Kara-Leah, walking the path

If you’ve been reading Musings from the Mat for awhile, you’ll know that I’m honest. I put great stock in presenting experiences just as they occur in my life, because I believe that there is so much we can learn from each others’ unvarnished experiences.

I also am mindful of my commitment to truth because it’s one of the Yamas, or wise characteristics that yogis cultivate. Not because it’s a “good” thing to do, or even the “right” thing to do, but because as yogis, committed to the science of life, understand that everything we do has an effect. Action and reaction. Cause and effect. This is karma. We keep the yamas because we understand that in doing so, our experience of life changes.

The yama of truth, or Satya, encourages us to constantly examine all that we say and think to ensure it is Truth. Living this way is almost antithetical to our society today with it’s emphasis on marketing and spin. We live in a society built on facade, always presenting our best possible face to the public. But as my partner says so eloquently (after years on the tools as a plumber), “We all shit.”

We do indeed. So…

Let’s talk about drugs baby.

Let’s talk about you and me.

Let’s talk about all the good times and the bad times.

Let’s talk about it…

Our society is awash with drugs of all kinds – legal, illegal, prescribed and self-medicated. We (mostly) all do them (caffeine anyone?), but those who are caught doing illegal drugs are judged harshly in the media. If you take drugs you’re bad, or weak, and you certainly don’t want other people finding out. People like future employers, future parents-in-law, or future kids. The media in particular LOVE jumping all over any public figure who’s caught doing drugs. Public figures aren’t allowed to have (perceived) failings or weaknesses.

But unless some of us (and especially those of us with a public persona) are willing to stand up and share our experiences, and what we learned or came to understand… we will likely never be able to turn the tide of addiction and abuse that currently threatens to overwhelm us. Because whether we like it or not serious drug use is going on in our society – alcohol abuse is a major, major problem, as is to a lesser degree, marijuana use and other recreational drugs. No amount of condemnation, nor criminalisation is going to stem the flow of use and abuse. People just don’t work that way. All we’re doing is filling up our prisons.

No, we need to look at the issue from the other end. We need to understand why we take drugs. Then we’ll be able to constructively approach ways to deal with this use by removing the root cause. Why do we imbibe substances to get completely out of our mind? If so many of us do it, from so many different strata of society, in so many different countries… then surely there’s something universal going on with humanity’s quest to get wasted?

And this is why I’m going to share my story of drug use and abuse. Yes, I was a serious recreational drug user in my (mostly) 20s, and yes,  I paid a serious price for this use and abuse – including experiencing two episodes of psychosis. And no, the media will never be able to out me as a drug user if I ever run for public office of any kind because I have nothing to hide, and I am not ashamed. This is just who I was.

I’m also going to share the story of why I no longer use drugs (except for caffeine and alcohol). This is probably the most important part of my story, because it shows one path that leads away from drug use and toward wholeness. It’s a path that other people may find is the way for them. The short version is that through my practice of yoga and meditation, I was able to meet the underlying needs that drove my drug use in healthy ways. But more on that later. First… the drug use.

Here’s my story:

Once upon a time there was a strait-laced middle class girl completely opposed to drugs because Authority had told her they were Bad. And she’d believed in Authority. Yet as she grew into her late teens and observed people around her drinking alcohol and smoking pot, What she’d been Told and What she Saw were two completely different things. What she Saw was people having a whole lot of fun, while she was sitting on the sidelines all prim, proper, tightly-wound and separate. And she didn’t want to be separate from everybody else, she too wanted to be relaxed, having fun, part of something bigger than herself.

Not so much Peer Pressure then – she’d learned all about that in school and there was no way anyone would ever Pressure her into doing Anything. No, this was Peer Pull – and no one had ever mentioned anything about Peer Pull in school, so she had no defenses against it.

And so the journey into drugs began… first with alcohol. Didn’t like the taste much. Or the cost. Didn’t like being out of control. Stayed away mostly for the first few years. Then came Canada and $2 drink nights. No more cost barrier. Plus discovered Vodka Cranberry. No more taste barrier. Suddenly, instead of being the sober observer separate from everybody else in the pub, club, bar, BBQ, dinner party… a few drinks allowed relaxation and dissolving barriers dismantled the constructs of the Mind so one dropped completely into the moment and just went with what was. Awesome!

Marijuana second. A very different experience to alcohol. Sensory enhancing rather then reducing. Moment slowing rather then speeding up. Consciousness expanding. Something to do alone while exploring the nature of Mind. Something to do in nature while exploring the nature of Life. Something to do with others while exploring the nature of Relationship. Pot allowed a slow down of internal functions in such a way that the mind could be observed in action – observing thoughts, observing feelings.

What came next? It’s all a bit fuzzy really. So in no particular order.

Mushrooms. A favourite for a long time. Organic. A sensory explosion. A consciousness explosion. Extraordinary sense of oneness with the natural world. Total wonderment at the stars, at forests, lakes, rivers and canyons. Worlds upon worlds upon worlds opening up. Until the issues of psyche began to arise, changing the nature of the trip. What was fun became a psychological process with support necessary. Unshed tears from childhood breaking through. Understandings of family dynamics arising. Unresolved or expressed grief coming up. Nothing recreational about this anymore… something much deeper going on.

LSD/Acid. Similar to mushrooms but far more intense. Metallic. Can still taste it. Dangerous. Oh so dangerous. The warnings were clear though. Always on good terms with my dreams, six months prior to LSD-induced psychosis, there was a dream clearly warning me of this event. Where mushrooms had softy begun to expose the unresolved issues of unconsciousness and psyche, LSD flung open the doors of perception and marched out all weaknesses for minute examination. Wasn’t ready for that. Didn’t understand. Collapsed mentally and emotionally.

Ecstasy. One tiny pill, one giant love buzz. Nothing ever like the first, always on a slippery slope of ever-diminishing returns. So THIS is what unconditional LOVE for ALL feels like. Pity it couldn’t be maintained after the comedowns. Nasty nasty comedowns, getting worse by the year. But always the tiny thought… what would happen if all of humanity did E, just once? Or maybe twice? Just to experience what it feels like to truly love your fellow human being completely just for being them? Fantasies of putting it in city water supplies. Eventually the guilt over taking drugs over-powered the chemical high and taking e didn’t even really work anymore. Didn’t go up, just came down. Damn powerful Mind.

Ketamine. Special K. Horse tranquiliser. What was I thinking? All boundaries of body disappear. Where’s my legs? What happened to my torso? Complete stupification. Thank God it only last a short time. Ten minutes. 30 minutes. Can’t remember now. Ugh!

Speed. Only ever touched this once. Maybe twice. Nasty drug. I’m energetic and upbeat enough thank you very much. Certainly don’t need to be kept awake all night on a knife’s edge of anxiety  with crawling skin. Don’t get this one. Doesn’t gel with my psyche at all. Steered well clear after that.

Cocaine. The party drug. Common as chips in Canada, and just as cheap. Just like having a drink right? Go out, have one or two drinks, have one or two lines? And oh the ego boost. I AM FANTASTIC. Of course, YOU’RE wonderful too. BUT ME! AWESOME! Just listen to me… Ego, Ego, Ego. Let me boost thy Ego with Star Wattage. Short-lived though. Half an hour of POWER and then… more? Always maxed out on about four lines. Internal sense of ‘had enough’. Thank God. No coke benders for this girl. Still had the horrendous comedowns though. H-O-R-R-E-N-D-O-U-S. Can’t even IMAGINE putting myself through that now. What was I thinking?

Nicotine. An interesting one. Never a smoker, I did have the odd drag here and there to turbo charge E. Brought on the most intense body rushes. And then later, back in NZ, completely clean, living with two smokers who would retreat outside to the balcony most evenings to smoke and talk… started joining in so I could be part of the crew again (always seeking oneness huh?). Just a drag here and there. The odd full smoke. Enjoy just that much. But that’s enough. Too disgusting to smoke more. Now… might mindfully havea half a cigarette (three drags seems to be the limit) after a couple of glasses of wine once or twice a year. Can see why nicotine was smoked the way it was smoked by First Nations people in America.

Did I leave anything out? Never touched heroin – I wasn’t crazy. Just a social drug taker. Like most people are social drinkers right? Everyone was doing it. All the time. Just the circles we moved in. Hospitality workers. Travellers. Seekers. Questioners. Rat race drop outs.

Besides, I was never a big user of anything, there were always other people doing far more than me. Grams of coke to my half gram. 3 or 4 pills to my 1. Bongs after bong to my one pipe. A full tab of acid to my half. No addict, I was aware enough to know my drug use meant that I wasn’t completely healthy and whole. I knew it was a symptom of issues. And I knew when the fun levels began to diminish and the comedowns increase. I knew it was time to stop.

Think of my drug use like a bell curve. By the time all that playing with consciousness exploded my psyche with psychosis, I was well down the last 25% of the Bell Curve. Two episodes of psychosis was enough to rush me all the way down to bottom. Almost. I still drink alcohol occasionally. And I continued to smoke weed off and on for about another four years. Pregnancy put an end to that, once and for all. Can’t imagine being stoned now. Don’t need to, and the cost would be far too high.

That’s the story of use… in a nutshell. It’s nothing out of the ordinary. I know literally hundreds of people just like myself – people who hold down jobs, make good money, function perfectly well in society and also take some serious recreational drugs. It was the total norm in hospitality. Amongst Kiwis traveling overseas. And it wasn’t taxing financially either – over in Canada, where I spent the majority of my time, recreational drugs were often cheaper than booze.

Now what to make of it all? I’ve had plenty of time to reflect since I came home from Canada in 2004, plus even when I was using drugs, I was always an observer of my experience. I’d started practicing yoga semi-regularly in 2000, and also often smoked weed expressly for the purpose of meditation. As a result, I have a very good understanding of why I did what I did, what needs were being met and why I stopped.

For a start, you can divide the way I took drugs into two categories. First up, social enhancers – drugs that we take to make us feel good about mixing with other people. It’s probably the main reason most people use drugs. For me, social enhancers were alcohol, cocaine and ecstasy. Left to my own devices, I’d never touch them. Never took any of them alone – that would just be silly. You can further divide these three up into those that worked on the ego level – alcohol and cocaine (enhancing the ego, boosting it), and those that worked on the heart – opening it, softening it – ecstasy.

Taking e was a full-blown heart-opening experience. Until then, I’d not realised I was living completely in my head. I hadn’t known what it truly felt like to feel love for other people. To feel open, and relaxed, and calm, and connected. Four years after my first hit of e, I was working with a healer in Hawaii, and I walked out of a session with him feeling the same kind of heart-open experience as e, only without all the jagged jitters around the edge. That was when I realised that what I felt on e could be the natural state of being – and I’d never need to come down.

Watershed moment. There’s a BIG difference to a life experienced from the mind and a life experienced from the heart. And I’d just discovered that it was possible to find a natural way into open-heart living – this was worth pursuing! Later, I would feel the same heart-open sensation after a great yoga class or a Kirtan session, and eventually, it would become something that I experienced as a natural way of being.

My need to take social enhancing drugs was an unconscious drive to connect – to drop the strait-jacket of Mind I lived in and just be my natural self around other people with no fear. I knew there was another way to be I just didn’t know how to find it any other way than through drugs (at that time).

The second category of drugs are consciousness-expanders. These are the drugs that shift our perception of consciousness. I’d put nicotine into this category, and also weed, acid, and mushrooms. These are the drugs I’d take alone sometimes to journey within my own mind. Especially weed. It was probably my most favourite drug and the most difficult one to give up. It was also the one I used most consciously to develop my psyche.

For example. People talk about how weed induces paranoia. From my own experimenting, I would say this isn’t strictly true. Weed highlights any insecurities buried in the psyche – fears about what other people think of you mainly. Once the insecurities are gone, so too is any paranoia. With my powers of observation – the development of the Witness within – I was able to constructively work with weed (or so I thought at the time). When I noticed feelings of paranoia arising, I could sit with them and observe where they started, what thoughts accompanied them, what was truly going on in my psyche underneath, and release it.

Later I began to realise that weed allows us to emotionally detach, which can make appear as if its easier to work through some issues, but in reality, all those emotions that one is detaching from still have to be felt and released. Smoking weed was just constantly putting off the inevitable. It wasn’t under I quit for good that I was finally able to get through some pretty serious relationship and intimacy issues that had been affecting me for years. Decades even.

I can’t remember if I started taking mushrooms before or after reading Carlos Castenda’s books… but I do know his apprenticeship to a shaman and subsequent drug-taking was a big influence on me. Who doesn’t want to travel to other realms and learn to use psychic powers? I’ve heard quite a few people explain away their drug use in this context;

Hey shamans do it, so it’s all ok.

Yeah right.

Even if shamans did use drugs… they certainly didn’t use them the way we Western recreational users do. Their use had context, ritual, and ceremony attached. There was specific intention, and guides to help you through. Plus there was always an understanding that drug use has a cost attached to it. And that cost must be paid, one way or another. Now, I do all my other-realm traveling and polishing of psychic powers via yoga and meditation

Acid was another drug heavily promoted in the ’60s and ’70s as part of society’s evolution, and I have no doubt whatsoever that it shifts our experience of consciousness enormously. Those that studied LSD use were even able to categorise LSD trips into four specific types, each one following logically on from the other:

1. Abstract and aesthetic experiences
2. Psycho-dynamic experiences
3. Perinatal experiences
4. Transpersonal experiences

I don’t have room to go into depth on these four stages here, but I know that from my personal experience, it’s exactly what happened to me. Taking LSD and mushrooms dug up aspects of my unconscious and subconscious, bringing repressed issues to the surface for healing and integrating. Trouble was, I didn’t know this was going on and the walls of my psyche literally collapsed, with all of these issues swirling around and manifesting as psychosis.

The interesting thing too is that I know people who’ve taken LSD hundreds of times and never had anything other than abstract and aesthetic experiences. Me, I only ever took LSD a handful of times, and very quickly progressed right through to transpersonal experiences. You could summarize my experience as finding God… only because I’d not yet worked through my own ego issues, confusing myself for God , albeit briefly and with a questioning concern.

With the perspective of hindsight, I can see now that my drive to take consciousness-expanding drugs was all about the quest for oneness, or as Paths Beyond Ego: Transpersonal Vision puts it - the need for transpersonal experiences.

Transpersonal experiences may be defined as experiences in which the sense of identity or self extends beyond (trans) the individual or personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, psyche, and cosmos. Paths Beyond Ego: Transpersonal Vision.

These two deep human needs – the need for connection (via expression of the authentic self) and the need for oneness underscored all of my drug use.

Like many people in their twenties, I had issues with intimacy, I lived in my mind, I was judgmental and analytical, I had a low level of underlying anxiety about success and doing well… and I was mostly totally oblivious that all of these things were going on in my unconsciousness and subconscious. This total lack of awareness meant my behaviour was driven by things I didn’t even know about. On the surface, I just thought I was having Fun, Fun, Fun. Because everything was fun, definitely more fun than the rigid, controlled, limited sense of self I usually occupied from within my mind.

By the time all this Fun exploded into psychosis, I’d already started to wean myself off drugs. My growing levels of awareness due to a slowly increasing yoga and meditation practice meant that all those buried sub and unconscious factors were starting to push their way to the surface and I wasn’t able to surrender unknowingly into the drug experience anymore. I was increasingly aware that my use masked issues and I needed to sort myself out.

I didn’t find it difficult to stop using drugs, it just meant sticking with my yoga practice, and staying away from situations where they were around. Unfortunately, that was most of my social circle. And stopping using meant I began to separate out from the people I’d been friends with for years. I did sometimes still go out to dance parties and full moon outdoor parties and stay relatively sober – maybe just smoke a little pot. And it was difficult. For a start, I was far more clear sighted than everyone else wandering around fucked up on ecstasy, cocaine, mushrooms and acid. When you’re on those drugs, you have no idea that you’re OBVIOUSLY fucked up. And it was ugly. Real ugly. Inane conversations. Gurning of the face. Incessant chewing. Total focus on staying high, to the exclusion of all else. I was once again on the outside looking in and seeing a truth that dismayed me – especially because what I was seeing was myself.

Then the psychosis (or spiritual emergency as Ken Wilber would have classified it) hammered home the end of my drug use. It meant I came home, to small town New Zealand, where the only drugs I saw out and about were alcohol and pot. My levels of awareness meant my days of getting drunk were mostly done. My alcohol use continued to slowly decline until now when one or two glasses is more than enough. I just can’t physically get drunk anymore. What I did find really difficult was finding my place again. And facing all of those long-buried issues I’d been able to successfully ignore while living way away from home, and in a bubble of partying and good times.

In Canada, I’d had a huge circle of (mostly drug-taking) friends – fellow hospitality workers, dancers, artists, film-makers, travelers, passionate outdoor enthusiasts… In New Zealand, I didn’t know how to make new friends without going to bars, clubs, parties… all of which involved drinking (boring!) and to a lesser extent, other drugs. My experiences meant I couldn’t view other people getting high and drunk without having a sense that they had shit they needed to work on. I was in a serious judgment-phase of my journey out of drugs as I pushed against the way I didn’t want to be anymore. I craved healthy, whole people who were capable of hanging out and having a great time without needing to be drunk to do it.

I found this in the yoga community, amongst other people who’d also found ways to healthily address those deep human needs for connection and oneness through their yoga and meditation practice. Going out to party now meant heading to a friend’s house for Kirtan followed by a pot luck dinner – and dang it all if the feeling and connection wasn’t identical to all those e-fuelled house parties many years ago – except the feeling and connection was real, solid, grounded, and clear.

And this is what all my drug use has taught me.

We humans crave connection – true connection that allows us to express our authentic selves without fear of being judged, and connection that says ‘I love you and I feel your love for me, just as we are here today, two humans doing the best we can with what we know’.

We humans also crave oneness - a sense that we are more than this body this mind in this place at this time. We remember our divinity and we want to know it again.

To me, what this means is that if we can look upon those who take drugs with understanding and compassion, instead of condemnation and criticism, we can offer a pathway out of use and into wholeness. We can say;

Hey, I understand. I was there once too, and now, with the help of yoga, meditation, friends and family (and maybe psychotherapy of some form), I’m not anymore. Let me know if you’re interested in finding your own way along the path to wholeness.

Because for many of us, drug use is just part of the path. It doesn’t define who we are. I am not an alcoholic, nor am I an addict. I am a person who, in the past, used drugs. My experience does not define me for all time. By constantly seeking out answers to this great mystery of life, and by bringing greater and greater awareness to my experience and perspective of drug use via my yoga and meditation practice, I naturally found a path that went beyond drug use.

My path won’t be the path that all people who use drugs take.

Some will do well with twelve step programs. Some will do well with rehab. Some will do well with another transpersonal practice – tai chi, buddhism, taoism.

And those who sit in judgment of drug users – I see your fear. For if you were not afraid you wouldn’t be able to sit in judgment, instead you would offer love and compassion. The question you could ask yourself instead is;

Why do I judge these people? What in me is still unresolved that I’m afraid to face?

For it is easy to stigmatize the illegal drug user yet abuse food, nicotine, alcohol, women, tv, computer games, work… anything that we use to distract us from ourselves, to ease our discomfort in the face of life… this is our drug.

In the end, we are all on the same path, facing our own demons in a myriad or guises. For some of us the demons are smaller and more easily integrated – or held at bay and ignored. For others, the demons loom large and demand attention, insisting that we do all we can to become who we truly are. Whatever the path we’re on, none of us can ever truly know what it’s like to live as another. All we can ever do is offer understanding, love, and compassion that says;

I’m with you, on the same path or one very similar, and if you ever need a hand, or just someone to laugh with, sing out.

That’s exactly what I’m doing right here, right now. I’m singing out – singing out my truth, my perspective, my understanding, and I’m offering it all with love and compassion. And maybe too just a smidgen of a prayer – that whatever the challenge is that you’re facing you have the strength to be all that you are. We all do.

All we have to do is keep walking.

Keep striving.

Keep looking for answers.

Keep searching the sky above.

Knowing that we all do this together… never alone, always connected.

In love & light,

Kara-Leah

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It's a tough job...

Watching the news recently, I was moved to tears during footage of the devastation in the Gulf of Mexico.

Remembering Alys’s great article Exposing oneself to the news – what’s the real story?, I was mindful of staying open and non-judgmental of what I was watching.

I wanted to be able to see what was truly going on, beyond ignorance or avidya.

As I watched, an angry man flashed before the screen and said:

Shame on you BP!

The news shifted to the latest political goings-on about who was to blame.

It’s BP’s fault.

No, it’s the government’s fault.

No, it’s Obama’s fault.

Watching without despairing, without feeling outrage, without getting upset was so liberating. Calm acceptance of what was, mixed with compassion gave me a sense of clarity.

And one thought above all popped up.

• Who amongst us has never traveled in a vehicle powered by petrol (or gas)?
• Who amongst us has never owned, nor used, something made of plastic?
• Who amongst us has never used a computer?

Then let him or her cast the first stone.

This event is the responsibility of all of us, and it is up to all of us to come up with a solution.

Blaming and shaming will never save a single bird from death by oil.

It is a waste of time, a waste of energy, and it is symptomatic of fear.

In a world run by oil, it was only a matter of time before another accident blighted mother nature. To pretend otherwise is to live in ignorance or avidya. Devastation such as that wrought in the Gulf of Mexico is just the cost of doing business – oil business. It’s what we pay for our cheap energy at the gas station.

So what do we do? How do we respond?

Maybe we could start asking ourselves a few more questions before diving into producing/mining/digging/drilling more and more things.

Questions like…

• If plastic is such an indestructible wonder of engineering… where’s all the no-longer-useful plastic going to retire to?
• If we make our products out of cheaper and cheaper materials so that it’s not worth fixing them when they break down and people can just afford to buy another and another one… what happens to all the trashy appliances we no longer need?
• If we start drilling for oil in the ocean, and something goes wrong and it starts gushing out like crazy…. do we have some way of cleaning it up?
• If we measure the success of a nation by it’s GDP growth… are we in fact likening people to a cancer because cancer is the only thing that grows and grows and grows with no heed to the sustainability of it’s environment… until one day it kills it’s host and therefore itself?

Or how about this kind of question…

• Why do we assume that more money equals more happiness when we KNOW that beyond the basic poverty line, more money doesn’t really change people’s experience of life at all?
• If what changes people’s daily experience of life is whether or not they feel empowered, whether or not they are healthy, whether or not they are passionate about what they do with their time, whether or not they love and are loved… why do all our companies and governments focus on making more money?
• What for?
• Isn’t about time we shifted our focus from all the money we can make, to the type of world we can create?

‘Cos with all this focus on creating money… we’ve created devastation in the Gulf. Death and destruction.

And man… I drive, I use plastic, I own a computer. I’m to blame. My practice of yoga has taught me that there is no separation between me and the other. It’s taught me that we truly do reap the rewards of our actions – when we act out of greed, we upset balance and this has a cost far greater than the money our greed may garner.

It’s why hate will never counteract hate. Actions taken with judgment, with blame, with hate, with an idea that there is an ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ just perpetrate the cycle of violence. I saw this in the coverage of the marches against Israel on the news this weekend.

People burning flags, people speaking words of hatred, people condemning… I mean, co’mon people! Can’t we grow up already? Since when did hate plus hate equal peace and love? It ain’t going shift the dynamic that’s being experienced.

We need to get creative, compassionate, passionate, unidentified with ‘points of views’ about what is right and what is wrong if we want to shift our experiences on this planet.

The situation in Israel and Palenstine is not about who is right and who is wrong… there’s nothing to be gained from trying to work that out, or agree on that. Instead we need to ask ourselves, how can we let go? How can we forgive? How can we respect each other? How can we rebuild our communities based on trust, compassion and understanding?

It’s easy for me to pontificate from my cosy, warm lounge in Dunedin, New Zealand. None of my family has been killed by another army, rebel, terrorist, soldier, fanatic, righteous one. Yet history has proven over and over and over again that non-violence, acceptance, compassion and love has the power to change the world.

Ghandi. Martin Luther King. Mother Theresa. Nelson Mandela.The Dali Lama.

• We know what it takes to bring about true change. We know who we must be. So what’s stopping us?
• Why do we still blame the Oil Giants when we are the ones who buy their products?
• Why do we condemn the actions of others with the same hate that those others have used against us?
• Who is going to change the world if not us?
• Who are we waiting to lead us?

Every day offers us opportunities to live from a place of love, compassion, understanding and peace. Every interaction we have with other people provides a chance to practice. This is our yoga just as much as going to class is our yoga.

“The Call” from keith wyatt on Vimeo.

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Mary Grace & James Onnikian demonstrating Acro Yoga

by guest author Elissa Jordan

When I step onto my mat at home for a personal practice I see it as my practice. It is a practice made up of teachers, books,workshops and what feels good for my body at that time. It’s got elements of Astanga, Acro Yoga, Vinyasa Flow, Iyengar, Sivananda and Kundalini. It suits my mood and my tempo. Sometimes it’s fast, sometimes slow, sometimes intense, sometimes restorative. It’s mine.

But when I was recently in India a teacher commented to me that yoga is not just a practice- it is a discipline. Yoga, as she sees it, is about withdrawing the senses from the material world and moving towards a higher state. Therefore, we should pick a path – whatever it may be, and stick to it. Taking the sun salute from Astanga but the breathing practices of Kundalini, mixing in some of the supported poses in the Iyengar teachings and calling it a practice is an indulgence of the senses. It is just another way of taking the good while cutting out the bad, which is no discipline at all.

I can see where she’s coming from and I can appreciate that this is what works for her practice. But I don’t agree that this is the path for me.

A lot of this necessity to take a purist approach to one branch of teachings seems to be a resistant reaction to modern Western principles of instant gratification. People, in the West, don’t want to work for things, they want to diet for a day and be skinny for life, save for a month and be rich for life, practice yoga for an hour and be master of the asanas. But yoga, and life, is not about quick wins. In both you are interacting with a practice. In practice there is no right or wrong and there is no finish line. Everyday you start again, a clean slate. And you can do with your life and your practice only what works for you.

Westerners do have a propensity to alter and adapt long standing teachings for the sake of profit or ease, which is again an argument for honouring the original teachings of the Vedas.

To become a self-realised yogi – to ascend the physical sheath – can take untold number of lifetimes. If you believe that we all come back again and again then doing the best you can in this life is all that you can do. Maybe your next life will come equipped with the discipline to dedicate your life to your single focused practice. In this life it is the attitude that you approach your mat and your practice with that counts, not whose teachings you follow.

My discipline is coming back to my mat and exercising compassion with myself and with those around me. I allow myself to miss a day without reprimand. I can miss a week without deeming myself a failure. Because as soon as I step back onto my mat I am, again, practicing and trying to build that discipline. I would love to wake up before the dawn every morning and spend a good couple of hours just me, my mat and my practice. And maybe that’s what my life will become, and maybe it’s not. But the discipline that keeps me coming back to my practice – whether it’s an Astanga class or Vinyasa Flow – approached with the attitude of mindfulness and compassion means I am fulfilling my obligations to myself.

And maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’ve got it all backwards in my little of this, little of that approach. But this is my practice, this is what works for me. I would be really interested to know how you see things – are you a single style practitioner or do you dabble? And do you think there is a single answer for us all?

Elissa Jordan

When she’s not earning a living as a Digital Marketing Manager with a leading New Zealand charity, Elissa is a belly-dancing, blog-writing, cycle-commuting, vegan-cooking yogi.

She started seriously following a regular yoga practice about three years ago after several start-stop attempts. Never one to give up on something she cares about, yoga and Elissa are now crossing paths on a daily basis.

Elissa is new on the Wellington yoga scene having recently immigrated from Canada by way of London, England. She’s looking forward to the day AcroYoga makes it to New Zealand and has brought with her teaching qualifications from the British School of Yoga, A.M. Yoga and the Sivananda Vedanta Ashram in Neyyar Dam, India.

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Wellington Satyananda Yogi & Musician Tyag Fenton

If you’re lucky enough to live in Wellington, you may have found your way to one of Tyag’s yoga classes, or Kirtan sessions. A talented musician well-grounded in all aspects of yogic knowledge, Tyag’s one of the major reasons Kirtan is doing so well in our capital city.

While he’s yet to release a Kirtan CD (and I suspect it won’t be that long before he does…) after some pretty insistent demands from his students, Tyag’s put together his second Yoga Nidra CD. Upping his game yet again, this professionally recorded CD also brings in the sounds of the harmonium and dulcimer which help induce the state of conscious relaxation needed for Yoga Nidra.

Mindful of people’s busy lives, Tyag has included three versions of Yoga Nidra – a ten minute mini nidra, a twenty minute Yoga Nidra and a thirty minute Yoga Nidra. I’ve been using his CD over the last week or so, and having those three choices of time frame has been awesome – it means no matter what’s going on in my day, I can always fit in a Yoga Nidra of some length. Plus I’ve tried a few different Yoga Nidra CDs over the years, and Tyag’s are by far my favourite. The man’s just got it going on!

The Yoga Lunchbox sat down with Tyag to find out more about Yoga Nidra, the practice of yogic sleep where one remains conscious yet relaxed.

Buy Tyag’s CD ‘Yoga for Relaxation’ via download from The Yoga Lunchbox Shop.

1. When did you first discover Yoga Nidra?

I first did the practice at Anahata Yoga Retreat. Then while studying Yoga Psychology at Bihar Yoga Bharati I came to understand its origin, the theory behind it, the purpose and how to teach Yoga Nidra. Doing it everyday as ‘study’ certainly had its benefits!

2. What is Yoga Nidra. and why should we be practicing it?

To quote Swami Satyananda:

Yoga Nidra is a systematic method of complete physical, mental and emotional relaxation.

The more I teach and practice Yoga Nidra, the more it reveals itself as a complete and profound practice.

It combines relaxation, meditation, manifestation, creativity and receptivity in a seamless Tantric practice perfect for the modern lifestyle.

From the scientific and Yogic perspective, relaxation must actually be conscious, an aware state.

The word ‘relax’ is thrown about in such a haphazard way, its barely a verb at all. Distraction may more closely describe what people call relaxation. Yet being a pratyahara meditation (as opposed to dharana -concentration- meditation) the mind is kept conscious, in a very light, almost buoyant way – thereby drifting in the subtle space between waking and sleeping. The connection to the practice is soft and subtle yet maintained throughout (mostly! yielding to sleep is part of the journey).

A neuroscientist would describe it as the ‘alpha state’. A psychologist would call it the ‘hypnagogic state’. Yogi’s call it Yoga Nidra.

By practicing regularly one learns how to walk the line between walking and sleeping; its a very special state of being. At once revitalising, healing, creative, releasing, nurturing… the list goes on! In fact its said that a half hour of Yoga Nidra is equal to four hours of regular sleep.

The nature of your mind can be changed, diseases can be cured and your creative genius restored.The subconscious and the unconscious mind are the most powerful forces in the human being. This simple practice has the capacity of penetrating into the depths of the human mind.

This force, this power of the deeper mind is harnessed by repeating a resolution, a sankalpa. The sankalpa made at the beginning and end of the practice is like a seed which is nurtured and in time becomes manifest in life. Impressing the effects of the practice onto your daily life, whatever your goals may be.

I’d highly recommend the book Yoga Nidra for a more detailed description of its potentials. Consider that it can become a doorway to lucid dreaming and that Swami Satyananda stated it can even lead directly to samadhi, the 8th and final limb in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra’s…..there’s a lot to it!

You should be practicing it because it works. It has been refined to best fit the modern lifestyle- its easy, its effects are quickly discernable, its very powerful and when you commit yourself to it, its very easy to assimilate into your life.

3. Can we really get positive benefits just from lying down and listening to spoken words?

Yes you can.

The means of transforming and positively utilising tension as a stepping stone to greater awareness, efficiency and achievement in life.

That’s the quote I choose for the cover which I’m sure we can all relate to.

With diligent practice Yoga Nidra can indeed transform you. I have seen it happen. Personalities can develop and unfurl in the most beautiful way by being relaxed, self aware and embracing life. Yoga Nidra can help you to help yourself. How yogic is that!

4. Can anyone teach Yoga Nidra or does it require specific training?

Yoga Nidra is a specific practice unique to Satyananda Yoga, so yes it does require the proper training. Presently Satyananda Yoga training takes two years of formal study (recently cut back from three). Much time is dedicated to yoga theory and practice which is tempered with karma yoga – the yoga of action. This grounds the gyan, the bhakti and other sadhana’s and is of utmost importance.

Many teachers also spend time in an ashram or Yoga academy to deepen not only their sadhana but to mingle with more experienced practitioners and keep grounded through karma yoga. Swami Satyananda first trained people in the late sixties so there is a massive pool of experience and much knowledge is shared between the generations.

As a teacher I have witnessed a wide array of reactions to Yoga Nidra. From bliss to peace to laughing to crying. They are all appropriate responses and a teacher needs to know how to handle these scenarios. Ones own self-exploration is part of this, respect for the practice and ones students is another.

5. Tell us about the CD, why you’ve put it together and what kind of response you’ve been getting?

My students kept bugging me to make it!

As a yoga teacher, its wonderful when students begin to practice at home and this CD assists that process.

‘Yoga for Relaxation’ is also an offering to Yogi’s who wish to delve deep into themselves.

Yoga Nidra is an all-round favourite practice and its being easy to do it lends itself well to a recording. I recorded the CD professionally and also lay down some harmonium and dulcimer background tracks.

The feedback has been great. People are loving both the longer and the shorter versions and the added harmonium and dulcimer brings a deeper dimension to the practice. The 10 minute ‘Mini Nidra’ is a great option for a quick recharge. Many students are also right into the 20 and 30 minute versions for that good Nidra hit!

There is also a track of Om chanting to finish off the Yoga Nidra of your choice.

And that’s it!

Yeah!

Buy Tyag’s CD ‘Yoga for Relaxation’ via download from The Yoga Lunchbox Shop.

The Yoga Lunchbox has one copy of Tyag’s ‘Yoga for Relaxation’ Yoga Nidra CD to give away… and I’d like to give it away to someone willing to write about their experience of the CD. A review if you will So if you’d like to win ‘Yoga for Relaxation’, and are willing to write about it, get in touch. You’ll also win a copy of ‘Yoga for Health – A beginner’s guide to Yoga’ and ‘Pranayama From the Self to the Soul: A workshop with Paul Barton’.

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Organising a super successful yoga event takes mindfulness

In Part 1 of this article, we looked at booking a teacher, sorting out the timing and location, and getting clear on exactly what you’re trying to create.

Part 2 covered details like targeting an audience, targeting the media and creating promotional material that sells.

Now in Part 3, we’ll pull it all together.

Make sure you’ve done 3. from Part 1 – that you’ve visualized your perfect event. This is likely the most crucial thing you’ll do, because knowing what you want to create and why helps you decide on the most important things to do. Most of us aren’t full-time event organisers – we’re doing this around the sides of everything else in our lives. So it’s important to find balance – between doing everything we need to do to make en event successful, and not wasting our time on things that won’t make a big difference in the end.

7. Are you prepared to hustle?

I know, we’re yoga teachers, not promoters or PR people. But when you offer to host an event, that’s exactly what you have to do. You have to hustle. Your event is competing with so many other alternatives for people’s time. They could watch tv, go to a movie, go out to dinner, go dancing, go play sport, hang out with friends, cruise the ‘net, read a book, take a bath, go for a hike or just stay home and drink wine in front of the fire.

People need to be reminded of what’s coming, when it’s coming, and why they need to come along to it. They need to know that other people are coming, other people that they know and like. They need to know if they don’t go they’ll miss out on something special.

And to know all this, you need to tell them. Tell them when you talk to them. Tell them when you email them. Tell them when you facebook, when you twitter, when you text. Tell them through the local media. Tell them through flyers and posters.

But also be aware of when you’ve told them enough. If they’ve paid up, they don’t need to be told again. If they’re away that weekend, they don’t need to be told. If it’s not their cup of tea, they don’t need to be told. And if you’re already nearing capacity for your event… you can probably stop telling people too.

You’ll find though, that when you’re excited about an event, it’s really easy to hustle. You’ll naturally want to share your enthusiasm with other people, you’ll want them to get the benefits from coming along, and you’ll be delighted to tell them all about what’s going to happen.

8. Enlist a core crew of passionate fans

As you may be beginning to grasp, hosting an event takes work. And usually, for most of us, it’s unpaid work. So don’t do it all yourself. Find some skilled folk you can delegate aspects of the work to – people who are also passionate about the event, about yoga, about the teacher. Use people’s natural skills, contacts and talents. Just one or two other people can make all the difference.

Enlisting other people isn’t about getting them to do you a favour though, no, no no,you want to turn this around on it’s head. Instead be creative on how you find ways to give to those people who can help you out. A teenager with limited funds but plenty of time may be stoked to get a half price pass to a workshop in exchange for putting up posters all around town. A graphic designer just starting out will likely work for less to build reputation and clients, and you can let them add their contact details to the promotional material they create so people know who did the great job. All you need to think about is what you can offer people besides money (although with the right event, you will be able to pay everyone who helps out too).

The more people who benefit from your event in some way, the more people you’ll have on your side to help promote the event. Remember, yoga means ‘to connect’, and if you can embody the principles of connection in your event organisation, it’s going to go a long way to making your event successful.

9. Pulling it all together – the big day

Most important thing to do on the day of your event? Your own practice! Yes, make sure you take some time early in the day to spend at least 20 minutes getting clear, grounded and calm. This way you’ll be in the best possible head space to tackle the challenges of the day. At the end of your practice, take one last time to visualise your event running exactly the way you want it to. Use this time to note any last minute details you need to take care of too.

Walk yourself through as if you were attending the event and take note of everything that you need – where do you put your stuff, do you need to get changed, do you need access to water or tea or food, do you need pens or paper, are you warm enough or cool enough, can you see properly… this is the moment to pick up on anything you may have forgotten.

Make sure everybody helping you out knows exactly what they need to do, so that you can just leave them to do it.

And then… let go. Find that meditative space within, and follow the flow for the day. Just be in the moment, dealing with whatever arises. You’ve done all you can do… it’s gonna be the way it’s gonna be. Now is the time to enjoy yourself, and the event, and the people.

But once the day is done… take a moment to reflect and…

10. Debrief – what went right, what did you learn?

Every thing we ever do is an opportunity for growth. In the end, it doesn’t matter if your event went as planned, or as visualised. What does matter is what the people at your event experienced. As an event organiser, you’re there to serve the people – if they were happy, that’s what truly matters.As an event organiser, you’re there to serve the people – if they were happy, that’s what truly matters. So get feedback from people who were there – even if it’s just taking the time to thank them as they leave, while keeping half an ear out for the general mood and comments.

Also take the time (by yourself or with the other people who helped you out)  to review what happened, as you’ll be aware of all the background stuff that attendees won’t have noticed. Take note of what worked really well, and take note of things that you’d do differently next time.

And then congratulate yourself for all your efforts, take yourself out (or get taken out!) and bask in the glory of having brought a group of people together to experience something new, or something joyous, or something educational… or maybe something of all three.

Kara-Leah, event organiser with passion

Kara-Leah is in the midst of organising Global Mala Dunedin, where she’ll get to put into practice everything she’s talked about in this series of articles. It’s been awhile since she organised an event and she’d forgotten just how fun it can be.

Watch this space for more on Global Mala coming soon…

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Christchurch Yoga Teacher Pavrita

It’s been a few weeks since The Yoga Lunchbox featured a yoga teacher from around the country, and it is my great delight to introduce you to Pavitra.

Born in Germany, she discovered yoga through books at the age of 17. Already burning with a strong desire to know more about the mysteries of life, Pavitra didn’t let the lack of a real-life teacher stop her from starting her yoga journey.

Now living and teaching in Christchurch, New Zealand, Pavitra – a Satyananda Yoga teacher who studied for three years at the Satyananda Yoga Academy - says she is truly blessed to be doing something she loves to very much.

1. What style of yoga do you practice and where do you teach?

I practice and teach Satyananda Yoga. Satyananda Yoga makes available all aspects of yoga, e.g Hatha Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Kriya Yoga, Kundalini Yoga etc. Depending on your temperament and stage of evolution you are guided to the practice and path, that is right for you.

I was able to create a Yoga & Meditation Studio (currently called Yoga for You) on the premises where I live, in Waltham Christchurch. I have been running classes, workshops and Kirtans (chanting evenings) here for the last 7 -8 years. I also occasionally teach at people’s workplace or at a High school.

2. How did you come to yoga?

I believe my first introduction to yoga was through the book Swami Rama by Doug Boyd. It got me interested and I soon found myself in a little bookstore near my hometown in Germany purchasing two yoga books, one by Andre Van Lysebeth and Elisabeth Haich and the other I can’t remember.

There were no yoga teachers in my vicinity so I learned from the books and began practicing every morning before I went to high school ( I was 17 then). I had this sheepskin type yoga mat I bought for a lot of money, I remember doing ‘pranayama’ walking home from the school bus, inhale 4 steps – hold 4 steps – exhale 4 steps…

I remember being inspired by the idea that I can actively contribute to my well-being but most of all by learning, that there are no coincidences in life, that even little things can teach you something.

3. When did the yoga bug really get you?

It got me then at 17, I religiously practiced every morning maybe for 12 -18 months, till the end of high-school (yes in Germany we don’t leave school till the age of 18+).

After that ‘life got in the way’ for a while, as they say, even though yoga has been an intermittent companion throughout.

In the year 2000, after attending teacher training with Donna Farhi, I started to commit to daily practice; but only after I was introduced to Satyananda Yoga did my daily practice feel like a sadhana (spiritual practice) to me. My practice gained another dimension and broader perspective. It became a way of life, a way of living consciously in all I think and do.

4. How has yoga transformed your life?

At the age of 17, living in a conservative German small town, yoga lifted my spirit and gave me inspiration and direction. It empowered me.

My motivation for doing things has always been quite different to my friends’. I had a deep thirst to understand life. This thirst to know and understand life intimately allowed me to embrace my first pregnancy 20 years ago … because what can be more existential to life then birth and death? I figured giving birth would introduce me to one of life’s great mysteries …and what a wonderful and blessed initiation it was.

So when many years later (2003) I read a little red book by Swami Satyananda called Sannyasa Tantra I recognized that inwardly I had lived with the attitude of a sannyasi (spiritual seeker) all my life. In Swami Satyananda’s words:

If Sannyasa is to be your path of life you will feel it strongly. Possibly you may not even know the meaning of sannyasa, but there will nevertheless be the strong need to find wisdom and meaning in life, a need that makes all other needs seem insignificant in comparison.

So things started to fall into place. I had come home.

The practices of yoga, like asana, pranayama, mudra, bandha, mantras etc, have subtle transforming effects on all levels of my being.

My awareness and sense of self has become more refined. I feel more at peace, more courageous & more creative; I have also increased faith and trust in the Divine, higher Self, cosmic intelligence, God, whatever you might name it.

My sadhana reminds me daily, that life is more than it’s physical manifestation and encourages me to open myself to the unknown. The greatest change though came through my initiation, first into mantra diksha and later into Karma Sannyasa. The initiation has given my Self a solid foundation and a source of strength and inspiration and my life a kind of sweet magic … and a heart filled with gratitude to all the great teachers of many generations, who dedicated their lives to the practice and sharing of the teachings.

PS: Becoming initiated and adopting sannyasa is my personal path; it does not signify that I believe that doing yoga leads to initiation; this is a totally personal choice and not everybody’s path at all. The practice and study of yoga helps us to find our own dharma our own individual path, and no two paths are ever the same.

5. What is your home practice like?

My so called on the mat practice currently consists of:

• Early morning: some asana, pranayama and mantra meditation.
• Night time: 10-30 min meditation (I usually stick to the same meditation practice for several weeks at a time)

Books have always been a great inspiration in my life, especially when I didn’t have teachers, so reading inspirational books and study is my favorite pastime and I usually spend at least half an hour after my morning practice reading… while sipping on my soy latte : )

And as I mentioned before, yoga for me is a way of life. Through bringing more awareness to my thoughts, actions and emotions on a daily basis, l am reminded of how ‘silly’ my mind really is, always changing, constantly fluctuating, now positive, next moment depressed, angry, worried, guilt, etc … these days it makes me laugh and take my mind and its moods less seriously, while still allowing them to be there. So instead of feeling tense or burdened I can relax and hand it all over to the highest part in me. This allows me to face life with more equanimity.

6. When people ask you, “What is Yoga?”, what do you say?

Oh that depends a lot on whom I’m talking to.

In this forum I would say… yoga is a way of freeing ourselves of self-limiting belief structures and conditioning. It is knocking down the walls of the box we all tend to put ourselves into … so we can see with our hearts. Yoga is a path that gives us self-governance in all aspects of our life. And most of all it connects us to a place deep within, vast and free and beautiful …

Yoga is such an immense body of knowledge and practices, that there is something for everyone, no matter what temperament. And through the different lineages we have access to teachings that are authentic and real, steeped in tradition and wisdom. We are really very lucky … and even though it is not the only path it is a most valid one.

Mostly so I say… yoga helps you to feel better in yourself. It is a non-competitive practice and will remove stiffness and tiredness from your body and mind. It will teach you how to use your breath effectively and you will learn how to truly relax. That is where most of us start out from: move … breathe … relax

7. What can people expect from one of your classes?

I am lucky to be able to teach in a beautiful space solely dedicated to the practice of yoga. The classes are small (10 people max) and the atmosphere is friendly and personal.

A typical class in Satyananda Yoga moves from gross to subtle aspects of our being – from body, to breath, to mind. After a brief centering period, we do asanas (postures) for about ¾ of the class time, followed by pranayama (breathing practice) and end with either Yoga Nidra (deep guided relaxation technique) or a meditation practice. This works extremely well and enables even very restless people to experience a sense of inner peace and expansion by the end of a session. I offer beginners, level 1 & level 2 classes – in this way people are systematically lead into the practices, which is especially important for pranayama and meditation.

Once a month there is also the opportunity to attend a 2 hour session on Saturdays to learn more about yoga philosophy, yoga psychology or other aspects of yoga.

And it really goes without saying that in all classes or session, the individual’s needs and limitations are always considered and alternatives or modifications are offered.

I also teach Pregnancy Classes, Mum & Baby classes, and Birthing Consciously Classes.

For more details visit the website Yoga for You.

8. What do you love most about teaching yoga?

Last week in our early morning class I had one of these sweet moments, of bliss and gratitude … here I was, sitting quietly, the sun still below the horizon, guiding people through a meditation on hridayakasha (the psychic heart space) and the steady flame (jyoti) burning at it’s centre; reminding each one of us of our divine Self … it was a truly sacred moment … and this is my ‘work’! … how blessed am I?!

More and more I feel that “I am not the doer”, my teaching is guided by guru and this keeps me feeling light and at ease (most of the time).

Teaching is part of my sadhana … and it brings into my life many beautiful people I wouldn’t meet otherwise.

9. What do you wish everybody knew about yoga?

That yoga can be for you whatever you want it to be.

It can be a way to maintain your body, free your breath, relax deeply and recharge your whole being … or it can, with dedication and the right teachers, take you to a way of being in this world you never dreamed of, full of creativity, joy and love … unconditional love and compassion for all and everything … a transformation of consciousness.

I would like to add though that personally I believe, that we can’t do the latter on our own. We need a teacher of a high caliber, who has transcended his/her own mind; we need a guide who can lead us safely through the labyrinth of our own mind, the ego is just too tricky and we can too easily delude ourselves or get stuck, or lost.

Yoga is the ability to experience what we have not experienced up to now.

- Swami Satyananda Saraswati

10. What role do you see yoga playing in our world?

In the words of His Holiness the Dalai Lama:

Although attempting to bring about world peace through internal transformation of individuals is difficult, it is the only way.

Regular practice of yoga can achieve personal transformation; it can transform us into better human beings, less controlled by our animal instincts and able to make more refined choices. I wish us all to become open-hearted individuals and I believe yoga offers the tools and teachings to achieve this.

11. Anything else you’d like to say?

Yes, thank you, Kara-Leah, for having created this great website, I enjoy reading other people’s stories and ideas on yoga. It is a way to connect the yoga community, especially us teachers and that’s what I love about it.

So for those of you from other parts of the country, if you find yourself in Christchurch, then please get in touch with me, I’d love to meet you.

12. And finally, how do people find you?

The easiest way is to visit our website Yoga for You, you find all other details there.

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Vote now for The Yoga Lunchbox as Best Lifestyle Website

Ok, so I’m a bit slow out of the box on this one as voting opened on April 30th (!), but it’s never too late right? I figure with a groundswell of support from you, the Yoga Lunchbox reader, we can make it into the top five for the category Best Lifestyle Website.

‘Cos right now, The Yoga Lunchbox is flying under the radar as far as mainstream media or awareness is concerned, and it would be real nice to get some publicity. I just know there’s lots more yoga practitioners out there in New Zealand who would love what the website has to offer… if only they knew about it.

Plus maybe a few curious yoga wannabes will find their way to the site and as a result make their way to your studio or classes.

So please, take a moment out of your busy day to vote in the Net Guide Awards, just scroll down to find Best Lifestyle Website and type theyogalunchbox.co.nz into the box with OTHER.

If you run a studio, or classes, and know that your students are enjoying the website, please encourage them to vote too!

Voting closes on July 30th, so there’s just two weeks left to show your support.

Thank you and many blessings,

Kara-Leah

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Marianne Elliott, Yoga Sangha teacher

As the recent article on Gaura Yoga Bhakti Centre’s new Thursday night Vinyasa & Kirtan yoga class showed, there’s more than one way to teach yoga.

Also in Wellington, Marianne Elliott is spearheading a series of yoga classes at Yoga Unlimited called Yoga Sangha. These classes are delivered by seva – that is, they have no set price and students decide what they’d like to offer in exchange for attending class.

The Yoga Lunchbox caught up with Marianne to find out more about Yoga Sangha, which has recently had both a name and a venue change.

1. Yoga Sangha started life as Prana Flow – why the change in name?

When Kara-Leah and Taisuke started these classes they were both interested in teaching in the ‘prana flow’ style, as taught by Shiva Rea. A few years on, the teachers have changed and have brought new influences and traditions into the mix.

What has not changed is the community aspect of these classes. Sangha is a sanskrit word that means “community”. In particular it refers to a community of people with a common goal or purpose. Yoga Sangha classes are about people. They are about community.

Yoga Sanghais a community of teachers – the people who teach the classes may change but we are all connected as part of a strong community of yoga teachers in Wellington and beyond.

Yoga Sangha is a community of students – the students at Yoga Sangha have always played a central role in making the classes happen. They help set up for class, they help clean up. Teacher and students are a team making the class happen together.

2. You’ve also changed venue to Yoga Unlimited, what prompted that and what does being in a yoga studio add to the classes?

The move to Yoga Unlimited was prompted mostly by the desire to be able to warm the practice room, it gets very cold in Wellington in mid-winter and the room we were using was very hard to heat. We were also sharing the space with a hip-hop class and their music seemed to be getting louder every week. Initially we all saw this as a great way to practice being present without judgment. Eventually, even our yogi patience was being worn thin. There are only so many times you want to hear the first 12 bars of The Prodigy’s ‘Firestarter’ when you are resting in savasana!

We were a bit concerned that being in a yoga studio might dilute the community feeling of our classes, but we needn’t have worried. Kelly and Lynda, the owners of Yoga Unlimited, have always placed a lot of importance on creating that sense of community in their studio. I love seeing how much our Yoga Sangha students appreciate the little luxuries of a yoga studio (look blankets! heaters! dimmers on the lights!). It reminds me to never take these for granted.

The advantages of being at Yoga Unlimited go much deeper than these luxuries, however. Our students have been welcomed into a wider yoga community where they can meet and take classes with other teachers, meet other students and find out about workshops and yoga events that will help to deepen their own yoga experience.

3. These classes are taught by seva – what is your understanding of seva and what does it mean for students coming along?

My understanding of seva is a service offered with no expectation of anything in return, a service offered in love. Teaching these classes is one form of selfless service. At the same time, we invite people to make an offering for the class. This offering, we suggest, can reflect what they are able to pay and what they think the class is worth. If people want to make a non-monetary offering, I’m open to that as well. I have one student who comes and does some gardening with me in exchange for classes.

We hope that this will make the classes accessible to everyone. We also hope, and believe, that this gives all our students the chance to bring a practice of mindfulness and generosity to their own offering. Without a set price, they are asked to make a choice and, in time, we hope that this choice will become part of their yoga practice.

What I love about how the seva classes work is that the offering may vary widely from person to person, but generally the spirit of generosity is consistent. Of course, when someone is new, they might think of the class as a great way to get a free yoga class. But in time, I hope, being part of our yoga community will encourage that person to reconsider what “free” means to them.

4. How do you describe Yoga Sangha classes to people – what makes them different from other yoga classes?

I describe them as community classes, I tell people that if they come long to these classes they can expect to get to know the other students. The students often ask each other about their children, challenges at work, exciting trips etc. You’ll also be invited to be part of the community that makes these classes function. When we were considering moving, I asked the students what they thought. Their views were a deciding factor in our final choice.

We have a lot of fun in the Yoga Sangha classes. When hip-hop music is blasting on one side and a student garage-rock band is practicing on the other side, you need a sense of humour to get through your yoga practice. We laugh together. A lot.

I also find that Yoga Sangha students, generally, are interested in the full path of yoga. They are not simply looking for a stretch class or a way to get tight buns. They want to know about the philosophy of yoga, and all the eight limbs. I think that this has something to do with why they were willing to practice in a cold room, with hip-hop music blaring. They understand that yoga doesn’t depend on conditions or environment. They are interested in what yoga looks like when you practice in less than ideal conditions, what it looks like – even – when you take it off your mat.

5. Anything else you’d like to add?

If you think you’d enjoy a community style yoga class in a beautiful studio setting, then come along:

• Tuesday 7.30pm
• Thursday 7.30pm
• Friday 5.30pm

All classes are at Yoga Unlimited: Level One, 80 Tory St, Wellington

Email: yogasanghanz@gmail.com

Do you, or someone you know, teach yoga in an innovative or creative way? Let The Yoga Lunchbox know and we might be able to interview you for an up-coming article.

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There are some awesome yoga reads out there

There are some fantastic yoga websites out there in the worldwide web, but finding them can be tricky. Luckily you’ve got The Yoga Lunchbox here to help.

People often ask me where I find the time to read so much – it’s simple. I use a RSS reader (GoogleReader) and subscribe to all the websites I love.

Every morning (or evening) instead of reading the local paper or watching the news, I open up my Google Reader and see what articles have arrived. It’s a great way to get inspired and uplifted, while often learning something. I’ve had so many “a-ha!” moments in my Google Reader. Plus I can now read Google Reader on my iPhone, which means I carry inspiring reading around with me and don’t need to resort to trashy women’s mags in waiting rooms anymore…

I get so much enjoyment out of my Google Reader I thought I would offer up a list of my best of the best yoga reads. These are in no particular order, just articles and websites that I’m loving right now. I’m always on the hunt for new reads too, so if you know of something great that I’ve missed, please leave a comment!

1. Shanti-Town | Lia Aprile

I’ve already featured Lia as a guest author here on The Yoga Lunchbox with her lovely article Learning to soften, but there are so many of her articles that I have just loved, loved, loved. Lia’s got a delicious, light-hearted way of zeroing in on the most subtle of yogic realisations that helps expands her readers understanding of what it truly means to practice yoga. Some of my favourite Shanti Town articles are:

• Why Not Just Let Go?
• This is the Space I Take
• Hello, Pelvis…

2. Yoga Unlimited | Lynda Miers-Henneveld & Kelly Fisher

Local hometown Wellington girls, Kelly and Lynda are the force behind Yoga Unlimited, an intimate yoga studio on Tory Street. They started writing a blog with the shift of their website to WordPress, and it’s been delightful watching them both grow and develop as writers. I’m gold starring more and more of their articles for future reference, three of which you can check out below:

• Get outta your head!
• Trust Your Intuition
• Wholeness

3. Te Aro Astanga | Mike Berghan

Another local Wellington Yogi, Mike doesn’t write that often, but when he does, I love his clarity and depth of wisdom. He’s a family man, a studio owner and a dedicated astanga practitioner. His latest read got me going:

• Learning to Listen

4. Kenton Whitman

Now Kenton is not a yoga writer in the strictest sense of the world, but his wisdom on discerning the true nature of life is almost a leap beyond yoga. He has a way of making complex ideas and realities accessible. I’ve been following his blog for about four years now, and he’s most definitely one of my favourite writers. He doesn’t post very often anymore (but if you’re new to him there’s a HUGE archive of articles available to read) so when he does, I know it’s something worth paying attention to.

• Existential Angst
• Conscious Mindsets, Part Four

5. Mastery of Meditation, Enlightenment & Kundalini Yoga | Anmol Mehta

Again, this is a blog I’ve been reading for about four years now, and it is HUGE. Anmol is a born storyteller and writes eloquently of the ins & outs of the spiritual journey from the perspective of a kundalini yoga. Some of my favourite articles include:

• Parenting Help and Advise | 3 Most Important Parenting Goals
• 20 Interesting Ways to Test Your Spiritual Development
• J Krishnamurti on Sensitivity – The Heart of Spiritual Living

6. Zen and the Art of Peacekeeping | Marianne Elliott

Marianne is a good friend of mine, and as a yogi and writer, we have a lot in common. I’ve loved reading her blog over the last year or so as she also has immense experience and understanding of the world of peace keeping – quite literally. She’s spent time in the Gaza Strip and in Afghanistan (watch out for her book coming soon). Marianne writes with great sensitivity and compassion, but most of all, great honesty. Some of her earlier articles, written when she was in Afghanistan, are heart wrenching at times. Lately I’ve enjoyed the following reads:

• Shame-free yoga: teaching yoga without triggering body shame
• Facing your fears in five (relatively) easy steps

7. Yoga | Neal Pollack

Ok, I don’t know much about this dude – he’s new to yoga. From his blog I guess he’s doing yoga teacher training as some kind of dare, because it’s so far away from who he is. So I’m not quite sure what his story is to be honest, but what I do know is that his outsider’s view of yoga gives him this wicked way in which to lambast the silly seriousness that yoga practitioners can be prone to. You gotta read this article!

• Why I Almost Ran Away From Yoga School

8. Mightier Than Any Sword | Anne-Marie Emmerson

A journalist and yogi living and working in Wanganui, there is something quintessential kiwi about Anne-Marie’s writing that makes the yoga perspective so fresh. She’s figuring out how to be yogic while also being a journalist in a small town run by polarizing mayor Michael Laws. Anne-Marie also has a delicious way of capturing the miniature of life lived moment by moment. And she’s a storyteller too. Articles I’ve loved include:

• where i am is where i need to be
• lost boy
• A fortnight in paradise

And the other two Top Yoga reads? That’s for you the reader to decide – leave a comment and let me know who you love to read.

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Noah Maze, Anusara Yoga Teacher

Noah Mazé is celebrated in the yoga community as one of the most advanced and proficient practitioners and teachers of Anusara Yoga, and he’s coming to New Zealand in September to deliver a weekend workshop called Heroes and Heroines: Stories and Practices of Yoga.

The Yoga Lunchbox caught up with Noah in the middle of his extremely busy schedule to find out how he got into yoga, why he’s coming all the way down to New Zealand and just what heroes and heroines have to do with yoga. See the end of this interview for details about the September workshop in Christchurch.

1. How’d you get into yoga, and into Anusara Yoga? And why Anusara?

My parents were interested in South Asian spirituality before I was born, and the philosophies and practices of the yoga tradition were things that I grew up with. They were such a part of my life, that I thought everyone spent time in the morning meditating and contemplating the Teachings before the day got busy. I have come to learn this is not necessarily the case…

I started more formal Hatha Yoga practice when I was 13 years old. Prior to that, my athletic/physical self was a bit separate from the emphasis of the meditative/contemplative tradition I was raised in.

On the mat, I found the perfect blending of all the aspects I loved; from the physical engagement and affirmation of embodiment, the focus and discipline, the mindfulness and breath awareness, to the philosophies and teachings that informed it all. I remember feeling that I had found home, in the practices of Hatha Yoga.

Richard Freeman was my first Hatha Yoga teacher, in the Ashtanga Vinyasa style, and I started going to his classes with my mom when I was 14 in my hometown of Boulder, CO. I remember getting high school credit through a health class for taking yoga with Richard.

I first took classes with John Friend in 1994, and did my first Anusara Yoga Teacher Training in 1998. When I committed to studying with John, Anusara’s Universal Principles of Alignment enabled all my poses to feel better and go quite a bit deeper. Where I had felt a plateau in my practice, I no longer felt that I had a ceiling with how far I could go in the asanas. As a teacher, I love the creativity of the principles of alignment, of Tantric philosophy, of sequencing to create a new class every time.

Anusara has a beautiful emphasis on community, and I have friends all over the world that I get to practice with and learn from. The philosophy has become a growing love of mine over the last 10 years, and I study deeply the Auspicious Wisdom that my teacher Dr. Douglas Brooks calls Rajanaka Yoga.

I love the emphasis that Anusara Yoga puts on the philosophy, and how we bring this onto the mat AS the asana practice, as we are really encouraged to cultivate the fullness of our embodiment; body and mind and heart. There really is not difference between the philosophical vision and how we do asana on the mat.

2. Have you been down to New Zealand before and how did Katie Lane convince you, as one of the world’s top Anusara yoga teachers, to make the trip?

I have never been to New Zealand, and it has always been my dream to visit. My wife, Tracy, and our almost two year old daughter, Madeleine, will come with me too. So for me, this is a dream coming true; Katie really didn’t need to convince me of anything.

3. This workshop is called Heroes and Heroines: Stories and Practices of Yoga – what relevance does myth and character have for yoga? Surely this is more suited to a creative writing workshop?

The Yoga Tradition is rich with myth, iconography and allegory, and I love to bring the teachings and stories into our practices on the mat.

Throughout the weekend, we will explore teachings and myth from the great epic stories of Mahabharata and Ramayana, and see how these ancient stories can inspire and inform our contemporary lives.

The Tantric yogas tells us that we are every character in the story, and the tradition offer us multiples ways to reflect upon and to know ourselves, as well as the world we live in. When we can experience multiple perspectives, our world expands and we are more empathetic and compassionate to others. When we can’t do this, we are in danger of isolation and fundamentalism.

Put this in practical terms, and we can interpret the same pose (take downward facing dog for example) differently each day, depending on the awareness and intention we have that day. In a way, we write our story on the mat every time we practice, with our efforts (tapas), intention, asana sequence, and the virtue that we are cultivating.

If we assume we are every character in the story, then we have all the greatness of hero/heroine and God/Goddess, as well as the possibilities of the villains and demons. Yoga then, is the power and awareness of the choices we are constantly making; to embody our most heroic possibility, or something less. Why not embody the highest?

4. For some people, the idea of doing yoga all weekend seems really tough – what level do you need to be at to come along and how is it possible to do hours of yoga a day?

In a weekend of workshops, we have more time for every aspect of practice, and a lot of growth and transformation is possible. It is really ideal to do a weekend of workshops a few times a year, to advance your practice in this more intensive way, and then apply the new insights and openings in your regular weekly yoga classes.

The baseline of your practice shifts to a new level after a whole weekend, and in a weekend, we go deeper in all the asanas, the sequencing, the principles of alignment that allow us to perform the poses well. We have time to address discomfort and pain in the poses, and I always present stages and modifications for the variety of levels present in the room. Most people are surprised at how fast a three hour workshop goes by, because they are so engrossed and engaged in the experience.

5. How do people usually find your workshops – what do they walk away saying?

Well, I think a lot of people leave deeply inspired. Inspired by their own greatness and light and beauty, inspired by the community, and inspired to even more deeply commit themselves to their practices. When we are done, people always ask me about how to continue this in their personal practices, what books and resources can they read for the philosophy. It really seems like a strong infusion of energy and transformation into people’s lives, as well as their practices.

6. Anything else you’d like to add?

I am deeply honored and inspired to come to New Zealand with my family, and am really looking forward to it. See you on the mat!

Anusara Yoga Weekend Workshop with Noah Maze | Heroes and Heroines: Stories and Practices of Yoga

The stories of heroes and heroines provide empowering and visionary allegories of our yogic journey.  In these sessions, asana will interweave with myth and teachings to create a rich experience of alignment.  We will find ourselves in the stories as we integrate the tales into the narrative of the body and heart on the mat.

Bring an open mind, a willing heart, and be ready to play and work hard, with a desire to bring the great teachings of yoga directly into your life.  All sessions will be mixed-level, poses will be taught in stages with intelligent and creative sequencing to empower everyone to their greatest potential.

Christchurch, September 3rd to 5th, 2010, venue TBC

Friday 6 to 8pm:
Dive into the weekend’s themes! Full spectrum practice

Saturday 9:30am to 12pm:
Hearts of Courage: Standing Poses & Backbends

Saturday 2 to 4:30pm:
Inner Worlds Part 1: Hip Openers, Twists, Pranayama & Meditation

Sunday 9:30am to 12pm:
Step Into the Flow of Grace: Creative Vinyasa, Backbends, Arm Balances

Sunday 2 to 4:30pm:
The Yoga of Healing: Yoga & Therapeutics (Lower Body) for Students & Teachers

Cost: EARLY BIRD PRICE $250 before August 1st, $275 after August 1st.

Contact: Katie Lane at Yoga Kula to book your place now.

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