It’s officially summer; hibernation is over. Like other creatures, humans get out and about more during summer, and socializing becomes a favorite way to spend days in the summer heat. The warm weather gets people outside and brightens their mood, which lays the groundwork for prime friend-making season! It’s hard to make new friends, especially as adults, when we are no longer part of the built in social circles of school or summer camp. But, that doesn’t mean we can’t forge some meaningful connections. Summer means the blue skies have opened up, but you should, too!
Chinese Meridian Theory labels summer as the season of Fire. The emotional component of the Fire Element is Understanding; when we meet other people, we look for the common ground between us. Understanding is trying to see things from other people's perspectives and having compassion for their views. Understanding is the key to developing friendship and community. Understanding is the anecdote to this fear of vulnerability we all feel at some point about opening up. Summer, the season of Fire and Understanding, is the perfect time to pursue new opportunities to connect with other people.
So, we’ve got summer on our side, and we’ve adopted a new attitude toward understanding – now we need a place to meet likeminded people. Enter your local community yoga classes.
Yoga class is one of the best places to build community because in yoga we naturally remove physical and emotional blocks and we go through the same movements together and this creates comradery.
A yoga class is a great way to meet people because you are all gathered in a space sharing something in common (kind of like that summer camp we’re missing). You are all there learning something new, which is a great platform to bond with others. Your classmates are there because they aren’t experts in yoga either – use this sense of understanding to let your own guard down and forge a connection.
The next time you unroll your mat at your yoga studio, try asking someone near you how they are doing, take time to listen, absorb it and look for the Understanding between the two of you!
