Reentry: Returning to Presence

There is something tender about returning.

After time away — especially time spent in a place as ancient and alive as India — reentry is not simply coming home. It is a quiet integration. A soft landing. A listening.

Every aspect of yoga is life-affirming. To live fully is to be in relationship with ourselves — not only in moments of ease, but in the unfamiliar, the challenging, the expansive. Over this past month, I was reminded that the true journey is not the one outward. It is the one inward.

And that journey does not end when the plane lands.

The Practice of Assimilation

Travel changes us. But what transforms us is not what we gather — it is what we release.

To digest and assimilate experience…
To gently let old patterns soften…
To notice the subtle vrittis — the small, repetitive movements of the mind — and meet them with compassion.

My intention now is simple:
to be aware of awareness.

To return to the sweet familiarity of home, while seeing through new eyes.
To shift from the small mind into the vastness of Here and Now.

India did not give me something new.
It reminded me of what has always been true.

“India did not give me something new. It reminded me of what has always been true.”

The purpose of my life is to live fully — and to support others in remembering how.

This is the quiet work of spiritual integration — letting practice meet real life, moment by moment.

A Space for Quiet Gathering

In that spirit, here at Yoga Among Friends, I feel called to open a simple space on Sunday mornings.

Beginning Sunday, March 15, from 8:15–9:00am, I will offer a free Sunday morning meditation and simple community gathering for peaceful reflection in Downers Grove. A short, guided inward practice. A time to settle into the steady vibration of the heart. A pause before the day unfolds.

Nothing elaborate. Nothing required.

Just a willingness to sit together. To listen inward. To remember that together we are stronger and more luminous than we are alone.

When we restore our inner light, life becomes a living laboratory — an opportunity to move from fear toward love, again and again.

If you wish to continue the morning in movement, Sundays also include Gentle Yoga & Self-Myofascial Release and Yoga for the Soul, each held in the same spirit of inward listening.

The doors are open.
There is no perfect moment to begin.

With love,
Laura

This gathering is offered freely. If you feel called to join, we simply ask that you register in advance so we can prepare the space with care.

The Courage to Begin Again: A Yoga Reflection

A reflection on returning to your mat, releasing comparison, and finding steadiness through yoga in Downers Grove.

By Kylie Grogan, E-RYT 500, B.S., RYT II, CPT

There is a quiet kind of courage that often goes unnoticed.
Not the courage of big, dramatic change, but the courage to begin again.

I see it all the time in the studio. Someone walks into class after time away. Someone tries something new. Someone moves more gently than they used to, and allows that to be enough.

Beginning again can feel vulnerable.
We carry expectations of where we think we should be. How strong we once felt. How flexible we used to be. It can be humbling to meet ourselves exactly as we are today.

But yoga has a way of bringing us back to what’s real.
Each breath is new. Each practice is new.
The body we meet on the mat is the only one that exists in that moment.

Kylie Grogan, yoga teacher at Yoga Among Friends

There is no catching up.
There is no falling behind.
There is only this moment.

When we allow ourselves to begin again without judgment, something softens. The pressure fades. The practice becomes less about performance, and more about connection. Less about proving, and more about listening.

If you’ve been thinking about coming back, trying something new, or simply showing up after a hard week, let this be your reminder: you don’t have to be ready. You don’t have to feel perfect.

You only have to begin.

Join Kylie for Mindful Flow, a gentle, all-levels class focused on breath, grounding, and steady movement.
Mondays at 9:30 AM at Yoga Among Friends
Register for Mindful Flow →

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A gentle reflection:
Where in your life might you be ready to start fresh, without pressure or expectation?
We’d love to hear, if you feel called to share in the comments below. 

Meet Steve “Stony” Hallenbeck: Listening for the Quiet Wisdom Beneath the Sound

Some teachers enter your life not with a loud introduction, but with a tone you feel before you understand. A subtle vibration. A sense of familiarity. A quiet invitation to listen more deeply.

Steve “Stony” Hallenbeck is one of those teachers.

Before yoga found him—or perhaps before he realized yoga had always been there—Stony’s life moved through sound. Music first, then science. As a musician, he learned how sound stirs the soul, builds community, and holds emotion without needing explanation. As an audiologist, he learned how sound heals, how listening changes lives, and how the body responds when it finally feels heard. Yoga, as it turns out, was never separate from these worlds—it simply became the place where they all met.

Stony’s path to yoga wasn’t dramatic or sudden. It arrived the way many meaningful things do: through curiosity, community, and a practical need to feel better in his body. Like so many of us, he came to the mat seeking relief from low back pain, viewing yoga as a long-term conversation with his body rather than a quick fix. Over time, something deeper began to unfold. He noticed how breath, sound, and movement prepared the body not just to stretch—but to listen.

He still remembers his very first yoga class, taken more than twenty-five years ago at the College of DuPage. The teacher introduced Savasana with a slightly macabre sense of humor: “Get comfortable—this is a position your body will be in for a long time.” It made him laugh. It made him pause. And somehow, something clicked. Not all at once, but enough to keep returning. Enough to keep listening. Enough to never be bored.

Teaching, for Stony, has always been less about instruction and more about shared experience. Whether in music, healthcare, or now yoga, he lives by the belief that the best way to truly know something is to teach it—and to remain a student while doing so. His classes are participatory, invitational, and grounded in humility. There is no pursuit of perfection here. No pressure to “get it right.” Instead, there is space to breathe, to notice, and to explore yoga on your own terms.

Sound and vibration naturally weave their way through Stony’s classes, not as performance or background entertainment, but as a gentle focal point—a way to settle the nervous system and invite presence. A harmonium tone may appear, unfamiliar yet strangely comforting. A moment of silence may linger just long enough to be felt. Breath becomes rhythm. Vibration becomes a mirror for life’s cycles. The intention is always the same: to help students arrive more fully in themselves.

Accessibility matters deeply to Stony—not only in how poses are offered, but in how the room feels. He is attentive to the experience of being heard, seen, and supported. Classes are thoughtfully paced, postures build gradually, and students are always encouraged to pause rather than push. This is yoga as an invitation, not a demand.

On Saturday mornings, Stony and Marla Mothershead alternate teaching Foundations Flow, a class rooted in exactly what its name suggests: coming back to basics with fresh eyes and an open heart. Whether you’re brand new to yoga, returning after time away, or simply curious about reconnecting with the foundations of your practice, this class offers a steady place to begin again. Stony brings moderated pacing, mindful check-ins, and occasional sound as a centering guide—along with reflections and resources to support practice beyond the mat.

Curious to experience this approach for yourself?
Learn more about Foundations Flow →
A steady, welcoming class for new, returning, and curious students.

If you’ve been away from yoga for a while and feel hesitant to return, Stony would gently remind you that we are all students, always. That learning happens together. And that sometimes the quiet call inward—the one you almost ignore—is the one worth listening to.

When students leave his class, Stony hopes they feel something yoga describes as sthira sukha—a sense of grounded stability paired with ease. Calm, yet energized. Rooted, yet open. Ready to step back into the world with a clearer lens and a softer heart.

And if you’re wondering whether yoga is “for you,” his answer is simple: there is only one way to find out. Come as you are. Let the sound guide you inward. Let the community hold you. Let the practice meet you right where you are.

We’re so grateful to welcome Steve “Stony” Hallenbeck to Yoga Among Friends—and we can’t wait for you to experience the resonance he brings to the mat.

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Ready to listen a little more deeply—to your breath, your body, and what’s quietly calling you inward?
Join Steve “Stony” Hallenbeck for Foundations Flow on Sundays at Yoga Among Friends.
Register for Foundations Flow →
No pressure. No perfection. Just a supportive place to begin—or begin again. All levels welcome. Come as you are.