So Hum: Self Expression Through Yoga

Model: Megan Windeler     Photography: Faern

Yoga doesn’t just happen on the yoga mat. If you’re a yoga student, your practice goes with you during your commute, at the dinner table, and, yes, even when you’re waiting for the train. Just close your eyes, take a deep breath, and Voila! Yoga! In fact, if you just broaden your definition of yoga a bit, there’s a lot more yoga happening out on the streets than in yoga studios. I love seeing people practice in unconventional places.

As a yoga teacher, I can tell a lot about a person by watching their poses—their body’s strengths and weaknesses. But I still think I can tell more about the essence of the person when I run into them on the sidewalk. People’s personalities really shine through their choice of clothing, accessories, where they spend their time, and how they present themselves. Since yoga is really all about letting that essence, your authentic self, shine through into everything you do, I thought it would be fun to combine yoga, fashion, culture, and art.

So I teamed up with the fabulous yogi-artist Faern to find yogis practicing their yoga and highlight the beauty of their unique practice. Every month, we’ll feature one stunning fabulous photograph of a yoga student practicing in a place and wearing clothes that she feels represents her true essence.

Come back often to see more inspiring yogis practicing yoga their way.

The above photo is our model for May 2011, Megan Windeler

“I am kinda a no-frills yogi. I love the practice. I love the holding the basic shapes for a long time, exploring the spaces until some deeper, more blingy variation grows.” – Megan*

Yoga is deceptively simple. You unroll a mat and you stretch a little. What could be simpler than that?! But once you get into the practice you can see there’s so much more beneath the surface. The poses are just a very small part. The simplest of poses can be extremely complex at the same time when you pay attention to the little nuances and the energy that make it special.

Like Megan, many of us see ourselves as no-frills yogis—the human equivalent of the simplest poses: Triangle, Warrior 2, Downward Dog. Through the practice of yoga, we get to know ourselves better. We notice how just one little tweak—a stronger grounding of the back foot or a more completely engaged thigh—can change everything. We feel the subtle shifts of energy inside of us. Suddenly, we see how that basic pose is more complex and amazing than we ever dreamed it could be. That’s how transformation happens. In life, the yoga is in seeing that we are simple and complex at the same time—that we are perfectly imperfect no matter how we present ourselves in this world.

*Read a complete interview with Megan here.

So-Hum is a series of blog posts and photographs that celebrates individuality, style, and deep self-refection that naturally evolves from the practice of yoga. Models are asked to pose in everyday attire that expresses who they are as a person and yoga practitioner.

Would you like to take part in this project as a model? Please be in touch by emailing this address [email protected] and we’ll send more information. If you are not in the Bay Area or planning a visit, do not worry, there are travel plans afoot, subscribe to the blogs http://www.faern-in-the-works.com  and http://spoiledyogi.blogspot.com  to keep in touch and get updates on travel plans”

Faern is a yoga practitioner and photographer in San Francisco. Visit her website, follow her on Twitter, or like her on Facebook.