“You can observe a lot by just watching”
—Yogi Berra
Yogi Berra may never have practiced yoga, but his axiomatic quotes sometimes capture the mindfulness exemplified in the philosophy. When we observe ourselves, when we observe the mind and body, we’re presented an opportunity to address inefficiencies and asynchronicities. Regardless of how a person practices yoga, they’re acquiring another way to listen to their body.
For some, the daily yoga gym routine is enough. Yoga can function simply as a means to start the day with the benefit of improving a person’s overall flexibility and mobility. For Kat McMullin, owner of Mala Yoga Center, yoga goes beyond the mat, functioning as the bedrock of her lifestyle.
“Yoga changed my life,” says Kat. “I have this mild scoliosis, and I also have the mild hip misalignment, where my hips are crooked. It caused me a lot of pain. Even in middle school, I would get sciatic pain shooting down my leg. When I started driving a car when I was a teenager, I’d have to stick a soda bottle under my hip to alleviate that sciatic pain.”
After traveling to India in 2011, Kat started practicing yoga daily. Though the discomfort from the poses was intense, she was realigning her entire body. She advocates that yoga heals by highlighting tight areas that need addressing. “What I noticed after a year or two of practice was that my pants didn’t fit me crooked anymore. After six to eight months, the sciatica completely went away.” A physical therapist confirmed that the list of poses Kat was focusing on were perfect for fixing her body.
Having found healing through a traditional yoga practice, Kat provides that same level of connection to the self through Mala. It starts with the Mysore methodology, which allows students to practice at their own pace with personalized attention from a teacher. “The room is silent. The teacher is not telling you every pose to do, every breath to take. You’re taught the sequence, and then you practice it on your own while the teacher goes around and works individually with students. It’s like a mini-private lesson in every class.”
Through Mysore, Kat teaches Ashtanga yoga, or classical yoga as Patanjali, the compiler of the yoga sutras, called it. Ashtanga focuses on the eight-limbed path; each limb is part of a sequence that shifts focus from the outside world to the inner mind. Simplified, the path begins with things we can abstain from, then goes to things we can observe, then to our posture, to our breathing, to withdrawal from the senses, to concentration, meditation, and finally a state of meditative consciousness.
At its center, Kat’s yoga practice trains her students to go from a state of reacting to the world to responding to it. “It was gifted to us in the first place to face your discomforts. Face the physical and mental difficulties on your mat. Meet it with the breath. Meet it with the calm. … Reacting is an immediate impulse. It’s the first emotion that arises. In yoga, we raise our hands above our heads; this is going to get our primitive brain active. Whoa, we’re being chased by a wooly mammoth! Run! The most primitive part of our brain. By breathing, relaxing, calming, engaging muscles, we’re creating a pattern that these actions are no longer causing any reaction. I have overridden that reaction system in my body after years and years of practice.
“Responding is kind of being able to slow time down a little bit. The first reaction may be there of panic, of fear, of anger. It’s almost like lengthening a fuse. Instead of having a short fuser, where the initial reaction happens and is carried out in the mind and the body, we’ve got a little bit of a longer fuse. You take that breath; you’ve got a little bit more mental space to not only recognize what emotions or feelings or sensations are coming up in the body, but to go is this true? Is that what I want to act on? Or am I going to do a little bit of responding instead?”
Mala isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of chamomile tea, but those seeking a traditional practice will find her studio to be exactly what they’re looking for. It’s why a lot of my conversation with Kat focused on precisely what she’s providing. Mala is a connection to what yoga is at its heart. Kat recalls her teacher from India questioning the need to add on to yoga. “He said, ‘Oh, you Westerners always want to add these things to do yoga. You want to do hot yoga, dog yoga, mosquito yoga. Why not just do yoga?’”
After nine years and three positive moves, Mala feels like it’s found the perfect home in an actual home, filled with the positive energy only a one-hundred-year-old house can provide. “Because it’s old, you can feel the rich history in the energy of the home just when you walk in. It’s such a beautiful setting. This is one of those homes everybody in Monona knows about.” With a refinished wood floor in the living room, complete with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the sun, each session brings some aspect of the natural world to the mat.
This year, Kat will start offering restorative retreats along with the services she already provides, including massage and reiki. As a former special education teacher, Kat also offers afterschool programs and a summer camp for kids to engage in crafts and learn the peaceful aspects of yoga. “My goal here is to just be a community-centered space where all people are welcome. This is an inclusive space for people to do their own personal healing and wellness.”
Whether at a studio, a gym, or in your own home, incorporating yoga into your life provides the tools to live a more thoughtful and engaging life. And if want an experience layered with experience and authenticity, Mala might be just what you’re looking for.
For events and to see all the services and retreats offered at Mala Yoga Center, visit malayogacenter.com.
Kyle Jacobson is a writer who wonders if the karma chameleon ever got what was coming to them.
Photographs by Eric Tadsen.
Mala Yoga Center
103 Owen Road
Monona, WI 53716
(608) 572-4831
malayogacenter.com