Too busy, too tired, just want to get through Christmas first?
Just stop a moment.....
Pause...... a few slow steady breaths.
Reset, maybe there is a different way to do things.

Our yoga practice allows us time with ourselves, an opportunity to look within and see what's really going on. Ask yourself how am I feeling right now and without judgement just sit with that. Its all okay whatever it is .

What is it you really need to do to calm down, be more relaxed, create more space in your body, mind and heart ? Think about it and then do it.

Give yourself the gift of self care and nurturing.
 

Our words have immense power. I think we intrinsically know that and we do watch what we say to others but what about ourselves. What language do you use when you talk to yourself ?

I recently attended a wonderful Body Love workshop run by my dear friend Sarah Ball where we learned about how to better love our bodies and ourselves. How do we switch off that inner critic that's often telling us we aren't enough. Not skinny enough, not flexible enough, not pretty enough, not young enough....

We did this great exercise where we traced around our hand and in the centre marked I AM and then in the fingers marked 5 things someone who loves us would say about us eg loving, kind, compassionate, loyal, funny. You get the idea but writing it down is just the beginning then we have to believe it and start seeing ourselves as others truly see us.
  I encourage you to do this exercise and also to look at your language : do you call yourself names , swear at yourself and give that inner critic way too much speak time ?

Lets try and change the dialogue and replace the negatives with some positives. So next time you are struggling with something instead of berating yourself and your body lets celebrate just how wonderful it is that we can do what we can do.

"Yoga aims for complete awareness in whatever we do. Yoga is a mirror to look at ourselves from within. " BKS Iyengar

Respecting Traditions

When I went to my first yoga class I had no idea how it would change the course of my life. From the very beginning I was intrigued - what is this thing called yoga. I will be forever grateful that my teacher Carole Baillargeon  is so passionate about the tradition of yoga and our place in the lineage. Its seems like from the first class I started learning about BKS Iyengar and the Iyengar family, seeing their pictures and hearing Carole's stories about them. I never imagined that one day I would travel to India and study in Pune with them. My first experience there was on the occasion of Mr Iyengars 90th birthday.


left : With Carole and BKS Iyengar at his birthday celebrations.

Regardless of where you do yoga you are a part of a larger yoga community. Sometimes I think we under estimate the value of community and the support it can provide us. I know that when I'm finding it difficult to practice or I'm feeling a bit jaded knowing that I am part of something much bigger than myself is very soothing. When I first heard about the SE Asian Iyengar Convention In Kuala Lumpur I was very excited. The convention will be taught by Abijhata Iyengar, Mr Iyengar's granddaughter. I first saw Abi when she accompanied Geeta Iyengar on her visit to Australia in 2009 and then did some classes with her in Pune on my next visit. Since Mr Iyengar's passing Abi has started teaching internationally and is carrying this tradition and lineage into the future.

Along with the teaching at the convention there will be a coming together of community from all over SE asia and beyond. An opportunity for us to meet old friends and make new ones and over five days immerse ourselves in the practice and tradition that is yoga. Then afterwards when we return home to our smaller communities share our experiences, tell our stories and be a part of ensuring that this ancient tradition continues to grow and  thrive.
 

Embracing your Community

Many times over the last year I have spent time reflecting on the nature of community, my place in it and its importance in the practice of yoga. On a personal level one of my biggest struggles has been missing my practice community. Even though I know my yoga practice is very much a personal journey I find myself attached to my community of yoga buddies.

This journey we are on is not an easy one and I think it’s just as important to have the community around us as it is to have regular teacher. So why is that …  Why when we are in communion with others can we dig deeper. We can all be teachers for each other and that could be in working on a difficult asana together or encouraging each other to stay the distance when things get rough which they invariably will.

In class itself it’s the community of students and teacher around you that creates the dynamic of the class and over time shapes your relationship with yourself and your yoga. There is an energetic exchange perhaps not seen but certainly experienced. We have many roles to play in life and if you attend a yoga class whether you realise it or not you become a part of that community where your presence contributes to the experience of those around you.

And so it is in our bigger communities too the ones where we work, live and play. In this time of such unrest , fear and hatred in the world hoping for world peace seems impossible but I think we start with where we are : at first with ourselves and then with our family and friends and then out from there into our communities because after all nothing will change if we do nothing.

At this time of year in the frantic busyness that now seems to define Christmas it is easy to get caught up. There is so much hype and consumerism that I tend to shy away from it all and not want to take part in any of it. Then I see the old adage “peace to the world” and my heart opens. If nothing else let us work towards that in our own small way.

Wishing peace and good will to all.

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti.


"Practitioners of the asana alone often forget that yoga is for cultivating the head and the heart. Patanajali talked about friendliness, compassion, gladness and joy. Friendliness and grace are two qualities that are essential for the yoga student. In the yoga class, students often look so serious and seperate from one another. Where is the friendliness? Where is the compassion ? Where is the gladness ? Where is the joy? Without these we have not achieved the true yoga of Patanjali. "

BKS Iyengar Light on Life p59

 

Its jacaranda time in Brisbane at the moment and I was thrilled this week on a visit to my parents to see the Oasis Jacaranda in all its glory. This big old tree ( Dad thinks its about 100 years old) sits on the corner on the site of the old Oasis swimming pools and is only a few blocks from our family home. We used to walk this way to and from school and the appearance of the jacaranda blossoms always heralded exam time and the coming school holiday s.

After years away from home, I was surprised how touched I was to see this old tree and in fact it to realise I'd been past this tree all year and only now that it was showing me its full colour did I truly see and appreciate it.  How often do we do this with our elders? So many of them have become faceless to us and yet they have such an abundance of wisdom and knowledge to share if only we can take the time to pause, look and really see. Just as this tree's blossoms reminded me of all the years I'd seen it growing up it also reminded me of the years I've been away living in other places and watching other trees blossom. 

This beautiful tree did not just suddenly appear in its glory but rather has toiled unseen for years growing, weathering, fighting and then briefly once a year it flowers so we can be reminded of the seasons of things, the impermanence of the petals as they fall and blow away and the hope that we will see it flower again next year. Lets all take some time to really look at the old trees and the elders in our lives, not just at the blossoms but at the true beauty that is their strength and resilience.

Finding a suitable space to teach yoga in a new city is quite a challenge and I feel really blessed to have found a hall to rent in our suburb Buddina, in fact its just down the street in the Kawana Guide hall. For over 10 years I had the privilege of being a student and teacher at Darwin Yoga Space, an amazing place and wonderfully rich yoga community so starting something here in a new place where i have just one good friend and a few family members was pretty daunting.
The whole process of starting anew gave me pause for reflection on lots of things but in particular I started thinking about space and what was the bare minimum I needed to start classes and begin to teach.  So I have a hall now how to make it a yoga space.... I started with sweeping the floor a simple task but one that puts me in the space and has always been part of preparing the room and so preparing myself to teach. I hadn't really thought about that until I picked up the broom in Kawana and it transformed me back to Darwin Yoga Space. How many times I swept the floor there and marvelled at the space - the sense of it, the residual energy of everything and everyone that has gone before. There was a comfort in the routine almost a sense of coming home I'm still connected to that - that space its my heart .

I realised all i needed here to begin again and create a new space is to open my heart and welcome the students. They say that the teacher holds the space for the students and in a sense that's true but its the students that bring their energy to the space, who create the community, who practice the yoga and really its the yoga itself - that union of body/ mind/ spirit that creates the space. Whether alone or together any practice of yoga creates a yoga space.

I love being in nature whether its ocean, forest or desert the external space deeply affects my internal space it resonates, supports and soothes me. There is a deeply sacred space within us all we just need to find a way to tap into that space to open and expand it and to be in touch with it. I feel blessed to know that being in nature and practicing yoga does that for me and when things aren't going too well I can find the support and nourishment I need there. I encourage you to spend time reflecting on your space - what works for you, what soothes and nourishes you and try to bring that more and more into your daily life.