This week in class we will be working on Karma Yoga; working without attachment to the end result and this will then not leave a deposit on the mind, but brings freedom. Every action affects your mind Whenever you do something, it leaves a mark on your mind: If you act for a reward (praise, success, feeling good), it creates a mental habit or expectation. If you don’t get that reward, you may feel disappointed or restless. Attachment creates pressure When you act mainly for

Why don’t we always feel fresh, light, and truly alive? Yoga teaches that the root isn’t just in the body—it lies within the pranic field, our inner energy system. The yogis understood that when this field becomes disturbed or clouded, we feel it as tension, heaviness, or physical discomfort. By turning inward, they discovered how to clear these impurities at their source. Often, we blame the body. But the deeper cause is not realising that it is all related to the mental pro

In yoga, we can feel a sense of inner light or brightness. This shows up in how we live—being kind, accepting others, and feeling a deeper sense of joy. This feeling is connected to something called Kundalini shakti, an inner energy that exists in everyone. It awakens from being dormant in muladhara; (the root chakra) and can rise upward through an inner path; Sushumna to the crown of the head, Sahasrara. This journey represents growing awareness and connection to our true se

In authentic yoga practice we work on our inner life and not on the physical body. We come to see, “ vidya” in Sanskrit something more than body. We are the experiencer of life and body and when we look in this way it moves more freely. We are not stuck in body’s physical discomfort. The more we practice the more we experience BRIGHTNESS; “sattva” within. However we can feel the clouds drop down again during our practice and in life too. This is an obstacle we can overcome. T

In yoga philosophy, the mind is made up of different faculties. First, we have the senses. Through our five senses we constantly receive information from the world around us — what we see, hear, smell, taste and touch. Then there is buddhi, the intellect. This is the part of the mind that understands and interprets what the senses experience and stores those impressions in memory. Next is ahamkara, often called the “I-maker.” This is the part of the mind that takes our experi

Something within us never changes, we cannot think it or use the senses to identify it. We have to use the ancient teachings of yoga to teach it. But why try to find it? Through our senses, memory and thoughts we know what our body and life looks and feels like and we most probably have an opinion of it or disregard it through not wanting to “see it.” Those illusions have been created by part of mind that has attached or created an aversion to those feelings/ experience. The

Prana Moving from the Centre Outward Moving prana from the centre outward allows us to enter the places where we are blocked. When we are in resistance, we do not recognise these areas as blocked — they feel absent, unreachable, or simply not there. But when awareness touches them, they begin to come alive. And as they awaken, the mental aspect that was held there also begins to move. It is like shining a torch into dark, dormant spaces within us — places we may feel do not e

Can you imagine how this student must feel being given all those instructions! ….and now he has to stay sharp and focused aswell on this and that part of his body… and at the same time trying to do some pranayama to release the holding on or resistances he feels. It won’t work! When in asanas it’s best to NOT work with the body and thoughts Once the alignment is safe, which is a MUST. …Working with the more subtle layer underlying the physical body shifts the “restriction p

What does imbalance mean to you? In yoga there are places within we experience that are bright and open and places stuck and dense, for wanting to put into words. It is there for all of us. Within the sheath of life force, the yogis called prana, which is beneath the physical body there are impurities which block the life within and we feel stuck, tight, immobile. Using the practice of pranayama and asanas (postures), we will bring a clear understanding that they can be remo

Some questions and answers about yoga and why we practice classes are for all abilities - we are not an ego based class performing perfect postures but finding the deeper meaning to yoga Student “ I feel so light after yoga, why is that?” Teacher “ The mind has released and when that happens the tightness felt in the body also releases” Student “ I have nothing going on in my mind after a class when we practice not only asanas (postures), but also the powerful practice of pra

using lesson planning each week for Hatha yoga and meditation classes, from ancient texts. Each week in class ~ there is an evolvement in understanding what is body and mind and how the mental activity can effect how the body moves or becomes blocked. The body moves because the inner pranic life force moves and expands, (when we use the practice of pranayama,) ~ which loosens off the mental activity that is like a glue in this inner body bringing symptoms to the physical bod

We often experience the body as something solid and fixed, but in yoga we begin to sense that the body is actually movement and flow. What gives the body life is prana — the vital life force that moves through us and expands in all directions in a non physical experience. When we turn our focus inwards away from the outer 5 senses and bring awareness, we can feel the body not just as a form, but as sensation, vibration, and a feeling of life. This is where prana becomes more

We will focus this coming month on the movements of the spine. This week the inversion and yoga philosophy will teach us to inwardly evolve; Letting go of habitual viewpoints Challenging the ego- based identity “I am what I do/ how I appear.” cultivating humility and surrender. In yogic philosophy- growth requires seeing life from a non- egoic perspective. When we experience inner stillness and peace even when the outside physical conditions are upside down we can be free. Om

Helping students to release their obstacles within that block the inner life force that brings lightness, mobility, strength, flexibility, whatever we call it; it is LIFE. When we cling to mind’s attachments we feel the symptoms as in tight tense muscles and there is a state of being in fight or flight response. We can’t get to the root of the problem unless we practice on loosening the deposit from the mind in the layer beneath the body; the pranic sheath. This is a substanc

When we use direct perception (a 6th sense we all have), in our yoga practise it supplies information of an invisible plane; the prana; the life within the body. This life wants to expand and move and it keeps us evolving. It brings an aliveness in body and mind free of attachments. Otherwise we think we are our life when we are the experience of our life. We get so attached to objects, labels, our senses. We use the purification practice of pranayama to reduce the obstacl

The yogis experienced through direct perception (6th sense), a centre of inner aliveness at the core of the human system. They found that it has its own inner drive. It wants to expand everywhere possible and within itself.  It is prana. We will work on one side at a time to experience this asymmetrical expansion of life that is not limited. By reducing the attachments made from mind blocking this life force we allow this prana; the inner life force to expand carrying conscio

Why do we practice yoga? Do you have to be flexible? Do you have to be young and trendy looking? The reason I started yoga many years ago, was for a very vain reason; I thought that all those who practiced looked so youthful, their body looked healthy, their legs were toned and strong. But also I had a deeper knowing that they had an inner strength which is much needed living in the life we are in. After class I felt good, happy, optimistic. In the teachings I’ve been shown

Your inner tensions feel as if they have a power of their own and they do. Understanding that we have a natural inner force that can undo them and overcome them. The ancient yogis didn’t do this by working just on the physical body. The asanas are only a part of the process. We are constantly learning about ourselves with the teachings they have left us. Om Shanti

The first photo below brings an open minded view to the experience of life in nature. It’s pleasant and beautiful. The second photo is portraying a yoga pose and your mind has now changed. Within us all is a similar experience as in the photo on the left brings, not from determining how far my body can go into a posture and how pleasing this is to do. The real practice of yoga is to experience the life within and to expand that inner force so as we can evolve, change, transfo

When we relearn teachings from the traditional Indian texts, we can experience that we are blocking a force; prana, within us all, that helps us to evolve, change, transform and grow. This week we will remove blockages we hold that stops this force from moving and allowing us to evolve. The practice is pranayama, asana and direct perception. This force is powerful beyond our ego sense of mind but we have impurities deposited from the ego sense of mind that need to be removed.