Peace Healing Yoga

Thank you Namaste Acres Yoga for a wonderful Summer Solstice Retreat.

Not just one, but two, floating sound baths. Paddleboard yoga. Earthing yoga. Aerial yoga. Herbalist class. Ecstatic dancing. Readings. Sunshine. Delicious food from Not Just Any Place Café And more…

So grateful to kick off summer with this getaway.

Sunday heated vinyasa, after a stormy night and no electricity means we moved it outside. So grateful for perfect weather, for Megan's Yoga Tribe and for making the most of any situation.

If you are looking for community, for mindful movement and change, join us - today is the last day to get 30 days for $1.

https://createandlivealifeyoulove.com/?aff=6515

To wrap up our study of Svadhyaya, the final aspect is use of spiritual texts to support our search for meaning and self-discovery.

Things you can do to further your practice of Svadhyaya include:
-Journaling (journal prompts below)
-Meditation - ask yourself a question and set with it, use guided meditations, set and focus on your breath
-Read and learn from spiritual texts, find the materials that speak to you

Journal prompts:
What do I say to myself when I talk to myself?
At the very core, without labels, who am I?
What new choices does my soul want me to make?

Svadhyaya in asana (the physical practice of yoga).

Our physical practice of yoga is a direct reflection of our practice of life. By studying yourself in asana you can learn a lot. In asana, it's just you and your body so why not be purposeful in paying attention?

Study your breath - your breath tells you how you are. If your breath is short and shallow it is often a reflection of worry and stress.

Notice where you hold tension. We store fear and worry in our jaw, neck and shoulders.

What are the thoughts that fill your mind during practice? Is your mind busy unloading a million things because it's the only time you have given yourself to pause during the day?

What else do you notice?

Svadhyaya - study of "self" or study of "Self"?

Studying the self means paying attention to our habits and thoughts and as a result, realizing how much of what we do and think is actually far from who we really are.

More often than not, we listen to our ego. Our ego often urges us to do things that don't align with our true beliefs or intuition. Ego is ultimately what makes up our small “self.” The small “self” is concerned with survival; it's all about getting everything that it wants in all situations. It has to prove itself to be the best despite whatever consequences may arise.

The small self judges, criticizes, fears, conditions, and doubts. It belittles and causes division between us and our understanding of the true Self.

By paying attention to the Self, we become more aware.

We notice things that we do to harm ourselves. We recognize those who serve us and those who bring us closer to ourselves. In this way, we are able to acknowledge our habits and thought processes. Then, we are brought closer to the process of “yoking” and “uniting” with our true Self.

Can you recognize the difference between your self and Self?

Continuing to explore the 8 limbs of yoga.

The second limb of yoga is the Niyama's. The niyama's are five constructive tools for cultivating happiness and self-confidence; opportunities to practice them arise every day. Where the yama's were about how we interact with the outside world, the niyama's relate to our inner world.

The 4th Niyama - Svadhyaya
Svadhyaya translates to self study.

“Study, when it is developed to the highest degree, brings one close to higher forces that promote understanding of the most complex.” – The Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali, Sutra II.44

Svadhyaya can be better understood by thinking about the ocean....

Imagine the waves of the ocean. Individual waves travel across the surface of the ocean. Each wave is an individual being. And each wave is distinguished by its location in space.

But the substance of every wave is the ocean itself.

The waves and substance from which they arise are one and the same. Individual waves are a part of the ocean. They appear and disappear. And that neither increases or decreases the immensity of water.

A wave is never separate from the ocean. But it has manifested on the ocean’s surface.

The premise of Svadhyaya is similar. Individual awareness can never separate from infinite consciousness. Individual minds have unique qualities, preferences, and colorings. But they are not entirely autonomous. Each mind is a wave in the vast expanse of consciousness.

The aim of Svadhyaya is to bring the experience of immense consciousness into awareness. And the process of self-discovery in this way is Svadhyaya.

https://yogapractice.com/yoga/svadhyaya/

Some journal prompts to further your exploration of tapas:

Am I making daily choices or decisions based on indulgence or comfort; or am I making choices or decisions that build my strength?

When do I run away from things and why? What would happen if
I choose to stay and move through the fire?

What is tapas in asana (the physical practice of yoga)?

Tapas in asana does not mean a hot, sweaty, maximally challenging asana practice, full of long holds in heat-building poses, fancy inversions, arm balances and pretzel-like shapes.... Read that again :).

Tapas in asana means using discipline and friction to create change - so not doing what you always do, not just doing what you're comfortable with, rather breaking tendencies and patterns that are holding you back.

Tapas in asana could mean a super sweaty vinyasa, it could mean restorative poses, it could mean getting off of our phones for a minute to meditate or just set with whatever comes up when we stop distracting ourselves, it could mean focusing on breath, it could mean knowing that we need to rest.

Where do you need to switch things up and create some discipline and friction in your practice?

Continuing to explore Tapas, the second Niyama of yoga...

Tapas (or discipline) can also be viewed as the friction generated by going against the grain of habit, of complacency, of doing what’s easiest, of getting away with things. Tapas is striving to be the best you can, which may mean shifting what you do and how you do it.

For years I have tried to change habits without success, always giving in when the friction got to be too much. And I could always justify it - I am not a morning person, I am too busy, I am too tired...

What a gift to view the friction as a gift rather than an obstacle - the friction is the burning away of habits that are not in my best interest; the tendencies that keep me from being my best self.

Where are you, or where can you, put tapas to use in your life?

Continuing to explore the 8 limbs of yoga.

The second limb of yoga is the Niyama's. The niyama's are five constructive tools for cultivating happiness and self-confidence; opportunities to practice them arise every day. Where the yama's were about how we interact with the outside world, the niyama's relate to our inner world.

The 3rd Niyama - Tapas (Discipline).
The third of Patanjali’s Niyamas is ‘Tapas’, which often translates as ‘discipline’. The word Tapas is derived from the root Sanskrit verb ‘tap’ which means ‘to burn’, and evokes a sense of ‘fiery discipline’ or ‘passion’. In this sense, Tapas can mean cultivating a sense of self-discipline, passion and courage in order to burn away ‘impurities’ physically, mentally and emotionally, and paving the way to our true greatness.

Our physical practice of yoga teaches us discipline - we breathe through difficult poses; we build strength to move into poses we once thought impossible; we overcome that voice in our head telling use we can't, we're not good enough, etc...

This helps us find more discipline in our day to day, off the mat, life:
-Taking a breath when we are faced with a personal or inter-personal challenge.
-Connecting to the strength that was always there to pursue a new job, a new career, a new relationship.
-Noticing how we talk to ourselves internally and realizing that the voice is not who we are.

The key to balancing tapas is to be careful not to let our ego drive, but to tune into what lies below that.

How are you practicing tapas?

Time to reflect on Santosha....

What three to five things I am grateful for today?

Am I preparing for the future in areas of my life? What am I waiting to happen or be, rather than living in my current reality?

Santosha in asana, our physical practice of yoga, is about being content with our practice as it is in this moment.

When we push ourselves physically into an asana we’re just not ready for yet, our body responds by contracting, becoming rigid and almost defending itself against our incessant forcing. The more we work from a place of fear, attachment and pushing, the further away we push ourselves from where we’re trying to go.

In your next practice, can you make the intention to appreciate yourself for what you are, how far you’ve come and all that you have to look forward to.

Your body will thank you. When we let go of the ‘need’ to be more flexible, stronger, balanced or powerful, that power comes to find us in no time.