You love yoga! You love the asanas: how they cultivate strength and flexibility. You love working with your breath and its connection to subtle life-force energy. You love the deep relaxation and metal clarity that arises naturally after an hour on the mat. You love the insights born of meditation practice: how your sense of self expands to include the entire universe and all beings within it.
You also love your spouse or partner! And so, of course, you wish to share the wealth and joy of yoga with your beloved. What’s the best way to do this?
First, just to state what is probably already obvious to you, but bears repeating: you can’t force someone to do something or to like something…right? You can likely remember a time when your mother (or father) tried to cajole you into eating this or that vegetable – because it’s good for you. How well did that work? The best way to pique your partner’s interest in yoga is to fully embody and emanate the benefits of the practice yourself. When your spouse sees you becoming more relaxed and youthful, they’ll naturally feel curious about how this is happening.
And then, don’t be shy talking about how good a yoga practice makes you feel or sharing some of what you’ve learned about yoga’s history or philosophy. When you embody and express your passion for this ancient practice, it’s bound to be contagious!
But it’s important to encourage your partner to find what he/she is most passionate about. Maybe it will be yoga, maybe it will be painting or poetry or gardening or cross-country skiing. Support him or her in following the thread of his or her interests with enthusiasm.
And then, when a holiday, birthday or Valentine’s Day rolls around, you can consider offering a gift of a month unlimited to Evolation Yoga for $49.00! This will give them the opportunity to explore a wide range of classes and find the styles and teachers that they resonate with. And since you’ve already made it clear that what you most want for him or her is to find his or her own way, the gift is likely to be received in this open-hearted, compassionate spirit.