It's easy for me to focus on my shortcomings and get all dragged down, because I'm not perfect: not the perfect business owner, not the perfect wife, not the perfect therapist, not the perfect yoga teacher, not the perfect daughter and sister. When things are on top of me and there is little room to breathe, it's easy to just give up and to give in to my own inner critics and the voices outside that are critical of what I'm doing. In one of those moments, I was reminded how much courage it takes to live and that it is that courage that counts in the end. I find this speech by Roosevelt incredibly inspiring and hopeful: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
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To celebrate our 7th birthday in Huntingdon bring a friend for free in August 2018!
Come to class at Peterborough and Huntingdon in August and bring your friends for free! Visit as many times as you like and bring along anyone new to the Peterborough or Huntingdon centres, or who's not been to either centre in 2018. Book yourself in online and email us if you wanted to reserve a space for your friend as well. Email Jenny on jenny@equilibriumyoga.co.uk. 24 hour notice of cancellation still applies. This month I'd like to share something a yoga teacher colleague of mine (Dr. Alison Clancy) has written and I find very inspirational. She answers the question of why she practices yoga: "I practice yoga to help myself heal, to soften the harsh and often unforgiving internal dialogue, to empower myself and to experience the very best of who I can become. Yoga encourages me to develop an innate sense of curiosity with what I am attached and adverse to and challenges me to change towards becoming more respectful towards myself. Personal boundaries are laid down during the practice, and when I practice the art of yoga for myself, I begin to self-validate, resulting in an unravelling of my sense of disempowerment, as I no longer wait for or need the validation of others". So, let each of us make a silent self-pledge to come to yoga not to achieve, but to simply allow a natural process towards self-actualisation to gently unfurl before us. Then perhaps a perceived abject life can be potentially transformed, if and when we simply allow the practice to lead."
Let the process unfurl and open up to the journey. Walk in beauty Sandra I feel that 2018 has been a year of changes and transitions of a significant nature. It's not just about the day to day changes, but changes that are more fundamental. During the Mentorship Programme I taught in Vienna in May, one of the participants brought the following poem by Hermann Hesse, which touched me deeply and helped me to understand the importance of being able to say good-bye in a way that has integrity. As every blossom fades I used to be and to a certain degree still am a person who likes education and likes to continuously evolve and learn more. I have two university degrees, I have done three different yoga foundation trainings, a body psychotherapy training, numerous continuous education courses, massage programmes, reiki, etc. Even listing all those trainings makes me feel exhausted.
One of the questions that arose during my body psychotherapy training was "What is enough? What does that feel like? What if I have already arrived instead of needing to be somewhere else?". During the last three years my focus has been on allowing myself to arrive, i.e. being where I am instead of needing to improve myself or to be somehow better. My intent has been to move from that place, so that whatever else I'm learning or whatever training I'm doing is out of curiosity and joy rather than out of an urge and desperate need to be somehow different or be somewhere different. It's about letting go fully into the moment. I invite you to explore what it feels to you to fully arrive. Arrive in beauty. Happy New Year 2018! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas and a great turn of the year.
January 2018 is a very special month and year for Equilibrium in Peterborough. We're celebrating our 10th anniversary! We'd love to say thank you to all of you who have supported us through the decade! In order to celebrate we have a whole weekend of yoga and yoga related sessions - all for FREE. Throughout the weekend (20th and 21st of January), our therapist will also offer taster sessions at a very reduced price. Even though I'm, of course, always in flux, I've been in a state of distinct re-orientation since summer of last year when I apprenticed the Forrest Yoga Foundation and Advanced Training. Afterwards, I was authorised by Ana to teach these programmes without her, but together with another guardian. There is only one other person in Europe who is authorised to deliver trainings at this level.
I had the clear feeling that I had reached a level where I wanted to be and where there were a lot of options. However, I have been unsure where to turn to next. Therefore, I've made a conscious decision to look at events and partnerships from a much more energetic, feeling and also heart place. Does the energy flow or is there an incredible number of obstacles coming my way? Of course, the question is always: Is it a test or a sign, i.e. is it about overcoming the obstacles or is it a sign that I need to be somewhere else? Since I've been developing a more feminine approach to life, I've stopped pushing so hard and have been following the energy where it flows more organically, which is something that does not come natural to me. I have been reminding myself to trust the process, that I'm exactly where I need to be and to keep my heart open and soft. My task has been to tolerate space when I have created it - instead of needing to fill it immediately when it opens up. I encourage you to sit with the uncertainty and the unknown as we truly don't know how our process will unfold. Trust that things are in the right place unfolding at the right pace. One of the aspects I've always been drawn to in Forrest Yoga is the premise that asana is an expression of the individual in any particular moment in time. It's not about putting the body into shape, but rather shaping the pose around the body, so that the pose can serve the person. Lasting transformation is a movement from the inside outside rather than trying to trim the body, mind or spirit into a certain shape, so they can fit a form we somehow believe is the right one.
Outside the yoga room the feeling that our bodies are not perfect or fitting the ideal is definitely prevalent and is causing a lot of harm. We can be swept away so easily with the belief that we are not thin enough, athletic enough, muscular enough, lean enough and that our bellies are not flat enough. It then taints everything we do. In those moments, it's useful to remind ourselves that our body is an expression of who we are and that it's incredibly unhelpful to try and fit it into a shape it should not be. Rather, I'd love for all of us to celebrate our body, mind, psyche and spirit just the way they are and the way they are changing with age, season, moon cycles, etc. Celebrate who you are unashamedly! Every summer for the past five years, I've been going to Saeter, a small village in Sweden, where I've been teaching five-day retreats together with my friend and colleague Helena Atkinson. Helena is not only a yoga teacher, but also a linguist with a keen interest in literature. This year we've combined Forrest Yoga and "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". I enjoyed taking the themes from Alice and bringing them into Forrest Yoga. We picked several intents, but one quote really stayed with me. It's the following:
'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked. 'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat: 'we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.' 'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice. 'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here.' Through my work as a teacher and therapist I often see that people isolate themselves, because they feel that they are alone in their issues. Frequently, there is a believe that everybody else has sorted their stuff out and that there is something wrong with oneself. However, coming back to the Cheshire Cat, we all carry our madness. We all have our problems and work on our process. It's good to know that we are not alone and there is a community of mad people where we can be heard, seen and supported. Walk in beauty and in your madness! In Forrest Yoga when we call in the Four Direction, which is a way of calling on the support of the allies in the East, South, West and North, the element of water is located in the South. The qualities of the South are innocence, trust, healing and playfulness.
Like any of the elements, water can be on the one hand a very gentle and persistent force bringing about change slowly and being crucial for survival. It follows the path of least resistance as it flows down the mountains. Over time it shapes and softens rocks. On the other hand water can be incredibly powerful bringing about transformational changes within seconds and minutes. Torrents of water in flash floods for example transform the landscape forever and can create devastation and death. I invite you to bring the qualities of water into your life embracing and enjoying the quieter transformational changes, as well as the rapid, immediately powerful and more dramatic ones. Allow both softness and strength to be present within yourself and flow with what is. |
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