join this 28-day challenge for just $28 ($1 a day)!

Click here to say YES and sign-up today!

A year in review

There has been a F;)K ton to move through this year and we all have had our parts to play. Our part, now and into 2021, is to ensure we’re supporting the efforts of the frontline workers, public health professionals, and civil rights leaders, as part of our vision & work - which is to provide YOU with options, information, and a supportive community so you can empower yourself to be healthy and cultivate a yoga practice that grows with you! And, to raise our community through health, healing, and learning.

Here are things we did this year, together:

Hosted 7400+ visits to the yoga mat (includes check-ins only)

Pivoted from the traditional in-studio only environment to the inclusion of digital classes, courses, and trainings so we could stay connected while staying safe at home (check out the WXOW clip here)

Created a digital subscription with live Zoom classes and OnDemand classes ranging from 20 - 60 minutes, providing more options and ways to maintain a consistent practice

Hired Jackie and Kayla, our media mavens, to help with the pivoting

Found new ways to gather in-studio while following state and local COVID health & safety guidelines

Adapted our business model & pricing structure to make yoga accessible to a wider audience

Contributed $2000+ towards scholarships

Held a community practice for local womxn and mothers at no-cost

Held a community practice for local BIPOC and LatinX folks at no-cost

Held a virtual 30-day yoga community challenge at no-cost

Continued our business sponsorship of The Center: 7 Rivers LGBTQ and Holmen Business Association

Partnered with the La Crosse School District, La Crosse Public Library, Holmen High School & Middle School to provide yoga for educators, students, and families

Purchased $250+ worth of diapers and wipes for the Parenting Place

Partnered with the Parenting Place to deliver mindfulness kits to 100+ families in Holmen & La Crosse

Donated $200 to New Horizon’s Shelter & Outreach Center

Became more resilient, flexible, grounded, and gracious

Continued to show-up to the yoga mat and do the work!

We certainly have a lot of reasons to pause and celebrate. So, let’s do just that!
(Like, actually get up and dance now!)

Thank you for being on this journey with us. Cheers to 2021 being less of a $h*tshow and another year of growth, together, on and off the yoga mat!