Yoga at OHM Newsletter Vicyasa™ 11/10 - 11/16/2025: WHO’S GIVING, WHO’S GETTING?

THE GIFT OF YOGA: WHO’S GIVING, WHO’S GETTING, AND HOW TO TAKE IT BEYOND THE MAT
"For it is in giving that we receive" - Saint Francis of Assisi

(This week's newsletter was composed by our dynamic on-demand teacher and full time writer Elinor Cohen. Check out her Instagram HERE and her amazingly empowering advanced & intermediate sessions on our on-demand archives.)

Every year around the holidays, the topic of gift giving creeps up. While the holidays are about so much more than presents, it would be remiss to say that gifts don’t play a role in the festivities. After all, look around you. The endless supply of ads and promotions for sales, discounts, deals, and specials all promote the same message: BUY, GIVE, GET! That’s consumerism for you. Alas, it doesn’t all have to be so material.  

Let’s introduce yoga into the equation and explore the idea of yoga being a gift.

First things first, can yoga be a gift? Of course it can. In the literal sense, you could buy or receive a class pack or membership to a studio, but the actual yoga practice could also be a gift in and of itself.

The yoga practice is special. It teaches us to reorganize and reframe our thoughts, principles, and priorities. It emphasizes a connection between body, mind, and breath.  It encourages us to slow down and appreciate the present that is presence. It allows us to get lost in the flow of movement and connection; to do the dance of simply existing and to witness that beauty.

Yoga is a gift for the students as well as for the instructors. Both are simultaneously gift givers and recipients. The teachers and studios give students space, grace, and guidance. The students reciprocate by giving teachers the opportunity to express their creativity and share their wisdom with hungry, earnest, appreciative minds. In that sense, it is a beautiful symbiotic relationship and one that poses the question who is giving and who is giving? Can it be both at the same time? Can all gifts work that way?

Absolutely. Think about it - while it’s fun to get a new sweater, isn’t it just as fun and fulfilling to present that new sweater to your friend who you know has been eyeing it for months? Doesn’t the act of giving it to them fill you with a warm sensation inside? No, that’s not the Mongolian cashmere nor is it the external heat of the 105 degree yoga room. It’s the knowledge that you’ve given someone something they wouldn’t otherwise have. It feels fantastic to receive something from someone who you know put time, energy, thought, care, and effort into it; it feels just as amazing to give that to someone who you can see appreciates and values it.

When you think about gifts in this way, you see that they always go both ways as long as the manner in which they come about is done with integrity and non attachment, or a lack of expectation to receive in return.

This holiday season, I invite you to rethink how you experience gifts. Focus on the feelings, both the ones that come from receiving gifts as well as those that come from delivering them.


MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™...
Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model.

What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me.

Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment.

PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK!
If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE!

RATES:

• $65 for 30 days of UNLIMITED ON-DEMAND VIDEO CLASSES
• $17 for 1 pre-recorded class (24 hour access from purchase)

PAYMENT:
VENMO -- @Vicyasa
Paypal -- [email protected]

NAMASTE,
Victor Cotto
www.YogaWithVictor.com
Instagram: CottoVic
Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™