yoga
stability ease space body mind breath
Yoga is about our
relationship with everything
Yoga is practice. By practicing yoga daily, one’s body becomes more mobile and more stable but the real fruit of practicing yoga is getting closer to yourself in kindness and understanding, and when that becomes a new habit one will radiate it into their relationships with everyone and everything, expressing the best of your humanness, being a “good ancestor.”
Sometimes it is posture work, sometimes chant or a seated breathing practice, meditation. Each student finds its own way to yoga.
Yoga tools are many but ultimately, they all lead to present moment and feeling at home and at peace in it.
Yoga is both the clear and peaceful state of mind and the process to come to that state. It requires being present, conscious breath, practicing, reflecting, trusting, letting go.
Yoga Tradition
Yoga is one of the six philosophical systems of Indian thought. It has its origins in Vedas and it is synthesised in the work of the great Indian sage Patañjali in the concise and clear text called Yoga Sūtra that was composed in the early centuries of the common era.
Ancient tradition and modern life are not that far apart. There are lessons to be learned in the midst of our secular lives just as it was in a renunciate world.
Viniyoga
Viniyoga is the term TKV Desikachar used to describe the teachings of his father T. Krishnamacharya who probably taught all key teachers whose work is followed everywhere in the world. In the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram (KYM) in Chennai, India most of my teachers learned from this source.
Viniyoga in Sanskrit means “appropriate application”. In this tradition tools of yoga (postures and breathing practice, chanting, meditation) are carefully used and modified to meet individual needs and capacities.
This approach supports and promotes health and facilitates personal development and transformation.
Āsana
Gentle and conscious movement is the key to releasing the accumulated tensions. Body loves gentleness. Breath initiates the movement and gives direction, gives support. Body responds with creation of stability and ease.
Conscious breathing opens awareness to the whole of the body and the movement becomes slower, more intelligent, aware and transformative. With regular āsana practice one can develop a strong and flexible spine, ease in joints, overall lightness in the body, stable attention and calm energy.
When we practice yoga we attempt to create the state of being present over and over again; “the state in which we are always present, in every action, in every moment” whether we are on the mat or anywhere else.
Prāṇāyāma
Prāṇāyāma are the breathing practices of Yoga.
It is conscious breathing without suppressing the body’s natural urges.
Prāṇā is that life force that flows continuously inside us, keeping us alive. It is our vitality. Sometimes we may be lacking it, or it is stuck and not available. Our state of mind is closely related to the quality of Prāṇā in the body. We can influence the flow of Prāṇā through the flow of our breath. The aim is to have Prāṇā freely circulating through the body.
There are many Prāṇāyāma techniques and they are carefully chosen, step by step in a gradual process to support your practice and address your needs.
Meditation
From Yoga perspective:
Yoga is Meditation. It is both the clear and peaceful state of mind and the process to come to that state. It requires being present, conscious breath, practicing, reflecting, trusting, letting go.
Meditation practice involves reducing mental agitation, redirecting attention from the distractions and gradually linking our attention to something of a deeper nature.
There are many meditative techniques, using mantra, breath, sensations, image, visualisation et cetera but as a process it means putting your attention on something and keeping it there.
The key part of meditation is preparation for it. Our mind is generally very active and unbalanced so in that state we don’t have capacity to stay focused. Practicing gentle movement and breathing exercises moves your system towards balance and our capacity to direct the mind increases.
Once we are in more balanced state we can create the experiences of peace and cultivate stability. The experience is not static and is not nothing. Practicing meditation is not to escape the world but to hear the authentic knowing deep within you. It is to know the difference between the “doer” and our true nature. Then we will be more authentic and our life, too.
Chanting
Chanting and passing knowledge were intimately linked throughout history and not only in Indian tradition. Knowledge was organised into verses that could be memorised and so transmitted through chants. Teachers then offered commentaries and interpretations.
This method was very effective not only for the preservation and spreading of the knowledge but equally for the development of the student’s capacity to listen, memorise and develop the intellect. Like posture practice works for the body, chanting lengthens the breath, stretches and engages our mind.
Chanting can be used as a meditative practice. Learning something by heart becomes part of us and is always accessible.
The sound can be modified in phonetics, pitch, volume and pace, and so the chant can be energising , grounding or soothing.
Vibrations and energetic quality of the sound can travel deeply into our being.
I practice and teach both Vedic and Yoga Sūtra chanting in Sanskrit language.
Yoga Therapy - Kind Yoga
Yoga therapy is a process of regular home practice and ongoing one to one tuition by the qualified Yoga therapist.
Yoga therapy uses yoga techniques and principles for therapeutic purposes. It addresses the whole person and all aspects of one’s being (physical, mental, emotional, spiritual). It supports and promotes health and positive transformation. The aim of yoga therapy is to manage, reduce and eliminate symptoms that cause suffering and clear the path for healing. It allows individual to have a healthier perspective on their health and their life with better discernment and clarity.
My wish is to share with you this gradual discovery of the wisdom of the body, openness of the heart and clarity of the mind, towards “enlightened” everyday living.
Kind Yoga because it is the kindness to our body and mind that brings us to kindness in all our relations and actions.
Santosha Yoga Space
Providing yoga classes and individual tuition in yoga, meditation and chanting.
- Dalkey, Co.Dublin
- +353 87 948 1548
- yoga@santosha.ie