Giving Up The Ghost
It’s been a while since my last post. 2013 has been a year of incredible highs and shockingly raw lows, and we’re only halfway through March, but with that said, I have a very strong feeling that this year will be a watershed one for me. I’ve felt a low rumbling in my gut over […]
Cultivating Contentment
Within the 8-Limb Ashtanga Yoga System, we come across the Niyamas, which are essentially observances or restrictions on how we treat ourselves and the manner in which we live our lives. One of these observances is Santosha, which translates to contentment. We are instructed to live a life steeped in contentment, to not get caught up in the dramas we typically get caught up in, to stay neutral and simply find contentment in all aspects of our life, come what may. I’ve always had trouble conveying this to students, as I don’t find it helpful to simply instruct someone to be content with their lot in life. Many of us experience challenging moments throughout life, in which we find ourselves tested through moments of hardship and difficulty, and being told to find contentment can be incredibly annoying. I like to be able to pass onto students tools that they can practically apply to their daily situations, and try to stay away from flighty “yoga speak”, so you can understand why I have fought with the concept of Santosha. Until now.
Choosing Your Adventure
Every week I bring a new focus to the classes that I teach – one that I find helpful to me in my life and that I feel relevant and potentially beneficial to the students. These focuses are born from inspiration – the inspiration I find from a sentence I read in a book, from hearing in conversation, or simply from observing my own patterns and behaviour. The sources are many, but almost everything I’ve ever felt insightful enough to carry through to my students all boil down to the focus from two weeks ago. The focuses often present themselves to me right before I fall asleep at night, and this one was no exception.