​It’s time for another installment of our series “Your Body on Yoga.” We’ve been looking at the many different systems of the body and considering how yoga keeps these systems healthy throughout a lifetime of use. One thing that jumps out for me is the realization that Yoga truly is a holistic system for our overall wellbeing; EVERY system of the body is nurtured by our yoga practices. 

This is the last post for 2025 and what a fitting time to discuss the elimination system since we typically vow to let go of the old year in order to bring in what the new year has to offer. Our body does the same thing through the elimination system. It’s actually a three-part process: assimilate, release and let go.

1) Assimilate: Take in and absorb what is useful. Put it to good use wherever it is most needed.

2) Release: Stop holding on to whatever is stuck in the body, mind or spirit.

3) Let go: Remove what’s weighing you down because you don’t need it anymore. Flush it away and don’t think about it anymore.

Yoga aids this process by providing us with 

√ Postures that bend the body in all directions to stimulate the organs of elimination—kidneys, bladder and all parts of the colon (large intestine). In your practice focus on forward bending, back bending and twisting.

√ Pranayama breathing practices and Chakra balancing to move energy downward, whether that’s literally into the toilet or symbolically into the earth. We eliminate rather than hold onto things we no longer need.

√ Meditation sessions to help us make peace with the letting go. We become more adept at choosing what is for our highest good.

In case you haven’t noticed, let me point out that the three steps of assimilation, releasing and letting go are not just confined to what we experience in our physical body, but also our mental, emotional and spiritual bodies too. Every time we practice Yoga we have the opportunity to begin again, and “every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.” (“Closing Time” by Dan Wilson)

What is ending and beginning for you at this turning of the calendar? Happy New Year!

As we come to the end of another year and prepare to begin yet another year, I am happy to share a concept I learned from my yoga teacher, Judith Hanson Lasater. I’m not sure if she discovered this piece of wisdom on her own or if she learned it from someone else, but it is truly inspired:

“Short term hard, long term easy”

Judith explains that this concept applies to everything in life, and especially to those things that we consider important and meaningful. When we want to learn a new skill, for example, it can be very hard in the short term. There are so many new aspects that we have to assimilate all at once. But if we are diligent about our lessons and really push ourselves through the difficult times, the long term becomes quite easy as our skills become second nature and a part of our everyday lives.

As we make the annual turnover, let’s consider the yoga practices that can be for us short term hard, long term easy:

Meditate every day. Sit still for 5 minutes, gradually adding more time, and before you know it you’ll be easily sitting for 30 minutes every day.

Attend your weekly yoga classes, no excuses. Yes, there will always be something more interesting to do (really?!), but you will never reach the long term easy if you fail to show up on the mat.

Learn how to eat for your ayurvedic type. Wow, the learning curve can be quite steep when you study Ayurveda, however, the long term gains for your physical and mental health are immeasurable.

Embrace love, peace and joy as your path, not just when it is convenient, but especially when it is inconvenient. This is SO short term hard, but in the long term it WILL change the world.