10 Yoga Clichés That Are Actually True

I know it’s a big yoga cliché that yoga girls are, you know, bendy. And it’s true! Of course all bodies are different and many of us have different strengths and weaknesses within the practice, but if you have a consistent yoga practice then you are sure to be able to get bendy with it when you need to. ;-)

Yoga girls geek out over essential oils big time—from bedside table diffusers to roll-on frankincense and clary sage, we yogis know that essential oils not only take the place of old-school toxic perfumes, but they make us feel zen and balanced from the inside out.

We are SPIRITUAL and into all that hippie sun, moon, stars kinda stuff. From attending new moon circles to tracking our zodiac signs to seeing who we are astrologically compatible with, we stay up on it all. Some of us even have our zodiac signs tattooed on our bodies…I mean, I know I am not the only Libra who feels connected to her sign!

We live in yoga clothes because not only are they comfy and cute, but, hello…we need to be prepared to hop into a yoga class at any given moment of the day! You never know when a free hour or two may pop up in your schedule. I even wear Sanuk Yoga Slings to and from class—they’re made with real yoga mat material, so it’s basically like I’m doing yoga at all times.

I know, I know. It sounds so cliche and woo-woo. But when you focus on linking breath with movement in traditional vinyasa-style yoga, you do develop an awareness from the inside out that helps you listen to your body on the daily and also helps you dig deep to know what’s up in your heart space.

We expand our hearts to love the sh*t out of people in our lives. It’s not a myth that doing deep backbends (otherwise known as heart openers) in yoga—from full wheel pose to simple low cobra—opens the chest and releases blocked energy around our heart space to love deeper and expand our capacity to give love to those around us. You may think those are words we just throw around in the yoga studio, but imagine the stuck energy that gets built up in the chest when we sit at a computer all day with no stretching—yoga poses do the job, my friends!

Have you ever left a yoga class and found yourself shockingly calm on a packed, smelly subway or in horrendous 405 traffic on your drive home? That is the yoga working its way through your bones, sometimes without you even realizing why you are so calm when those situations may usually rattle you.

I am sure you’ve seen videos of yogis on Instagram doing uddiyana bandha (pulling our abdomen into our rib cage by taking a false inhale), which cleanses our organs, stimulates the brain, and warms up the core for inversions and longer holds. Yes, we really do that! We also dip into all sorts of breath work in kundalini yoga, from "ego eradicator" with breath of fire to different techniques to balance blocked energy. We get into it.

We are used to saying no to a boozy brunch on a Sunday afternoon or hitting the bars until 4 a.m. on Saturday because that might mean missing out on our favorite yoga class or being too hungover to enjoy it. We love dressing differently (have I mentioned yoga clothes 24/7?), wearing funky sneakers (currently loving my Sanuk Vee K Shawn shoes for their style + comfort), and stretch while we stand in line for lunch. We are fully OK with having quiet nights in with coconut ice cream, PJs, and someone we love instead of doingshots on the town!

Okay, this might be one of the hardest things to do as humans, but since we consistently practice dropping expectations, focusing on the now, tapping into our bodies through our breath, and flowing through movement before sweet, sweet Savasana, we do have quite a bit of experience with living in the moment. The more consistent we are, the easier this becomes.