Sadhana: The Art & Ritual of Personal Practice (Online)

The purpose of a formal practice time is to establish and sustain the awareness of inner tranquility that is always available to us. In the hubbub of everyday life it is easy to forget that each of us has this innate capacity to be calm and peaceful.

|| Donna Farhi

It is my belief that yoga practice is not something that we do, rather it is a relationship that we tend. Like all meaningful relationships, it develops over time and requires a certain amount of intimacy, trust, and commitment. Studying with knowledgable teachers and practicing with the support of community are important aspects of our learning journey without a doubt, but I also believe that we must cultivate a personal relationship to practice that can nourish us - even when our teachers or our community are not present.

I created this program as a means of supporting those of you who have been practicing yoga for some time but have yet to establish a regular home practice of your own. In this course I will act as your guide, offering support and structure so that you may begin to gain some insight into how to self initiate practice and engage your sadhana on your own terms.

How Will The Course Be Delivered?

This course will run for one month, starting on May 7th 2020. Each week you will get a series of short practices to explore, leading up to a full spectrum practice that is 90 minutes long. These lessons will roll out from Friday - Weds and on Thursdays we will gather for a live stream practice where we put it all together and practice as a group. The live stream classes will be recorded for later viewing if you cannot make it live. All the course material will be housed on Teachable and your one time purchase will give you forever access to the course along with all future upgrades.

What Type Of Practices Will We Cover?

In this program we will explore the practices of yoga asana (Hatha/Vinyasa approach), mantra, meditation, pranayama, self reflection, personal ritual and inquiry. You will get supportive videos outlining the practices each week and have the freedom to choose which practices you want to engage with.

What Type Of Yoga Will Be Taught?

In regards to the physical practice, my style is definitely movement-based, what I would call a Hatha/Vinyasa approach. Each week the core practice will be broken into sections that I will instruct via video and share modifications for. This will allow you to figure out how to approach and adjust the practice to suit you best. These video sections will be rolled out over the week in this order-

• General warm ups and Surya Namaskar
• Standing & Hip Opening
• Peak Pose
• Closing Sequence

While there will be an option to explore some larger or more complex peak poses such as Headstand, please know that the course will be designed so that you can approach those poses with understanding and skip them entirely if you choose. This course is not focused around expanding your ability to do a bunch of fancy postures, its primary focus is on exploring and developing your own relationship to personal practice.

What Kind of Support Will You Offer?

Along with the primary course material you will be invited to join a private online forum on Facebook, where you can ask questions and connect with community. I will also host a weekly live stream class where we will have time for discussion (and I may add in an extra philosophy and Q&A session if needed). In addition to this you can also email me at any time to ask questions.

Themes For Each Week

Each week we will explore a different facet of this conversation around practice. These teachings will be offered in audio and video files along with suggested practices and questions for self inquiry.

• Week 1: Invocation- awakening the sadhaka within us, clarifying our aims, determining our non-negotiables, creating a personal ritual for practice
• Week 2: Seeking Equanimity -gathering our attention, learning how to work with craving/aversion, cultivating focus, learning how to rest in the still point of equanimity
• Week 3: Friction & Expansion - learning how to identify our evolving edge, working with tapasya, cultivating a willingness to challenge ourselves in appropriate ways through seasons of practice
• Week 4: Warp & Weft - looking at our relationship to practice and to life, finding the balance point between our inner and our outer work, dedicating the fruits of our practices to the wellbeing of all