Why in yoga do we feel light, less of body shape, no recognition of us in a labelled existence; our roles. We experience an openness and a freeing place which takes us into That which is not a pretended reality. Knowledge of mind, thoughts, body and resistance are useful to then realise we are not those aspects. It is a false programming. Our Reality is in a moving process of life within the body. In Hatha yoga we work with this life; prana and it wants to be everywhere. Whe

Gomukhasana - Cow pose, such a great posture to experiencing the inner sufferings we are holding onto! (this is one to do every day.) Using subtle instructions in yoga helps in taking away from being attached to the inner suffering we experience and helps to point the way towards your inner Self; free from suffering. As well as the yoga postures, pranayama; the means of moving the inner life force, a full focus and detachment are also needed, bringing us into an inner expansi

The inner opening experienced when in yoga is a means of clearing the suffering that is within. The suffering we carry are thoughts with attachments to them and they are deposited in the pranic subtle body. There are some thoughts that don’t create suffering and don’t meet the ego self. They just come and go and are harmless. The suffering ones are those that are reduced and released in yoga and we feel open, expansive, alive more cheerful. It is from the outer senses, the mi

When using stillness and not movement in postures and turning the focus inwards away from the outer senses, then we experience an aliveness within. In this inner experience of aliveness is prana and it is here in the subtle body and by moving prana we can clear all our suffering. The yogis found it is a part of mind that creates the suffering and it is deposited in the pranic subtle body. When thoughts of “me” “mine” “I” related to the suffering comes in, then we lose the al

This week’s teaching theme invites us to notice how we often think of our experiences, sensations, thoughts, and emotions as “me” or “mine.” In Yoga, this is called asmita, or the sense of self that develops when we see ourselves as separate from what we are experiencing. By staying with what is happening in the present moment—simply feeling, sensing, and noticing without needing to claim it as our own—we can begin to see that experiences arise, are observed, and then pass aw

We should be asking these questions and waking up, to a realisation with yoga practice. This week we will work with seeing what feelings are brought up to the surface when we are in certain yoga postures. We seem to battle with some and others we find easier. What are we fighting against and what are we pleasing, within those two different experiences? We are battling ourselves and also feeding ourselves up. Both cause more obstacles; a never ending cycle. We do this in life

We as humans have a distinct ability to split mind’s awareness into two aspects which creates a solid experience. The awareness of a subject and object; the subject being the “I am” - the Asmitta aspect, we translate as en ego self. The object is anything it is experiencing. The solid appearance that is made feels real and creates a denseness in body but is actually not in the body. It is deposited in a layer beneath in the pranic subtle body, by the mind. Using pranayama and

Teaching theme this week is working towards releasing the obstacle that doesn’t allow us to see who we truly are. Avidya is the main obstacle, this is the inability to seeing the truth of who we are. The mind aspect of ahamkar has the ability to create a false sense of who we are. Ahamkar creates another aspect of who we are - a “me aspect” which likes, dislikes, and fears. This creates a separate sense of “me” - a subject and an object; that which it’s seeing/ experiencing.

If we don’t overcome them, we stay with the obstacles and they stay with us too. In yoga we don’t see them with the five senses but with direct sense at the navel centre. The obstacles may not seem that apparent but there is a fogginess in our awareness, which can be linked to our personality. When we feel less bright and alive we can’t get a direct sense of the obstacles lying within. We would then need some intensity and intention, to overcome this and get somewhere brighte

When a thought lands inside and stays inside it creates an attachment; this is because of Asmita. The Asmita is the sense of self the “I am”part of mind. Some thoughts that aren’t related to ego sense stay outside of ourselves. But when a thought goes in and stays there is the attachment to “me”. And this creates a density, “a tension,” a blockage in the subtle pranic body and we can experience this in the physical body too. We can experience a thought that doesn’t fall insid

Working with pranayama, asana at mooladhara chakra within the pranic (subtle) body we can experience something that releases the need to hold on in body and mind. That something is fear related to material objects and how they determine us “supposedly.” We become attached and yet when detaching there’s more to experience in the material plane, more enjoyment, more meaning, deeper understanding of not needing things to relate to who you are. In yoga texts the new level of ex

We usually identify who we are by attaching to what we are experiencing at that time. I could easily experience myself as someone with shoulder tension in this posture. But with the tools given by the ancient yogis there wasn’t an experience of my shoulder or pain. We see ourselves as someone who is in pain or pleasure; I am… a happy person because today is going well. I am … a miserable person because … of what is going on at the time that is unpleasant. The identification i

There are 8 limbs to yoga practice and this week we will be working with detachment and non greed; one of the yamas which make up the first limb known as Aparigraha. This can be associated with ourselves personally and in society. We work with all levels in yoga; personally and socially, all leading to peace and harmony within and outside. How much we hoard, want and need to make us happy and to feel like we fit into society. A constant play of attachments and then we move on

In ancient yoga, the masters didn’t use mind and body to do the yoga practise but overcame mind and body, as they were the obstacles to experiencing their inner Being. Their physical bodies became open and mind, wise from the detachment. In yoga there is the importance to detach and allow the ancient teachings to do the undoing. Pranayama is the expansion of prana; life force in the pranic body, a subtle inner body where tensions originate from. Pranayama shares the rhythm of

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