Watson Jordan has been a fixture at HYA for more than a decade, tracing his practice back to January 2014 with more than 1,200 classes under his belt! His practice started with Hot 26 and has expanded ever since. He loves the stillness of Yin and he’s also an avid handstander.
It was the studio’s closure during Covid in 2020, however, that he realized how much yoga and HYA meant to him.
“Hope lives in community. Specifically Hope lives at the yoga studio,” Watson said. “It started with seeing people do handstands, thinking to myself…I would like to do that [inspiration] and then asking them to help me begin. It came into painful focus during a sunny pandemic afternoon. I was taking a class in the parking lot behind the studio. Heather came up and asked how I was. I replied that my heart was broken by the studio’s current situation [heroically killing itself to stay alive]. It was true that I missed the classes, instructors, heat, and intention. What I really missed was the community. Seeing someone in class whom I had tremendous fondness for, yet, had never met and didn’t even know their name created a lush foundation of belonging and hope. That essence of community is what I missed and what the studio was hanging onto by a thread.
“That type of belonging is what we have learned NOT to take for granted. The type of community our studio generates with each inhale and exhale. That is where hope lives.”
Watson’s first class was in January 2014 and much has changed since then.
“During those years my children graduated from college and launched independent lives. I have experienced a carnival ride of business successes and disasters. Books have been written, speeches given, and team events facilitated. Ebbs and flows of life seeped into the foundational strata that the studio fortified and supported. My body shifted slowly into a more flexible healthy one with dynamically improved energy. My mind gained structure, strength, and clarity, and, when the wind was right, my spirit experienced and retained a bit more wisdom during those same years. As a Universal Spiritualist my becoming a better and better person can be traced directly to my practice and the people I have come to love at the studio.”
HYA: Why is it important for you to have diverse yoga practice?
Watson: Variety and challenge – after a while they become complementary – not a conflict and not a completion
HYA: What styles do you incorporate into your practice & why?
Watson:
Hot 26: for Foundation
Flow: for Fluidity
Yin: for Recovery
Yoga Nidra: for Spirituality
HYA: What is your advice to students considering diversifying their practice?
Watson: Do it now. I was afraid I could not do Flow or Yin –in retrospect silly assumptions and beliefs holding me back. If you have ever wondered about trying a new class – DO IT. The universe rewards action.
