Lately I have seen many people in the yoga community posting disparaging comments on social media about yoga teachers being too self promotional, or treating yoga like a business, often also implying that they should be giving their services away for free (or at the very least cheap), or not promoting themselves at all, as “aren’t they supposed to be spiritual anyway”? ….
Today I got on the phone with Susanna as part of my Sacred Story Online Immersion project. When I was designing the course I knew that I wanted to create a series of blog posts and interviews with various teachers who have also brought myth and story into their own daily lives. My intention with this was to show the ways in which many different people have come to work with deity practice, or mythological narrative, in a way that is both potent and creative….
Today is a new moon in the sign of Cancer, a water sign that “governs our emotional response to life” as astrologer Chani Nicholas puts it. Personally I love new moon days. Even in the midst of summer (whose extroverted beauty we are currently enjoying), I still enjoy the gentle inward pull of the new moon, […]
The summer solstice marks the high point of the solar cycle of the year and offers us our longest day. Traditionally this day has been celebrated as a time of joyfulness and a recognition of the fertility and abundance of the earth. Though the solstice is not a recognized holiday for most of us, I have always found that the practice of sacred timekeeping, or of honouring the passage of time with simple ritual, deepens my connection to the natural world and offers me insight into my own changing experience…..
Yesterday I had the great pleasure of getting on the phone and chatting with Vancouver yoga teacher Julie Julie_PetersPeters. Julie is one of my favourite teachers and one whose voice I deeply respect and value in the greater yoga community that I am part of. In our conversation I specifically spoke to her regarding her relationship to Indian mythology and the topic of deity practice….
As I prepare to offer my Sacred Story course I wanted to bring in the voices of some of the teachers who have inspired me most, and share them with you. The very first person I thought of speaking to was New York yoga teacher Eric Stoneberg, so last week I got on the phone with him and we had a super fun chat on the topics of deity practice, personal sadhana, mythology and more…..
Recently I taught a few workshops that are part of a series I am creating called Seasonal Sadhana, in which I weave together Ayurvedic seasonal wisdom, asana practice, and they mythic energy currents that I associate with the elements needed for balance in that season. Below are some ideas of how to work in this way to create greater vitality this season, along with a handout that you can print for yourself….
With todays’ post I wanted to share with you some simple practices that make up my typical new moon sadhana, and some in particular those that can help you get the most out of these last few weeks of winter so that when spring truly arrives you also feel vibrant and ready to blossom….
The term liminal comes from the Latin root limen, meaning threshold or sill, and represents a time/space where we stand between two worlds or ways of seeing. To be in liminal space is to be in a time where often one way of being is breaking down and yet a new way has not yet taken form….
The word equinox comes from the Latin aequinoctium which essentially means equal night, referencing the fact that day and night are more equal in length at the times of autumn and vernal (spring) equinox, and that the days afterwards take us deeper in the waxing (spring) or waning (autumn) season of the year. There are a number of practices I tend to favour at this time of year and you may choose to do all or some of them to help bring a reverence for sacred timekeeping into your own life….
