Navigating the Essential Aspects of Nature
This month we explore the greatest question of them all! What does it mean when we ponder who we are? And how do we access the awareness and wisdom that comes from such enquiry?
It starts with a yearning to know more
I have always been endlessly curious, hungry for vidya, (the greater wisdom & knowledge) of who I am at the core of my being.
I have journeyed with this repetitively for years, not just sitting with teachers, studying or reading, it’s actually been more about practicing, watching, observing and listening to everything my body/mind has to say!
Oh and there’s been a lot!! Haha!
Cultivating awareness
Isolating thought while neglecting our body creates an unwanted distance between us and our perceptions and removes us from our visceral, intuitive connection to this experience of ours and “oh how sad does that read”.
Awareness is to create a space, a safe space to allow all aspects of our being to be felt, explored, looked at, seen and held without judgment.
I am lucky to have some people in my life who I feel safe enough to do this with, it’s still work in progress every day but to share this amount of openness with another human being requires great courage, to show your flaws, your vulnerabilities and your imprints.
There have been times I have shared deep feelings and emotions with others and have felt it has either been an avenue for blame or judgement, so have then felt myself greatly recoil like two great doors slamming shut between us.
Some are just not ready to meet in that vast open space and that’s ok, that’s why ultimately yoga has been this space for me.
to share this amount of openness with another human being requires great courage, to show your flaws, your vulnerabilities and your imprints…
Finding the “A-ha!!” moment
When practicing to digest something I’m going through, when I experience the veil lifting and the great “A-ha!!” of awareness dropping in, is what yoga is all about for me.
It’s what Patañjali in The Yoga Sutras & The Bhagavad Gita speak of when explaining The Gunas born of prakriti, the energy from which our mental & physical worlds take shape.
Navigating these aspects of nature & cultivating a greater awareness of the 3 Gunas (the qualities of energy, matter & consciousness) & how they play out in my body, my life, my family, my friends, community, and the world, is a constant and fascinating daily observation.
“Guna means strand, and in the Gita the gunas are described as the very fabric of existence, the veil that hides unity in a covering of diversity”
Krishna Dwaivayana Vyasa
Pose of the month
Pose – Bound Half Moon Pose
Sanskrit – Baddha Ardha Chandrasana
Pronounced – BAD ahh ARE-dah chan-DRAHS-uh-nah
Type – Balance
Baddha Ardha Chandrasana is primarily a balance pose, so our Dristhi (gaze) is exceptionally important in this practice. So too is strength in abducting the legs (moving legs away from the centre body) there is an option to bind, we will explore this using a wall initially but by week 5 let’s see 😉
Don’t worry!!
In Jivamukti the class is structured so that the body is prepared; stretched, strengthened and opened by visiting the requisite shape and effort in preparatory postures so that our destination posture each month begins to feel more and more accessible over the 4/5 weeks of practice.
Book your first discounted class now! Use the code AUM
Mantra of the month
The Bhagavad Gita 3:35
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुण: परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् |
स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेय: परधर्मो भयावह: || 35||
śhreyān swa-dharmo viguṇaḥ
para-dharmāt sv-anuṣhṭhitāt
swa-dharme nidhanaṁ śhreyaḥ
para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ
It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection.
