New Year’s Eve Yoga: Take Savasana Instead of a Shot
As New Year’s Eve quickly approaches, many of us feel the undeniable pressure to make extravagant plans. But finding the perfect outfit is stressful, and overpriced dinners and over-served drinkers often make the evening feel more humdrum than hoorah.
While everyone else is out scrambling for a dinner reservation, come ring in the new year (and decade!) with us at our Bloomfield and Glen Rock studios. Sure, it may seem strange to party at PFY instead of Le Bain, but New Year’s Eve can be a super special time to practice yoga. Plus, you won’t have to worry about twisting your ankle stumbling in sky-high heels.
Here, we’ve summed up why you might try taking savasana instead of a shot this New Year’s Eve.
You’ll meet new friends
Friendship is truly the heart of yoga. Derived from the Sanskrit root yuj meaning to yoke or unite, yoga helps each of us to form better relationships with our bodies, minds and spirits. (Sidenote: if spirit sounds too woo-woo, think community.)
Yoga postures help us release deeply held tension like a stiff muscle, a difficult emotion or an unfulfilled expectation. Whenever we experience physical or emotional tightness, we tend to harden; we clench stress with white knuckles. But as we learn to soften, our suits of armor dissolve away. Our hearts awaken, and we enjoy more intimacy in our relationships.
You will form countless connections spending time on your mat. Whether you flash a warm smile to your neighbor, or you forge a deeper, more personal friendship, practicing yoga fosters a sense of camaraderie that transcends a 75-minute class.
You’ll set achievable goals
Resolutions are the hallmark of New Year’s Eve. People everywhere commit to bettering themselves, but let’s face it: Most of us lose steam by February. Our willpower diminishes not because we’re lazy, but because our priorities are skewed.
When people resolve to get healthy, it’s often by cutting something out like sugar or social media. The intention is usually driven by self-loathing rather than self-love. Yoga teaches us that we are not inherently broken or deficient, and that we do not need to be fixed. Rather, we practice yoga to remember our innate wholeness–that we are already complete.
Yoga and meditation help to quiet the incessant, surface-level chatter in our minds. When we relax into this soft and peaceful headspace—the still water beneath the turbulent surface—our deeper desires bubble up. Practicing yoga on New Year’s Eve helps us to find the courage we need to listen kindly to the wisdom in our hearts.
You’ll usher in the new year with more clarity
“Create a clearing in the dense forest of your life,” penned the poet Martha Postlewaite. Living in the New York City metropolitan area, we are always on the go. Have you ever noticed how often you rush to the next destination? We’re essentially a society of over-caffeinated squirrels scurrying from place to place. We’re natural-born go-getters with over-scheduled calendars, too many deadlines and not enough time to chill out. We’re so busy striving to keep up that we forget to stop and savor our lives as they’re happening for us.
A lot of people spend New Year’s Eve at a party, only to spend New Year’s Day nursing a hangover. But when you give up the glitz and glam for some sweaty self-care, you’ll begin 2020 with a sense of clarity. By practicing instead of partying, you interrupt your habitual managerial patterns, and set yourself up for success in the new decade.
Come join us on New Year’s Eve
Cheryl Barclay is leading the party at PFY Bloomfield. Her New Year, Who Dis? hot yoga class starts at 10:30 pm with a midnight toast to follow.
Erika Tsimbalov is offering a special two-hour sound bath at PFY Glen Rock. Cheers to the new decade at midnight, and stay for a Hot Powerflow Vinyasa with Sarah Brey after.
