About Steve Hubbard

“Simply Breath, feel, flow and you will find connection”

I am originally from the suburbs just outside of Buffalo N.Y.. I have been an athlete since the age of five but did not step into a yoga studio until I was 25 years old. Someone had told me that yoga would help my volleyball game and it did that plus a whole lot more. After walking out of my first class I knew that I had stumbled onto a practice that had the potential to transform my entire life.

My body felt as though I just had a full body massage and I had a powerful feeling of peace throughout me. I had never known what it was like for my mind to be still before. Since then I have passionately sought to deepen my practice and to have this stillness permeate every area of my life.

Yoga is a gift

I still struggle to answer when people ask me “what is yoga?”. This is because yoga is so deep and extensive and involves so many different things which makes it hard to find a simple answer that everyone can understand. The simplest definition I can think of is yoga is the oldest known science that is designed to create and maintain physical health, emotional balance and mental clarity. A blank stare would usually ensue and I knew they were thinking “how?”. When I sit and ponder yoga and it’s depth there is always one word that constantly comes to me “CONNECTION”. Yoga fosters connection in many different ways and on many levels.

When in yoga we start to become aware of the areas of tightness and tension so that they can be removed we start to develop a deeper connection with our own bodies. We literally start to open up and strengthen places and muscles that we never knew were there. I have heard mny new practitioners say” wow, I’m sore in places I never even knew were there”. Yoga is never about how deep or how far we can go in an asana. In yoga you just want to feel sensation. On some days we may want to deepen the sensation and on others lessen it. It is simply a process of connecting to and listening to our bodies because it is constantly speaking to us through the language of sensation.

As our practice deepens we start to become aware of the profound stillness that yoga creates in our minds. For many like myself this is the first time that we have ever been aware of stillness in our minds. Many of us spend our days with our minds elsewhere or scattered thinking about the past or future. This stillness brings us into the present moment which is truely the only place we can live our lives.

We cannot live in the past or future, only the present. It is in stillness that we find our true selves. Labels of the ego start to fall away (ex. lawyer, student, alcoholic). We can then discover the very spiritual beings that we all are. When we approach our lives from a place of stillness we will find ourselves being less reactive to situations and things that do not serve us.

When we start to live yoga we can start to realize how interconnected all beings and the universe is. There is no longer he and I, there is only us and our connection to oneness. Oneness is the knowing that all beings are made of and are perfect expressions of divine energy.

This can change every realationship we have in our lives. The knowing and feeling that everything is connected is a shift in consciousness. Take a minute to ponder this what what this world would be like if everyone practiced yoga. I suspect there would be a radical change towards a better world.

If all of this seems a little too deep, do not worry. Simply be open and receptive to what this practice of yoga offers. Try not to have expectations for they are the source of let down. It all starts with a single conscious breath.

Namaste

Steve Hubbard