Let's just talk about suffering, shall we?

Dear Humans,

In just a few hours I’m leaving for the airport, heading out to host my first yoga retreat.

I have every reason to believe that this retreat will be beautiful and amazing and perhaps even life-changing. For me, and I certainly hope for the participants as well.

And I also have every reason to believe that there will be moments of intensity and challenge throughout the twenty days that I will be away from home.

I say that because life has shown me, time and again, a single truth: there is always bad with the good, and there is always good with the bad.

In fact, this is the very premise on which the yoga practice was built. The recognition that suffering exists as a fundamental part of the human experience and the practice of yoga is an attempt to alleviate that suffering, even if only for brief, divine moments.

So as I head out, I write this to remind myself: even if it doesn’t all go perfectly, it will be okay.

And even though in this moment I feel a little nervous, it will be okay.

I’ve noticed that some people don’t like to talk about the “hard” things in life—like fear, or death, or suffering—perhaps because they think they’ll jinx themselves. That by speaking it, it will become so.

And I guess I see the logic in that. And maybe I even believed that once. But that belief was shaken out of me, literally and spiritually, during my car accident.

Right before the accident I had been so “good.” I thought I was doing everything right. I wasn’t drinking any alcohol. I had been so healthy in my body. I had just been on back-to-back trips to visit friends and family, even though those trips weren’t convenient per say. I was being a supportive family member.

I was doing all the things. And the car still crashed.

Me being “good” did not prevent that. Just like me writing out that I am scared of flying isn’t going to make the plane crash. (At least I hope so ahhhhhh!)

But I actually think it’s dangerous to believe that our thoughts and actions have such a tangible effect on the “good” or “bad” that happens to us. And this is something important that we as yoga teachers talk about in our classes, and perhaps we need to be mindful about how we talk about it. What “manifestation” and “karma” really mean.

Because if something bad happens to you it doesn’t mean you willed it into existence. It does not mean you did something wrong. Sometimes shit just happens.

I think there’s room for belief in manifestation and shifting and morphing energy, but there’s also wisdom in the randomness of the universe as well.

But alas, I fear I verged off course…

What I mean to say today is what we all already know as teachers: we don’t grow within our comfort zones, we grow outside of them.

And that involves putting ourselves in positions that might scare us.

I’m going to be honest with you. I’m kind of scared to go. I’m not scared to hold the space. Though I imagine that would be the scary part for some people. But after the car accident I just feel more fearful of the world.

I wish I didn’t.

I can write all of this to you, and that can still be true.

As I ponder taking this out-of-country flight, all by myself, I feel a pit of fear and dread, but I know if I acted from that fear then I wouldn’t go. I wouldn’t lead any more yoga retreats, and I wouldn’t be able to experience all the amazing parts that are sure to come.

The fear isn’t logical. But it’s there.

For me, at least, it’s helpful to talk about the hard days and hard things that will come, because then we’re better prepared when they inevitably do.

And I don’t mean the “big hard things” like a freak plane accident. But just the normal hard. The being human hard.

And yeah, maybe even the big things. Like life and death, too.

Because we can spend our entire lives avoiding talking about death, but it will find us.

It will finds us all eventually.

The highs and the lows both.

And I guess with that in mind, there’s an opportunity to welcome both with arms wide open.

We think we can maybe avoid it but we can’t, but there is something we can do and that’s sit with it. Feel it. Let it move through us and past us and then appreciate the good times when they come. Let those move through us and past us recognize that it’s all temporary—even the worst of it—even the best of it.

And so as I set off on another grand adventure. And host my first retreat, I don’t write all of this to be all doom and gloom. I write this because I think it’s one of the most important lessons I’ve realized over the past year—that we can move through. That we can keep moving. That we will. That I can get on this plane and fly. That it is the very nature of life: the current it flows, it spirals, it keeps rippling. And we keep rippling, too.

And for you, all my sweet yoga teaching friends, I wonder what this conversation has brought up for you? Maybe it’s something human, but maybe there is something within your yoga teaching that’s keeping you within your comfort zone.

When we step outside our cozy walls and into the big old world, it takes a hell of a lot of trust to do that. It takes trust to teach in a new style, to teach something you’ve never taught before, to trust that you can do it, and learn how to do it well. To know that you’ll make mistakes and it might be rocky and it won’t be perfect, but if you keep at it, whatever it is, there will be joy. There will be beauty. There will be amazement. All of it.

Because that that’s the truth.

That it’s both that it is always all.

And maybe if we can believe that, if we can unhook ourselves from this lie that if we are good enough, strong enough, well-intentioned enough, no harm will ever come our way. Nothing bad will ever happen. Then maybe we can start to really live.

And when the bad stuff does happen, we can be much less hard on ourselves, knowing it isn’t our fault that we suffer—it’s simply part of the experience.

When I return from this retreat, my friends, I’d love to chat with you more about the logistics and the nitty-gritty and all I’ve learned from this first retreat, but until now I’ll simply leave you with the musings that I’m having before leaving.

The flow. The duality and union. All of it.

Keep riding the waves, dear humans.

♥

Izzy Martens

author, yoga teacher, sequence enthusiast

@yoga.humans | @martensizzy

I have a 60 minute class plan for you today! Five videos which include the class opening, warm-up flow, a “drill” flow, main flow, and finally a core sequence. I also include the write-up to the cool down.

This well-rounded but STRONG vinyasa class blends mobility, strength, balance, and playful exploration into a seamless progression.

Beginning with floor-based activation before gradually building into dynamic standing flows, the class emphasizes hip mobility, single-leg stability, and fluid transitions.

Along the way, students have opportunities to refine balance, explore optional inversion drills, and challenge their core, all while revisiting familiar movement patterns that make the practice feel cohesive and approachable. The result is an energizing flow that encourages curiosity, confidence, and a sense of ease in movement.

I added more little drills and heat building options in here than I usually do and I had a blast teaching it. I hope you do, too!

This class begins on the ground, taking time to awaken the hamstrings, hips, and core before transitioning to standing. Gentle mobility work and core activation create a strong foundation, while the standing fold sequence begins to introduce the fluid movement patterns (enter “the diver”) you’ll revisit throughout the practice.

• Constructive Rest

• Reclined Hamstring Stretch

• Dynamic Hamstring Pulses

  • Bend knee and pull it to chest, then reverse the motion and straighten the leg

• Lower bottom leg to earth and find an “L” shape

• Core Crunches (optional)

• Half Wind-Relieving Pose

• Supine Figure Four

• Repeat on Second Side

• Downward Facing Dog

• Ragdoll Forward Fold

• Mountain Pose

• Extended Mountain

• Standing Side Bend

• Standing Forward Fold (”Diver”)

  • Coil Down

• Half Lift

• Forward Fold

• Coil Up

• Repeat Standing Fold Flow

• High Plank

• Child’s Pose (or Child’s Pose Push-Ups)

• Downward Facing Dog

The warm-up builds heat through dynamic lunges, hamstring mobility, and hip-opening postures. Students begin to connect breath with movement while exploring the lateral space of the body through Lizard Lunge, High Side Lunge, and Malasana, preparing the legs and hips for the standing sequences ahead. Plus introducing an important hand bind for the flow.