Ashtanga is yoga for the mind.
Some say its extremely physical: what activity in our lives is not? We are spirits incarnated in flesh and bones and our bodies are the instruments to know ourselves.
We can immediately notice if someone is doing their practice or not. By practice I mean the 8-limb- yoga we aim for- having Yama and Niyama as the advanced yoga, not the asana as it is been portrayed by many in their feeds. Asana is the door for a deeper realization. Asana is the tip of the iceberg: the way to learn to control our mind and emotions and calm the innumerable fluctuations of our monkey minds.
Practice changes as we transit through life. It also feels different if we are in a woman's body. As women have a special protocol since we have our menses, pregnancies, PMS and hormonal changes that render our body an ever changing landscape. I am no man and have no idea how a practice would feel in a man's body, but I know well as women we have a lot of challenges men don't.
We are usually holding homes, children and jobs. We are juggling our personal lives with social and cultural predicaments. We have been so conditioned into taking care of others that we usually forget about ourselves, trapped in the opinions and ideas of a system who uses us inhumanly.
Our yoga practice comes like fresh water to remind us who we really are.
I have met amazing and profound women along my quest. Those I admire have a regular and serious practice of asana, meditation, chanting or motherhood and their spiritual sadhana is the source and root of every action they take, every thought they think. I can notice how they speak, relate, organize and live their lives and its there where the yoga takes place. Practice is the source and the oasis. Without it we are limping, not ready to give nor receive. Without practice we are held captive of our automatic negative thoughts, which include self loathing, self judgment and lots of anxiety and fear.
Without practice we are lost in the ocean of samsara. It´s the beginning of the end because our thoughts start recreating our reality. Binging, anorexia, infertility, mood swings, fibromialgia, bipolarity....in my career I've met so many women with apparently good lives but deeply sad and abused, slaves to a system that they have internalized so deeply and they won't allow themselves to be free. Their bodies eventually give up, no matter how many plastic surgeries, botox or fertility treatments.
Yoga comes into our lives to save us from the conditioned mind. Yoga is the healing medicine so we can clear up our thinking process and make decisions that bring us closer to who we really are. Practice is non negotiable and any obstacle will disappear in front of a sincere sadhana. Our practice is our shield to guard us against all the blocking ideas we have been nurtured with.
Finding a route away from the common knowledge will for sure create a lot of waves around us. In my case, it created so many I had to change countries. I could not live anymore in a place were free thinking females are labeled and judged by their same sisters. A society that has their women locked in predictable roles and boicots anyone who attempts to awaken.
So when I see a female practicing, I recover my faith. I wish all my sisters had the privilege I´ve had of finding guidance to go deeper into our spiritual depths. The only way this can happen is by sharing our experience, supporting other women in the path and becoming one big wave of ecstasy that washes away any old shared delusions in our minds. We are bound until we decide we want to be free.
We are slaves until we finally say enough.
Its only by the means and blessings of our practice that we will find the courage to let go of whatever doesn't serve us and create a new life for ourselves, our children and those who are ready for a major metamorphosis. Yoga is not for the faint of heart and it really triggers me when I see someone teaching without credentials- which means teaching without a regular personal practice. Without a practice, a teacher is only mimicking others, taking students for other reasons and using the yoga to benefit themselves. Yoga is the path of authenticity and eventually all fake teachers decay as the leaves of a tree stranded from the roots.
We don't need to look like anyone else in our practice- only have the respect and love for the spiritual teachings to create the space to go within.
For our relationships.
For our children.
For our students.
For our new self who is being born everyday.
Some say its extremely physical: what activity in our lives is not? We are spirits incarnated in flesh and bones and our bodies are the instruments to know ourselves.
We can immediately notice if someone is doing their practice or not. By practice I mean the 8-limb- yoga we aim for- having Yama and Niyama as the advanced yoga, not the asana as it is been portrayed by many in their feeds. Asana is the door for a deeper realization. Asana is the tip of the iceberg: the way to learn to control our mind and emotions and calm the innumerable fluctuations of our monkey minds.
Practice changes as we transit through life. It also feels different if we are in a woman's body. As women have a special protocol since we have our menses, pregnancies, PMS and hormonal changes that render our body an ever changing landscape. I am no man and have no idea how a practice would feel in a man's body, but I know well as women we have a lot of challenges men don't.
We are usually holding homes, children and jobs. We are juggling our personal lives with social and cultural predicaments. We have been so conditioned into taking care of others that we usually forget about ourselves, trapped in the opinions and ideas of a system who uses us inhumanly.
Our yoga practice comes like fresh water to remind us who we really are.
I have met amazing and profound women along my quest. Those I admire have a regular and serious practice of asana, meditation, chanting or motherhood and their spiritual sadhana is the source and root of every action they take, every thought they think. I can notice how they speak, relate, organize and live their lives and its there where the yoga takes place. Practice is the source and the oasis. Without it we are limping, not ready to give nor receive. Without practice we are held captive of our automatic negative thoughts, which include self loathing, self judgment and lots of anxiety and fear.
Without practice we are lost in the ocean of samsara. It´s the beginning of the end because our thoughts start recreating our reality. Binging, anorexia, infertility, mood swings, fibromialgia, bipolarity....in my career I've met so many women with apparently good lives but deeply sad and abused, slaves to a system that they have internalized so deeply and they won't allow themselves to be free. Their bodies eventually give up, no matter how many plastic surgeries, botox or fertility treatments.
Yoga comes into our lives to save us from the conditioned mind. Yoga is the healing medicine so we can clear up our thinking process and make decisions that bring us closer to who we really are. Practice is non negotiable and any obstacle will disappear in front of a sincere sadhana. Our practice is our shield to guard us against all the blocking ideas we have been nurtured with.
Finding a route away from the common knowledge will for sure create a lot of waves around us. In my case, it created so many I had to change countries. I could not live anymore in a place were free thinking females are labeled and judged by their same sisters. A society that has their women locked in predictable roles and boicots anyone who attempts to awaken.
So when I see a female practicing, I recover my faith. I wish all my sisters had the privilege I´ve had of finding guidance to go deeper into our spiritual depths. The only way this can happen is by sharing our experience, supporting other women in the path and becoming one big wave of ecstasy that washes away any old shared delusions in our minds. We are bound until we decide we want to be free.
We are slaves until we finally say enough.
Its only by the means and blessings of our practice that we will find the courage to let go of whatever doesn't serve us and create a new life for ourselves, our children and those who are ready for a major metamorphosis. Yoga is not for the faint of heart and it really triggers me when I see someone teaching without credentials- which means teaching without a regular personal practice. Without a practice, a teacher is only mimicking others, taking students for other reasons and using the yoga to benefit themselves. Yoga is the path of authenticity and eventually all fake teachers decay as the leaves of a tree stranded from the roots.
We don't need to look like anyone else in our practice- only have the respect and love for the spiritual teachings to create the space to go within.
For our relationships.
For our children.
For our students.
For our new self who is being born everyday.
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