Hand Lettered Yoga

Hand Lettering

September 25, 2017

Apparently, 2017 was a year for Yoga in my life… But, really, I have a confession: I wore yoga pants way more while walking the dog or designing than I did actually practicing yoga. I should do more of it because I struggle from migraines and it forces me to both workout and relax, both of which are ideal for the battle I fight.

In fall of 2016, I was asked to do the design work for a friend who wanted to open a yoga studio. Her vision needed my background in space planning to ensure the right location was selected. Did you know that I used to design the insides of Home Depot stores? Then, I did some other space design work, including environmental graphics (fancy word for signage) for a bunch of places that ranges from retail to residential and mixed use. So, I was hired to do the space layout and design the logo.

The name of the studio was to be Humble Yoga. I came up with a variety of designs and the partners all agreed that my design with a mix of hand-drawn and typed letters was the right one. The H and the Y are actually the same shape, just rotated 180 degrees. I picked out the most lovely ceiling tiles for the studio because of how many times in a yoga class everyone is told to look up at the ceiling. I visited during construction, which reminded me of the good old days when I did site visits for The Home Depot, and was able to identify changes that needed to happen because of variables that arose during construction (like moving a wall because of a support post that was not on the plans I was given, or creating a storage cubby out of dead-space caused by the Anthropology sofa she selected for the lobby.)

 

Since it’s opening, I have enjoyed practicing yoga there when my schedule allows. But now I have a new reason to practice more yoga… The fulfillment center for my artwork just added yoga mats to the options. That means that my artwork, or at least about 50 of my designs at this point, is now available on yoga mats. In fact, most of my designs even allow the customer to change the background color of the mat.

Here is why this is so important to me… yoga is not a traditionally Christian thing, but lends itself to it so well. All those prayer poses, surrendering, and intentions can easily be applied to the life of a Christian. The great thing about Humble Yoga is that the owner-operators are all followers of Christ, so when a class has some of my gals from church, it is not weird for me to gather them for a little group prayer before we part ways for the day. Some of those designs of mine available on yoga mats are bible verses, and that is one way to remind yourself of the promise while creating an invitation for a conversation to someone in the class who is curious about this promise God made to us.

If you are local to Lamorinda, you can stop into Humble Yoga for 10 free days. I suggest that you try a few of their teachers so that you see the diversity in each style.

Regardless of your geographic location, if you plan to spend any time doing yoga, order yourself a mat with one of my designs on it. Just pop over to my shop, click on the product sorter and choose Yoga Mats from under the lifestyle section and shop away.

P.S. Just because I have a yoga mat with a hand lettered quote with a boat reference, it does not mean I like boat pose (She stood in the storm & when the wind did not blow her away, she adjusted her sails). It perhaps is the part of a class which I hate most.

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