Yoga is something to explore. For me it exists in the heart of every being. A science written and taught to awaken with in us the universal truth of which we were all born of, and carry within us, for every step of our lives. Yet, be sure to note, that the theory is useless without the experience of it. When we are ripe and ready for its lessons, they will come. Trusting all the while that your unfolding continues beyond the mat. Yoga is life, death and love. Like balance, yoga is something that keeps us constantly reaching, yet in total acceptance of where we stand. It is the true friend that holds your hand, guiding and advising. All the while inspiring you to greater heights of yourself. We discover through this brilliance that the true self is that which holds everything and all that is. Expanding into the bliss of being in un-being. It is our path, in this human life, to exist within a duality only to appreciate what it is to be non-dual.
The journey I have taken with yoga has been long and enduring. I have fully embraced it as a lifestyle, a lived experience, something far beyond the physical practice of the asanas. Though these are a good place to start, for me, they are neither the beginning nor the ending. As a teacher of QiGong and Taiji I came to yoga in 2006. What I found was a sense of coming home, a gentleness, a firmness, a chink of authenticity while I felt swallowed by a life I didn’t belong in. Gradually yoga became the focus of my spiritual practice. By 2008 I was fully committed and attending Sivananda yoga classes 6 days a week. This supported me in building a daily personal practice. In 2009 I began to explore other styles of yoga and how to integrate what I learnt of QiGong and Taiji into my practice. I have trained within and use Sivananda, kundalini, yin and restorative styles in my personal physical practice. Throughout this journey, I have also sought out a path in healing arts. I felt this as a calling at the young age of 18. It was for me the perfect mix of art and science, my top 2 subjects at school. In 2005 I trained as a Reflexologist. I furthered this study with training in Inge Dougan’s Five Element Reflexology. Then later, alongside my switch of focus to Indian traditions, I trained in Ayurvedic Reflexology. I felt a calling to take time to study and develop a scientific backing and approach to the health and healing of the body and mind. So in 2009 I commenced study of BScHons Psychology with Exercise Nutrition and Health. I continued to train in healing arts in this time also. With a desire to deepen my understanding of Ayurvedic medical traditions I trained in Ayurvedic head and body massage. In Jan 2014, I completed my degree with first class honours. I teach Yoga Nidra. The meditative heart of the yogic path. I came upon yoga nidra in 2012. This was following many years of meditating within the Chan, Daoist Internal Alchemy and Vipassana traditions. It also came at a time of great personal transformation. I had not long become a mother and was deeply enquiring into the place where I start and my conditioning ends. A quest for a sense of my true self. For me yoga nidra really ‘cracked the nut’ so to speak, more than anything else I had done before. I found myself going beyond mindfulness and growing into awareness, spiritual bliss and gratitude. Feeling truly alive and met by the universe around me. All this whilst also building skills to live life with a greater sense of peace, joy, acceptance and authenticity. Through this practice I have been gently unravelling into a greater sense of my true self leaving behind depression, anxiety, self-destructive and limiting behaviours and beliefs, addictions and unfriendly self talk. I was so inspired by its simplicity, accessibility and the ease with which it moulds itself for the individuals needs from moment to moment. Pretty much straight away I knew I wanted to deepen my practice and understanding and train to teach. This journey started in 2014. I feel so inspired and grateful to be able to share yoga nidra with others. It is always a humbling honour to witness another’s unfolding. The practice is typically a guided meditation, you can be seated or lying down for this. There is another part of the practice that I have come to call Sacred Mirror Counselling. This is a co-meditation in which I serve as a sacred mirror enabling my partner to enter into a deep self-enquiry. It does not have a therapeutic aim but it can bring about some deep insights, revelations and resolutions. We each have the skills we need to find that place where we live in yoga. A sense of unchanged and unchanging peace and equanimity despite all the chaos of our day to day lives. It does not require any special gifts or talents. It just takes practice, devotion, patience, trust and love. We also all carry the potential to get so far removed from ourselves and source that we become dis-eased. Well it seems that part of life’s purpose is to get a bit lost. That`s what makes finding our true self so much more enjoyable. |