Yoga in My Life: Finding Calm, Community & Connection

By Jana Sutherland

I still remember the very first yoga class I attended in my early twenties, when I was living in Germany.

The studio was in Berlin's vibrant Mitte neighborhood—an inviting, relaxed space with a soft-spoken instructor. I listened closely to her words and mimicked her movements because none of the poses were familiar to me yet.

After class, the teacher asked whether I had ever practiced yoga before. Apparently, I had made a capable impression.

Well, I thought to myself, I must have done something right.

Did I have any idea then just how important yoga would become in my life? Most certainly not.

But on that day, my curiosity had been sparked, along with the desire to step onto the mat again.

And again.

Beyond “Doing It Right”

Over time, I began to experience something that went beyond the postures and “doing it right”—a simple joy in moving my body and a deep sense of calm when I left the studio.

I found this deeply enriching. Every other workout I had tried before usually left me feeling mostly sweaty and exhausted. The flow of the asanas offered something different. I felt more in harmony with myself and nourished from within.

I used to call Savasana my favorite part of practice. I think this was because I was discovering an inner peace that otherwise seemed difficult to reach.

Our twenties are not always the most stable years. We are finding our way, often without much perspective and without knowing what life has in store for us.

In those moments, yoga can be an anchor.

For me, it became a steady routine. I made time for practice whenever possible—after work, before university, and in between everything else that filled my young life in the bustling city.

In such moments, yoga can be an anchor.

Finding Community at Yoga Among Friends

A few years later, I discovered another essential part of yoga.

I was newly married and had moved with my husband to the western suburbs of Chicago. He traveled frequently for work while I adjusted to a new life in the United States. Naturally, I felt lonely at times.

I knew I wanted to continue the practice that had always supported me back home, so I began searching for a yoga studio.

To my surprise, I found a place that actually had the word Friends in its name.

I began taking Saturday morning classes at Yoga Among Friends in Downers Grove. After a while, familiar faces began appearing. I enjoyed the chatter and laughter around me.

Perhaps you have experienced something similar: the joy of finding a place where you can unroll your mat and simply be—where a friendly smile from across the room quietly tells you that you belong.

That is the power of community.

Even as life brought its inevitable ups and downs—saying goodbye to loved ones, navigating my own health challenges, and suddenly losing our family home to a fire—I knew where I could go and how I could support myself, both physically and emotionally.

The joy of finding a place where you can unroll your mat and simply be—that is the power of community.

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A Practice That Changes With Us

In 2019, I began teacher training with Yoga Among Friends.

After practicing for several years, I wanted to go deeper and explore the spiritual wisdom of yoga more fully. What I learned from my teachers enriched my understanding of human nature, of life itself, and of what it means to live with greater awareness.

Since then, many regular YAF students have seen me either substitute teaching or practicing alongside them in weekly classes.

Those experiences have shown me firsthand just how different our individual needs can be—and how wonderfully adaptable yoga can be.

Yoga is truly a gift of mindfulness that can be adapted to every body.

As I move through the aging process myself, I appreciate this more and more.

Every time I practice, I feel connected to myself. I know that I have moved in a way that feels sustainable. And I have an opportunity to “lose my mind a little,” as Laura Jane, my teacher, likes to put it.

For me, that is one of yoga's great gifts: quieting some of the mind's constant activity so that something deeper can be felt.

Yoga Beyond the Mat

I am excited to see what the future holds.

I want to keep moving, learning and embracing the changes that inevitably come with the gift of life.

Yoga means so much more to me now.

My practice does not always look like what I attempted on the mat all those years ago in Berlin.

Sometimes yoga is taking a mindful walk.

Sometimes it is breathing more consciously.

Sometimes it is giving myself permission not to squeeze productivity out of every single minute.

My practice has evolved, yet certain things have remained constant.

Yoga continues to be an invitation to get to know myself better, to feel connected, and to share special moments with others.

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How has your own yoga practice changed as your life has changed?

I would love to hear your story. Leave a comment below.

Hope to see you on the mat!

Jana

Practice with Jana and our Yoga Among Friends community.
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Continue Exploring

The Lifeline of Love: A Reflection on Mystery, Kindness, and the Human Heart

If you had the pleasure of looking up into the night sky over the past few nights, you may have seen the beautiful full moon moving across the sky.

For me, the lunar eclipse felt auspicious—an opportunity to observe the wonder of mystery.

We understand so much through the realm of the intellect. We gather information, search for answers, and try to make sense of our lives. But the grace of mystery invites us into the heart, the gateway of the soul.

Wonder allows us to accept the journey without certainty of the outcome.

This past week offered me humble memories and profound gratitude for all the moments in my life that somehow brought me to this one.

Are the paths of our lives random? Or is there some greater force of nature aligning circumstances and carrying us toward experiences we could never have planned?

Perhaps we will never know.

And then there is free will. We still have to choose.

Somehow, I ended up on the path of studying and teaching yoga.

The grace of mystery invites us into the heart, the gateway of the soul.

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The Strange Turns of a Life

This week, two amazing souls who touched my life in very different and profound ways took their departure into that great expansive space.

Their passing brought me back to another lifetime.

I was living in Los Angeles in the 1980s, following my passion for acting, when I somehow landed a full-time job working on The Dolly Parton Show.

Dolly had already found enormous success in music and had crossed into Hollywood after starring in the hit film 9 to 5. Then came television, with a weekly variety show filled with music, comedy, and an extraordinary parade of performers.

How did this New York City girl suddenly find herself there?

Luck?

Destiny?

Another strange turn on the path?

Years earlier, I had been a cocktail waitress at a Marriott lounge in Washington, D.C.—one of the many jobs I took to support my habit of looking for acting work.

My manager took great pleasure in calling me, “Laura Lye Janey Jones, you dizzy girl on the cocktail floor.”

Yes, my personality has followed me.

Years later, after arriving in Los Angeles and trying to find acting work, I created a comedy character using that name for a little show I wrote and performed in a small theater.

One evening, producers came to see the show and invited me to audition for a new project they were producing.

And somehow, that little character helped lead me to Dolly.

What I Remember About Dolly

How blessed I was to share even a small part of that adventure and to know such an extraordinary human being.

Dolly possessed enormous talent and an incredible commitment to her work.

But what stays with me now is something quieter.

Dolly was all heart.

Her beauty was in her kindness. Her gracious humor. Her humility. She had that rare ability to make people feel welcome in her presence.

She inspired us with an abundance of love.

And this week, as the world mourned her passing, I found myself remembering not the fame or the spectacle, but the human being.

The heart.

When One Path Ends

After the show ended, Hollywood entered a long and difficult writers' strike.

My acting career was stalling, and I was creating far too much pain around something I could no longer force into being.

In one particularly difficult moment, I heard two words very clearly:

Yoga retreat.

That is another long story for another blog.

But I listened.

I surrendered into a new role—as a yoga student and eventually a yoga teacher.

Before long, I had more work in this new direction than I could possibly sustain. Through another series of circumstances I never could have planned, I found myself teaching actors and artists and sometimes housesitting while people traveled between film sets.

One of those people was Tim Curry.

The brilliant talent behind The Rocky Horror Picture Show became a friend. During a difficult period in my own life, while I was separating from my first marriage, Tim generously offered me refuge in his beautiful home.

He later became a student, and eventually I was able to find an apartment of my own and continue moving forward.

I remain forever grateful for his generosity, and I mourn his passing this week as well.

It has felt as though the night sky has gained the brilliance of a few new stars.

A week of grieving.

A week of celebrating.

A week of welcoming again the mysterious collage of living.

Just living.

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The People Who Meet Us Along the Way

I marvel at the path that brought me here.

Life is a huge journey made up of very small baby steps. Some steps take us forward. Some seem to take us backward, only to give us a perspective we could not have found any other way.

The message I keep hearing is simple:

Welcome the stranger.

We never know who may become a teacher, a friend, a refuge, or an unexpected part of our story.

I know I am right where I am supposed to be as I continue teaching and trying, in my own imperfect way, to pass forward the kindness that has been given to me.

I believe human beings are intrinsically kind and compassionate.

It is often the little mind—our fears, biases, patterns, and familiar ways of protecting ourselves—that keeps us hidden from the heart.

I keep learning.

I keep tripping over my own stuck places of doubt.

I look at the outer world and sometimes forget that there is another gateway, deeper inside.

And when I take the time to reflect, to go inward into those chambers of memory, I can see something I could not always see while I was living it:

There was always a lifeline of love.

The mystery may be learning to trust that lifeline even when we cannot see where it leads.

I still have faith that we are better than much of what we hear and see.

We are all capable of profound goodness.

And perhaps that is the practice.

Not perfection.

Not certainty.

Remembering the goodness.

What Would Dolly Do?

I think I am going to make a T-shirt that says:

What would Dolly do?

Because when life throws another obstacle into my path, when I become overwhelmed by fatigue or fear, I can remember that I still have a choice.

Today, I have a choice.

I can choose kindness.

I can choose humor.

I can choose to keep my heart open.

Life is a blessing, and I intend to keep creating characters, laughing at my own wild side, and welcoming people into whatever small space I can create where joy might thrive.

Yoga Among Friends is an expression of that longing in me—a place to welcome humanity into the sweetness of life.

A collection of wonderful souls reminding one another how to live fully on this wild ride.

At Yoga Among Friends, everyone is welcome.

It truly is the journey, not the destination.

Let's keep creating.

Let's keep sharing the goodness.

Let's keep our hearts open.

I look forward to seeing you soon.

With love,
Laura Jane

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A Question for Reflection

Who has offered you an unexpected kindness that changed the direction of your life?

Perhaps they knew what they were giving you. Perhaps they never did.

I would love to hear who comes to mind in the comments below.

If you are new to Yoga Among Friends, returning after time away, or simply longing for a place to reconnect, you are welcome to begin where you are.

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From Darkness to Light: Choosing Hope Through Practice

The path forward starts within. From darkness toward light is the journey of practice.

Today, I have a choice.

I can shift my attitude and choose to see what is beautiful and abundant in the world.

I may not be able to change what is happening in the outer world, but I have the freedom to create a more sustainable reality within my thoughts. I am choosing to be joyous and to love life with all my heart.

This is not always easy. My intellect wants to remind me of everything that is wrong with the world. However, through my ardent efforts to sustain my intention in practice, I can begin to feel a shift.

There is an opening—a little more spaciousness within my awareness. In this moment, I can return to the right thought, right words, and the next right action.

I may not be able to change what is happening in the outer world, but I can choose how I meet this moment.

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Returning to an Ancient Practice

I recently returned from a 12-day intensive commitment to the practice of the Sri Suktam mantras.

Laura Jane with fellow practitioners outside the Sri Vidya Shrine at the Himalayan Institute.

I joined other practitioners in a community devoted to sharing a higher consciousness of love rather than following the easier path of fear. Together, we participated in the Sri Suktam Yaga.

The Sri Suktam is an ancient collection of mantras honoring Sri, the Divine Mother, and the creative life force of Shakti.

Individually, I chanted the 15 verses 47 times. Together, through the power of our group effort, we completed 20 recitations in the shrine.

Each day, I also participated in a two-hour fire ceremony while my teacher, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait, chanted the mantras.

I had experienced this practice in India in January and knew that I wanted to return to it again six months later.

We were offering our individual efforts to the ultimate Source of all life.

The offering was made in the spirit of the Divine—something far greater than my individual existence and far greater than words can define.

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Offering What No Longer Serves Us

The intention of the ceremony is to transform the darkest parts of our thoughts and the negative tendencies held within our samskaras.

We offer these patterns into the fire with the intention of renewing ourselves and returning to the world with a lighter, more expansive quality of awareness.

The fire ceremony offered a sacred space for mantra, reflection, and transformation.

Life is impermanent, and yet there is an unchanging essence within each of us that is pure, vibrant, and radiant light.

This practice is thousands of years old. Being connected to this beautiful commitment has restored in me the value of humanity and the continuous flow of something greater than my words can express.

I often say, “To name it is to lose it.”

There are experiences we cannot fully define. We can only allow ourselves to receive them.

There is an unchanging essence within each of us that is pure, vibrant, and radiant light.

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Receiving a Glimmer of Awe

To receive a glimmer of this AWE, simply walk out into nature.

Appreciate each breath of air meeting your skin. Feel the immense wonder of the earth underneath your feet. Stand in the space where the sky meets you, and be present to the nourishment of being alive in this moment.

Life is precious.

We can be grateful for every moment, even while recognizing the suffering and uncertainty that exist around us. We can choose the thoughts we nourish and the energy we bring into the world.

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When the Outer World Feels Uncertain

I could not make it home on Monday, July 27, because horrific storms were churning and creating havoc in the airways.

Trees were falling. Electrical grids were crashing. Once again, we were all reminded of our powerlessness before the immense strength of Mother Nature.

The intensity of these storms is another reminder of the uncertainty we are learning to navigate.

I was fortunate to find another flight early Tuesday morning and to spend the night in an airport hotel. I was grateful to have the resources to care for my well-being.

At the same time, I was aware that millions of souls throughout the world struggle simply to find shelter each day.

The vulnerable state of our world is a constant reminder that we must keep possibility and hope alive.

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Tending the Inner Pilot Light

Despair can lead us toward inertia—a heaviness of lethargy and apathy. The energy for living becomes dull, and the mind can lose interest in moving forward.

When depression or ongoing despair becomes part of our experience, compassionate professional support can be an important part of healing. Yoga does not replace that care, but our practice may help us remain connected to the light within.

In these turbulent times, the mind easily feeds on fear.

We must be willing to tend our inner “pilot light” and keep the fire of passion and possibility alive.

Just as a flower pushes through the earth, it seeks the light. The earth is rich, and water is needed to help the sweetness of life continue moving forward.

The flower does not deny the darkness. It moves through it.

The flower does not deny the darkness. It moves through it toward the light.

There is so much stagnation happening in the outer world. The conflict we experience within the fluctuating mind can make the wars and chaos of the outer world feel even more overwhelming.

The value of my practice is that it has offered me renewed energy and a renewed passion to inspire and serve.

There is an inner desire within all beings to move toward the light.

From darkness to light is the journey of a steady yoga practice.

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Turning Up the Light Together

I am committed to sharing my heart and shining whatever light I can into a world in need of service.

Yoga Among Friends is a community where, together, we can turn up the light.

Our studio can be a safe harbor where souls may rest and feel the support of loving attention.

We are not helpless.

Humanity is amazing, and there is a profound shift happening as we begin to accept that the path forward starts within.

Our inner practice shapes how we meet one another. It shapes the words we speak, the choices we make, and the quality of attention we offer to the world.

We can choose love instead of fear.
We can choose possibility instead of despair.
We can continue moving from darkness toward light.

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A Question for Reflection

What helps you tend your inner light when the outer world feels uncertain?

I would love to hear what helps you return to hope, possibility, and the sweetness of being alive.

With love,
Laura Jane

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Frequently Asked Questions

• What is the Sri Suktam?

  The Sri Suktam is an ancient collection of Sanskrit mantras honoring Sri, the Divine Mother, and the qualities of beauty, abundance, nourishment, and inner prosperity. It may be practiced through chanting, meditation, and sacred ceremony.

• How can yoga help us during uncertain times?

  Yoga does not remove the challenges of the outer world. It helps us become more aware of the fluctuations of the mind and creates space for a more conscious response. Through steady practice, we may feel more grounded, compassionate, and connected to the light within us.

• Why is practicing yoga in community meaningful?

  Practicing together reminds us that we are not alone. A caring community offers shared intention, loving attention, and a safe place to rest, renew, and reconnect with what matters most.

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An Invitation

Whether you are new to yoga, returning to your practice, or simply longing for a quiet place to reconnect, you are welcome at Yoga Among Friends.

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