Spring has a way of reminding us that change doesn’t always happen all at once. It's 70 degrees one day, 30 and snowing the next. Sometimes, the temperature fluctuates dramatically in the course of just one day. Do you wear your down coat or your raincoat or a sweater? Boots or sandals? The shift unfolds slowly, in fits and starts. I'm always excited when I realize that it's still light out when the evening classes are heading home. The air starts to feel different. When we get the odd warm day, it's heavenly to open up the windows and let the stagnant winter air out. Eventually, the ground that was frozen for months transforms into muddy puddles.
Across cultures and traditions, this season carries the symbolism of renewal and rebirth. Easter is one of the most familiar expressions of this theme. While it holds deep meaning in Christian tradition, its imagery—new life, emergence, transformation—resonates broadly as a reflection of the natural cycles unfolding all around us.
In yoga practice, we can approach this time of year in a similar spirit: as an invitation to gently awaken, release what feels heavy, and create space for something new.
According to Ayurveda, yoga’s sister science, spring corresponds with kapha dosha, which is associated with the elements of earth and water. (Earth and water = mud.) Kapha brings qualities like stability, nourishment, and grounding. When we’re in balance, these qualities help us feel supported and steady, but when kapha becomes excessive—as it often can at the end of winter—it can manifest as sluggishness or fatigue, mental fog, resistance to change, or feeling physically or emotionally “stuck.” If you’ve noticed it feeling a little harder to get moving lately, you’re not alone. This is simply the seasonal rhythm of the body responding to the environment.
The good news is that yoga offers simple ways to bring kapha back into balance. Kapha-balancing practices focus on creating movement, warmth, and spaciousness in the body and mind. In class this week, you may notice practices that include:
The symbolism of rebirth isn’t just something that happens once a year or in nature alone. It’s something we can experience in small ways every day. It might look like letting go of an old pattern, starting again after a difficult moment, softening where we’ve been holding tension, or choosing curiosity instead of resistance.
Our yoga practice reminds us that we don’t have to wait for a perfect moment to begin again. Each breath offers that opportunity. Every inhale creates space. Every exhale allows release. In that sense, the practice itself is an ongoing cycle of renewal.
Across cultures and traditions, this season carries the symbolism of renewal and rebirth. Easter is one of the most familiar expressions of this theme. While it holds deep meaning in Christian tradition, its imagery—new life, emergence, transformation—resonates broadly as a reflection of the natural cycles unfolding all around us.
In yoga practice, we can approach this time of year in a similar spirit: as an invitation to gently awaken, release what feels heavy, and create space for something new.
According to Ayurveda, yoga’s sister science, spring corresponds with kapha dosha, which is associated with the elements of earth and water. (Earth and water = mud.) Kapha brings qualities like stability, nourishment, and grounding. When we’re in balance, these qualities help us feel supported and steady, but when kapha becomes excessive—as it often can at the end of winter—it can manifest as sluggishness or fatigue, mental fog, resistance to change, or feeling physically or emotionally “stuck.” If you’ve noticed it feeling a little harder to get moving lately, you’re not alone. This is simply the seasonal rhythm of the body responding to the environment.
The good news is that yoga offers simple ways to bring kapha back into balance. Kapha-balancing practices focus on creating movement, warmth, and spaciousness in the body and mind. In class this week, you may notice practices that include:
- rhythmic, flowing sequences that build gentle heat
- standing poses that activate the legs and core
- heart-opening shapes that encourage expansion
- breathwork that energizes and clears stagnation
The symbolism of rebirth isn’t just something that happens once a year or in nature alone. It’s something we can experience in small ways every day. It might look like letting go of an old pattern, starting again after a difficult moment, softening where we’ve been holding tension, or choosing curiosity instead of resistance.
Our yoga practice reminds us that we don’t have to wait for a perfect moment to begin again. Each breath offers that opportunity. Every inhale creates space. Every exhale allows release. In that sense, the practice itself is an ongoing cycle of renewal.
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