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I started experimenting with witchcraft not long after I started experimenting with yoga.
As a “flower child,” I’d at all times felt a reference to the Earth. Later, as a university student and newly dedicated practitioner of yoga, I started to hunt alternate ways of living that were more attuned to nature. I studied yoga philosophy and Eastern spirituality. I obsessed over sustainability and holistic medicine. I learned in regards to the phases of the Moon and the Celtic wheel of the 12 months.
Being a practitioner of yoga and witchcraft, what’s increasingly being known as a “yoga witch,” means combining the mindfulness and self-awareness cultivated in yoga with the reverence for nature and the paranormal energy harnessed in witchcraft. It’s a practice of continuously weaving each lineages into a life-style that honors the profound union of our inner and outer worlds.
At its essence, witchcraft is a celebration of walking through life in a way that aligns closely with the rhythms of the Earth, the phases of the Moon, and the interconnectedness of all living beings. I felt drawn to those approaches to life for countless reasons, notably the popularity of the divine feminine inside paganism and the redistribution of non-public power inside yoga.
The study of those practices expanded my sense of connection to the natural world, and every latest layer I uncovered taught me more about universal energy and the way its workings manifested not only inside my body but throughout my experience of life. While their approaches are sometimes different, these paths touch on the identical truths and, to me, seem inextricably linked, serving as mysterious vehicles leading me toward a more pervasive sense of wellness and buoyed self-confidence as a yoga witch.
What I’ve Learned By Being a “Yoga Witch”
Once I began teaching yoga in 2018, I saw infinite opportunities to marry my two worlds. As a witchy yoga teacher, I enterprise deep into the space where I think yogic wisdom intertwines with the eagerness of paganism. Throughout this journey, I’ve learned loads about myself, the Earth, and navigating what balance truly looks and looks like.
This fusion of practices profoundly influences my outer expression as a teacher. I infuse my classes with reminders of the sacredness of the Earth, encouraging students to attach with the natural world around them. My sequencing is crafted to resonate with the cycles of the Moon and the seasons, creating an environment that encourages mindfulness, self-discovery, and alignment with the Earth’s energies. If I can pass on any insights as a yoga witch of nearly 10 years, it’s outlined in the way in which I facilitate the experience for my students and within the words below..
1. Be Inspired By Nature
Disenchanted by the standard religion I grew up with, I find nature to be the last word source of inspiration. It plays a central role in each my yoga practice and my spirituality as a practicing witch.
I’ll take a transient moment here for definitions. I take advantage of the terms “Wicca” and “pagan” interchangeably to categorise the structure of my Earth-based spiritual practices. “Pagan” is an umbrella term that dates back to 300 AD. Throughout the Roman Empire, it referred to any polytheistic religion that wasn’t based on Christ. Wicca is a more moderen and specific title ascribed to the syndication of ancient pagan beliefs and ritual practices into one “religion” by creator and anthropologist Gerald Gardner within the Nineteen Fifties.
For me, Wicca has been an interesting exploration of ancient practices for mindful living and seasonal celebrations. It’s a door that my yoga practice helped open, as that’s how I started to grasp myself in union with a greater whole relatively than separate from it.
By attuning to the transitions of the seasons and the Moon, I started to nurture a connection to something greater. Each shift in nature became a potent mirror into my inner world, one which reflected the constant ebb and flow of life’s currents. This allowed me to guide my students toward a deeper understanding of the intricate interplay between their inner worlds and the continuously fluctuating outer world around them.
The Earth became my conduit for greater presence and purpose. I started creating my yoga sequences across the transitions of the seasons and the lunar phases, and drawing on nature to tell my dharma talks at the start of and throughout my classes. I’d study the spiritual energy of the present moment and infuse that into my teachings, helping students take their practice from the micro experience of being on their mats to a more macro experience of us being natural beings in deep reference to this vast, beautiful planet. Anyone who knows the roots of Wicca knows that that is its very foundation.
It’s a relationship that I’m still exploring and expanding.
How You Can Practice It: Select a facet of the natural world that fascinates you, whether astrology, plant medicine, the phases of the Moon, seasonal shifts, the weather, etc. Then throw yourself into study and exploration of that aspect. Speak about it with others. Meditate and journal. Draw on the yogic principle of svadhyaya, or self-study, to see what insights your curiosity about nature might bring about your inner patterns.
2. Cultivate Community
After I graduated from college, I moved to Latest Orleans, where I shared a dilapidated duplex in Mid-City with three of my best friends. It was chaotic and shambly, nevertheless it was the most effective chapters of my life.
Having at all times been a self-prescribed “outsider,” this was the primary time I felt like I actually belonged. Latest Orleans is a city known for its mysterious history and witchy allure, and I suddenly had access to communities and teachers that my Midwestern upbringing didn’t provide.
I started my yoga teacher training that fall, and often attended Moon circles and herbalism classes on the local apothecary nestled along the Bayou. These thriving communities provided a supportive environment for me to explore and develop my practice. I used to be surrounded by circles of like-minded women every weekend. We studied breathwork and divination. We made malas together. We listened. We supported one another. And at night, my roommates and I’d come home and swap holistic remedies or astrological insights from the day. Together, we proudly embraced our identities as wild women, supporting one another through our spiritual quests.
It was here that I noticed yoga and spirituality aren’t just solitary practices. They supply a possibility to be a part of something greater—a collective of people who’re looking for meaning, connection, and growth. Sangha, a close-knit community of like-minded souls, became an important aspect of my yoga journey. It wasn’t nearly my personal evolution as a yoga witch; it was in regards to the shared experience of raising our collective vibrations and, in turn, elevating the collective consciousness.
The concept of sangha began to influence my perception of teaching and practicing. My personal sangha taught me to be confident and inquisitive. It taught me the way to take heed to my inner voice, and eventually share that with others. After just a few years, together with just a few girlfriends, I spearheaded Crescent Craft NOLA, a gaggle that led community events for magically-interested people. Here I started to hone my voice as a spiritual guide and teacher. I also began to steer full moon meditation circles at my yoga studio, fusing my two worlds into one stronger community. Our practices on the mat and within the woods transcended the physical and have become a technique to channel our energy and intentions into a strong force for positive change.
How You Can Practice It: Research local people events that align along with your spiritual or cultural curiosities. Then take yourself to them. The necessary thing is that you just go, even when it feels scary to attend alone. The more you practice your independence and private power, the stronger it would grow to be. And, at the identical time, the more you can find community with like-minded others.
3. Seek Balance
One charming, if barely conflicting, aspect of my experience has been navigating the fragile balance between yogic austerity and witchy indulgence.
Paganism, which I consider to be inherently sensual, embraces the importance of life’s pleasures and the understanding that things “of the world” are needed for true presence and rapturous joy.
Conversely, yoga philosophy often tells us that what we want is already inside us, and the whole lot else is a distraction. This lesson is considered so vital that it’s etched into the yamas, or ethical precepts of yoga, by the concept often known as brahmacharya.
As an alternative of shunning the physical realm, paganism celebrates it as a pathway to enlightenment. In this fashion, I see numerous parallels between witchcraft and tantra yoga, as each emphasize finding presence and unity inside the material world.
During my early 20s, I sometimes found myself ricocheting between these extremes of indulgence and abstinence while I looked for a balance. Whether bouts of binge drinking or months of sobriety, this has taught me invaluable lessons—most notably, to take heed to my body and ritualize as much of life as possible. It’s alright to have a drink, order a steak, or give yourself fully to a different person.
As an alternative of telling myself that “I shouldn’t,” I began inquiring why I used to be doing something. I asked myself, is that this “vice” was going to assist me grow to be more present through celebratory ritual? Or is it mindless repetition, a weak grasp for meaning that is completely uninspired?
Indulgence is nice, so long as you don’t lose your respect for it and for yourself.
How You Can Practice It: Take a have a look at the activities you already do or have been intending to do frequently. Ask yourself how you possibly can ritualize or romanticize the mindless stuff you are likely to “suffer through” and produce celebration back to the stuff you’ve taken as a right. This could be easy and surface-level (like starting your work day by lighting candles and practicing breathwork) or grander in scale and deeper in meaning (like migrating your day by day after-work drink toward a more mindful, weekly ritual of cocktails and conversation along with your partner or friends). You’re meant to enjoy your life, and doing so is a balance.
Ultimately, my journey as a yoga witch is a tale of presence and purpose. It has taught me to cherish the physical world, to seek out magic within the odd, and to contemplate each moment as a gateway to enlightenment. There isn’t a end to the mysteries that await those that dare to enterprise into the realms of their truest self, and I invite others to embark on this romantic exploration.
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About Our Contributor
Sierra Vandervort is a author and modern witchy woman living in Oregon. She’s been practicing yoga for nearly a decade and accomplished her teacher training in 2018. She writes and teaches about connection—connection to the body, to nature, and to the powerful energies of the universe. In 2017, she founded her media brand, The Local Mystic, an academic hub dedicated to mindful, mystical living for ladies. Sierra likes to guide people to their witchy side by helping them deepen their spiritual studies and ritualize their lives. Through The Local Mystic, she’s written books, plus hosted women’s circles and wellness retreats worldwide. Free of charge yoga and witchy wisdom, find Sierra on Instagram @thelocalmystic and on YouTube. And take a look at her book, Your 12 months of Magic.