What Yoga Means at Yoga Sol
So often in social media we see seductive, sexy clothing draped over a muscular young contorted perfect body. We see unreachable Yoga poses that only Cirque du Soleil performers could achieve.
Yoga in Yogasol is everyday people, working towards a common goal; Better mind body connection, Improved physical heath. Improved mental health. Reduction of pain and increased mobility.
We don’t push you like a commando would. We don’t judge you if you don’t wear the latest lulu lemon gear.
No one at our studio has a $500 Yoga mat coupled with the bag and head band to match.
Our community is one that supports each other, holds space for ourselves and sends no judgement for the one that turns up a couple of minutes late, or the one that sends the water bottle flying across the room in savasana. We allow you to fully drop into your peace, and if that means there is a big sigh, a few tears or a gentle snore, then so be it. Yoga can sometimes mean letting out a little embarrassing noise in a deep forward bend. Yoga means what ever it means to you. Weather we are at the side of a dusty road in Kathmandu, or on a white sandy beach, in the comfort of your front room, or our studio. Your Yoga is how You choose it to be. Wear what you want, do each pose you feel fits you and modify it if it doesn’t. Be you “warts and all” and celebrate that.
Congratulate yourself after each session, weather you managed to touch your toes or not, you gave it a try, and that’s worth acknowledging and congratulating.
Weather you make 1 class a month, or 3 a week it doesn’t matter.
Each time you choose to stretch a little, or pay attention to your breath, or be silent, you are practising yoga. A daily practice isn’t 2 hours of Asana followed by 1 hour of seated meditation then preparing a vegan raw dish. (It might be for some but not for most)
A conscious breath, a diversion from a reaction to a more thought out compassionate response is a daily practice of Yoga.
Be proud of who you are, and what you achieve each day!
Consumerism and Yoga.
Ok, we all love to get new things.
Shinny and new makes us happy.
For a while, then shinny and new gets dirty and old and our attachment to it changes and we discard it for the next best thing. Shinny and new.
When we think of Yoga, we think of each breath being our shinny and new. We think of each pose creating shinny and new within our physical bodies. We think of rising after each Savasana with a shinny new outlook.
Unfortunately sometimes this inward shinny and new gets side swiped by marketing and our need for consumerism.
We feel compelled to have the best Bamboo organic Mat, coupled with our Hemp fair trade bag. Our $200 Yoga Pants and our organic cold pressed oils to “clean” and over stimulate our senses while shutting down and withdrawing form external stimulation. .. What?
We don’t need fancy clothes, Fancy smells or fancy props.
We just need a moment of peace and compassion of Self to bring our selves out of this crazy wasteful consumer driven world that we live in, and into our self. Our Home, our Body, our Breath, our Planet.
This ever increasing “need, want” can create a trance of unworthiness and disappointment even despair and depression. The impact on our planet is devastating too.
So next time you are told you need a certain product to improve your Yoga, think about what that product really is.
You
You are all you need to make your Yoga practice happen.
You are all you need to improve in Asana or Pranayama.
You are all you need to find that Yogic glow of peace and joy, Compassion and Love.
If you don’t have a mat, use the floor. If you don’t have a calm space, Cultivate that calm space within your own self.
If you don’t have the latest Chants on spotify, Sing or listen to your breath, the birds, the wind.
Yoga always meant poverty and renunciation from Earthly possessions by the devotion to the path of purity, and although we no longer live in the age of the great sages and we don’t live in a country where Renunciation is common place, we can practice self restraint and bring the practice of mindfulness into our consumeristic ways.
Seeking to understand why we feel we need a product. What is our expectation of the product and how we think it will change our experience of Yoga.
If we all reduce our buying we also reduce our waste.
Mindfulness is not just about our Breath we can bring mindfulness and compassion training into every aspect of our lives.
Try starting introducing mindfulness and compassion into our shopping habits.
I look forward to hearing the results.
Sanskrit Words: What they mean and why we still use them
Sanskrit is the ancient Indian Language that you hear in your Yoga class.
Why do we still use it? Is it to show off our lingual skills or to confuse you?
The truth is. Logistically it is easy to use the Sanskrit word to both attend or Teach a class anywhere in the world. Having our own language makes everyone know the pose in what ever country we practice. We also find some words get confused in Translation. Crane pose can sometimes be called Crow, and so on. Yoga Asana (Pose) can be pretty tough to perfect so lets leave the confusion of translation of different animals out of the equation.
The other reason why we use Sanskrit is the sheer beauty and complexity of the language that you just can’t Translate into English with out whole paragraphs to capture the essence of one word.
Nameste. We all know and Use this word when we attend our Class.
Nameste pending on when and how it is used can mean many different things all along the lines of recognising and worshiping the place within ourselves and others where we unite as one.
Heres an Example.
I honour the place within you that is made of pure light. I honour the place within me that is made of pure light, when you dwell within that place of light within you and I dwell within the place of light within me we are connected equally as one. Brightening the light for all and each other. Indicating the sharing of love, peace, healing, joy, and showing a connection on a cosmic level, above race, wealth, Knowledge and so on. So much attached to this small word. How could we possible say all of that at the end of our class. It would become like the disclaimer at the end of the political ads.
The word Yoga Gets translated into Union. To join or to Yolk. Taken from the connection of chariots fastened together for battle. The use of the word Yoga in the Yogic texts refers to the action of concentration specifically on achieving Samadhi or a state of blissful enlightenment.
The interesting thing about being able to reach Samadhi is the disassociation or the withdrawal of the ego mind. Controlling the fluctuations of the mind and eliminating the ego and perceived realities taken from personal perception. The Elimination of expectation attached to action. “If I meditate I will become calm.” When expectation is attached to the action we will never live up to our desires.
So as a result Yoga being the word meaning Union or connection is actually a word to describe the action and concentration on withdrawal from rather than to unite with.
Nowadays Yoga simply means going to Class and doing your Downward facing dog to most of us but having a background knowledge of a few Sanskrit words can enhance our understanding and deepen our appreciation to this art form that has so many benefits to us in the hectic modern world.