January Tells Lies, Yoga Wears Truth Goggles In yoga philosophy, the “grooves” or recurring patterns of thought, behaviour and emotional imprints in the mind are called samskaras. These can be good, bad, old or new. Helpful or not, they undeniably make that part of the brain stronger and that’s visible on scans. Think of them…
Vairagya (pronounced vai-RAHG-yah) is often translated as non-attachment but that can sound a bit cold or distant. In yoga it’s actually much more tender than that. Vairagya is the practice of letting go without hardening, of releasing your grip while keeping your heart open. It’s not about pushing feelings away or pretending you don’t care,…
Uncertainty is the technology of possibility. What a great sentence. Could doubt really be a place of discovery? The idea that NOT knowing is a super power to harness, not to fear or avoid. Uncertainty can show up as finances, the future or even simple daily events such as what we should eat or what…
The Farmer & The Field A simple yoga teaching from The Bhagavad Gītā. In the Bhagavad Gītā, the body is described as a field. The Sanskrit word is kṣetra (k-sheh-truh) , ‘the field’. Then equally as important, there is the one who knows the field, kṣetrajña (k-sheh-truh-gyah) , ‘the knower of the field’. To make…
Chidakāśa: The Kind of Space We All Need Yoga philosophy is full of beautiful concepts that sometimes feel like they belong more in a candle lit cave rather than everyday life. Chidakāśa is one of them. It translates roughly to “the space of consciousness,” but before you switch off stay with me because this idea…
Group Classes: The Meeting Point of Movement and Philosophy The online yoga space loves a dichotomy. Scroll long enough and you’ll notice the tension: on one end, group classes are dismissed as exclusionary or superficial, and on the other, there’s the idea that realyoga is found only in stillness, study or pure philosophy. I’ve seen…
Most of us have had that awful feeling where someone posts a photograph of us looking like a potato. You know the one, your face looks like a melted candle and now everyone’s seen it. Bit embarrassing. But imagine being Arjuna (main character of The Bhagavad Gita, yogas ancient philosophical guidance text) You’ve just had…
When ‘Trauma-Informed’ Becomes the New ‘Vino & Vinyasa’ IS trauma really a selling point for yoga? Interestingly, you don’t see this phrase in the Pilates space or in personal training, it seems to be very much the reserve of yoga teachers. Of course, there is a place for having awareness around trauma. In a one-to-one…
Why Blending Buddhism With Yoga Is Like Saying A ‘Hand Manicure’ Philosophy on top of philosophy, when does more becomes too much?Should we be looking at subtraction not addition to remain faithful to yoga at its core? Is the quiet power of yoga no longer enough? It’s easy to get caught up in the desire…
How Does Yoga Teach Us the True Meaning of the Glass Half Full? Now I love being in a good stinking mood every now and again but have you ever caught yourself stuck in a cycle of negative thinking? Pratipaksha Bhavana—a concept from the Yoga Sutras (2.33)—is all about shifting perspective. It’s the ultimate “glass…