Today I taught my first restorative yoga class. I’ve taught meditation, yin, yoga nidra, slow flow, and gentle flow/challenge, but never restorative. I’m sharing my class teaching with an another amazing teacher, as we are able to organize our every-other-weekends (hers with a daughter in travel sports, me with my 500-hour meditation teaching coursework), and this opening class was all me.

In this session, I shared the intention of exploring our space and spaces through breath and deep rest. It was lovely, it was expansive, and I could feel the depth of rest from my students upon returning to an easy seat.

I’ve been contemplating the idea of physical, mental, emotional, and heart-based space for the past few weeks in spiritual reading, journaling, mediation, and my own yoga practices. Before class, I spent a few hours at my favorite coffee shop exploring space through writing. Here are all of the questions I came up with today for you to consider, play with, journal, or meditate on. (We didn’t get to them all).

Enjoy!

25 Questions on Space

1. What does space mean to you?
2. Through what senses do you notice your space?
3. How do you take up space?
4. How much space do you have that you shrink from occupying? Why?
5. What if the stars and moon and Milky Way swirl we see in the sky filled the space inside of us? How would it feel?
6. What would it feel like to float in space?
7. What would it feel like to inhale that space?
8. In what spaces do you keep yourself small?
9. How do your thoughts of time (day, week, month) keep you small? Is there any way you can expand?
10. Where does your life keep you small? Feel into the spaces where you can expand.
11. How does your family keep you small? Where can you invite more of yourself?
12. How can you take up more space on your mat?
13. How can you take up more space in your body?
14. How can you take up more space as your authentic self?
15. How do you find space?
16. How do you know when you need more space?
17. Do you know when and what kind of space would make you feel more authentic?
    • What would they be?
    • How can you honor this?
    • How can you honor this when you’re under stress?
    • How can you honor it in some way every day?
    • Can you make space for space?
18. How do you make physical space for yourself?
19. How do you make mental space for yourself?
20. How do you make emotional space for yourself?
21. How do you make creative space for yourself?
22. How do you make playful space for yourself?
23. What if you take up space as the person you want to be? What fears come up? How can you release them?
24. Where do you notice space in your Self right now?
25. What space in your Self would you love to sink into right now?