Daniel Williford

In 2018 my life had very little structure. I was finishing a graduate program and a dissertation, confronted with days, weeks, and months of nothing but writing and far too much time to think. It was draining and disorienting. 

Around this time, I started to practice yoga at a local studio. I experienced the first classes as a kind of undisciplined discipline, more of an opening up than a set of constraints. Initially, there was this sense of bodily hyperawareness. Every class was physically demanding. Every morning after, I woke up sore in muscles I hadn’t known existed. 

I never felt naturally good at yoga, and I wouldn’t say I found it calming or reassuring. In those early days, it was more unsettling than anything—disruptive, but in ways that made me want to keep coming back. The more time I spent at the studio, the more I formed an appreciation for the collective parts of the practice, for the idea that what we produced in the space was greater than the sequence of poses each individual performed on their mat. 

I came to Inner Fire Yoga for the first time last summer after more than a year of practicing at home, and I have never felt the need to try out another studio in town. I’m new to Madison, and it has been exciting to find such a dedicated yoga community here. I have enjoyed the balanced and intuitive flows and have loved getting back into a regular class schedule with Jane, Hannah, and Amelia. I am so grateful to get the chance to continue my practice in such a focused and encouraging space.