💡 yoga as a practice to spark creativity [plus I'm teaching a new San Francisco yoga class!]
how ritual creates consistency, and a new class offering in the bay area
On July 6th, 2019, two things happened on the same day:
I taught my very first public yoga class!
my personal essay about how pole dancing helped me come out as bisexual was published in the Los Angeles Times
That day was unique because it was the intersection of two things I love: writing and yoga.
It also was a moment that showed me that I was on the right path with my decisions. My first yoga students were eager to take more of my classes, and the LA Times readers who emailed me praise about my piece said they related to many of the sentiments I shared in my essay.
Sometimes the world humbles you with challenges and lessons — and other times it says “hey! keep doing what you’re doing!” — it’s important to listen to both signals.
🗝️ yoga as a key to unlock your creativity
I’ve been a lifelong yoga student, and even before I started teaching yoga, I saw how critical having a movement and meditation practice has been in my creative career.
When I’ve been blocked on a storyline for one of my novels, I love taking a hard vinyasa class and let the sweat solve my story problems.
(I loved going to Humming Puppy in Chelsea when I was writing my romantasy book The Ash Trials in Manhattan, and here in San Francisco Arise Yoga is my must-visit as I get started on my newest novel!)
If I’m not sure how I want to position a personal essay I’m writing for a publication or for my Substack readers, evening restorative yoga classes help me stretch out the knots of hunching over a desk and let me get back back to the basics.
Sometimes there’s just a lot of ~ stuff ~ to do, and I find myself surrendering to a child’s pose when I need reset. Just the act of letting my forehead touch the ground is therapeutic, like I’m pulling energy from the earth.
If you do anything with your mind, you’re likely prone to overthinking like I am. Yoga is a great counterbalance to both sitting at a desk all day and being in your mind too much. It gets you out of your head, into your body, and has the side benefit of helping to prevent a permanent looking-at-our-phones-or-devices neck hump that modern life seems to want to inflict upon us :)
⚡️ yoga as an incentive to create better habits
I took my 200-hour yoga teacher training during a period of my life when I really needed it. I was partying and drinking more than I should have been, and it wasn’t setting me up for success in the way that I wanted for myself.
I could blame my collection of less-than-healthy habits at the time on the “networking” culture of Hollywood, but in reality I needed something deeper.
Yoga ended up being the catalyst for a new lifestyle. A regular yoga practice became the “brakes” on my hustle-fueled lifestyle. It helped me carve a better path for myself: one that was more creative, more intentional, and more of what I wanted for myself.
Yoga was there for me when I was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition and then went on a years-long healing journey to put it into remission.
At every stage of life, yoga has been a necessary ingredient in some of the biggest leaps forward in my life personally, professionally, and creatively. It’s transformed my life — and the lives of so many others. This is why yoga has survived as more than just a “fitness trend,” instead often being a vehicle for self-actualization with “getting abs” as simply a nice side effect.
✨ you don’t realize how much you need a yoga practice until you have one again
A year ago, I attended Emma Gannon’s retreat in the dreamy Tuscan countryside. I met some lovely female writers and began working on the early drafts of what would become my most recent nonfiction book, write for money and power.
(I actually just had an amazing conversation with Emma on her creative coffee series as part of her Substack about write for money and power, the retreat, and Emma’s own journey in independent publishing! Lots of full-circle moments lately.)
As part of that retreat, we also had daily yoga classes in a beautiful studio nestled in the Italian farmhouse, the smell of olive trees and fresh espresso wafting in as we moved through poses.
Last year I had been less steady with my own yoga practice because “life” had gotten loud: back in 2025 I was ending my digital nomad journey and moving to San Francisco, so nothing in my life was consistent at the time.
But doing yoga for that week in Italy reminded me why it’s a practice. As we ended our morning meditation and meandered to the terrace for a farm-to-table breakfast, I realized that you never get to the end of fine-tuning your ability to notice, to breathe, and to exist fully in the present moment. Yoga is the way we can strengthen our ability to find joy even in the simplest pieces of daily life.
📕 consistency is born from ritual
Having rituals implies that you have made the mundane routines of life sacred.
A yoga practice is both a ritual and a concerted effort to work on your breathing, your connection with yourself, and your relationship with the poses.
When I stay consistent in my yoga practice, I notice that…
My days feel calmer and I feel more in control to “set the pace” of how the day unfolds
I feel lighter and find myself noticing the small joys in life more often
Creativity comes more easily — ideas seem to flow better and I encounter more breakthroughs in my writing projects
All of this is true because of the mind-body connection. The body does keep the score, and a more free body begets a more free mind.
Even if you’ve never done yoga before, I encourage you to roll out your mat and see how you feel after a week or two of consistent practice. You might be surprised how good life feels on the other side of a regular savasana.
🌱 new offering: a $5 donation yoga + journaling class here in san francisco
I’ve gone down memory lane in today’s post in part because I’m bringing my teaching back into focus again! I’m teaching a new yoga class in the SF Commons, and would love for you to join.
If you’re unfamiliar, The Commons is a special community hub here in San Francisco that I’ve recently joined. I’ve been a fan of The Commons for awhile — I went to several events back in 2021 when I was just visiting the city, and I’ve been a longtime subscriber of the founder Patricia and her curated Rabbit Holes Substack.
All that to say, I’m honored to be teaching in such an intentional space.
If you’re based in San Francisco, would love to see you in class as it’s open to the public!
As with all of my yoga classes I like there to be an emphasis on getting to know the people on the yoga mats beside you. We’ll open with journaling and intention-setting before moving into the yoga flow itself.
If you’d like to attend, go ahead and RSVP below:
wishing you a week full of inspiration and movement,
-Amy
Sounds like an amazing class! I wish I lived closer! <3