Theme of the week: Finding Beauty In All Things
Classes Taught: 6
Sutra 1.7 (as translated by Nischala) tells us:
Knowledge embraces personal experience, inference, and insights from the wise.
Honing in on the word 'inference'. Sometimes, we experience knowledge from a deep place without any apparent reason or rationale. It is a felt sense of knowing that stands alone. It can be unreliable, though. For example:
You walk past a mother with a toddler at the park. She seems absorbed in her mobile phone, apparently unconcerned about what her small child is doing. You may judge her as disinterested and neglectful. You may imagine she spends much of her day ignoring her child, engaging with empty social media content. You may even conclude that ALL parents 'these days' are obsessed with their phones, to the detriment of their relationships.
But this is a mere snapshot of a life. A brief window of a few seconds. Maybe, when her child is playing happily in the park, she allows herself fifteen minutes of screen time because she is so strict with her phone use the rest of the day. Maybe she is just logging in to check the nursery-cam to see how her older child is doing. She might be making an appointment with the doctor. Or perhaps her partner works away and has sent her a long-awaited text message. Perhaps she is lonely, and these precious moments when her child is distracted allow her to connect with the friends that live inside her phone. Perhaps she is checking her work emails, trying to juggle parenthood with her career.
Instead of making judgements, we should use our power of inference to 'give people the benefit of the positive'. Look for the good the beauty, in all things and always honour our intuition.
Asana Practice
In Hatha, peak poses included a sneaky upside-down Kakasana (Crow), Virabhadrasana I, II and III (Warriors), Utkatasana (Chair) and Vrikshasana (Tree). We looked for the nectar, positives, and benefits of each shape.
In Yin, we journeyed through twists to appreciate the beauty of seeing things from a different viewpoint.
Readings, Resources and Inspiration
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Sri Swami Satchidananda
The Secret Power of Yoga by Nischala Joy Devi
Applied Polyvagal Theory in Yoga by Dr. Arielle Schwartz
Wild Embers - poems of rebellion, fire and beauty by Nikita Gill
the sun and her flowers by rupi kaur
Glimmers of the week
This week, more wonderful feedback came my way verbally and via my phone screen.
One of my gorgeous yogis made me some new bolsters, which came in very handy for my yin session at The Pod on Sunday. Having made eight of my own a few months ago, I haven't had the time to sew in ages - and now I have fifteen beautiful bolsters! Thank you, Kelly x
The week concluded with my monthly yin and nidra session, which is always a big glimmer in my diary.
Lessons Learned
Yoga changes us on a mitochondrial level - yes, this is an actual scientific fact! Isn't that amazing?
Not so much a new lesson but a recurring thought which has prompted me to take action. I most enjoy teaching small groups, and I enjoy the connection and the intimacy. So I have capped my numbers as follows:
The Pod: 10 spaces per class.
The Midwives Circle & Wellness Centre: 6 spaces per class.
In Other News
I really enjoyed listening to this Podcast, and it inspired me to write this blog post.
Namaste.
Vicki x
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