My Yoga Philosophy
My philosophy is that yoga is the union of the body, mind and individual spirit to the universal spirit from the connection of breath within the asanas or yoga postures. When you’re practicing yoga, you focus your attention on the physical sensations you’re experiencing as well as a deep awareness of your breathing in order to create a stillness in your mind which is a meditative state.
From this stillness and unity, you have gained access to your inner divinity and your higher self which is your true nature, the real you that is connected to the universal spirit of oneness. This is what I like to refer to as the subtle body, the bliss body or simply as spirit, as opposed to the external and obvious physical body, thinking mind and self-identified spirit. My teachings are rooted in non-duality – which is an awareness that there is no separation in reality, that everything in existence is rooted in oneness and the only thing that creates separation is our ego or sense of personal being which is inherently an illusion. But through meditation and yoga we can start to see through this illusion and experience our sacred oneness.
The majority of my yoga classes are vinyasa flow, involving physically demanding, dynamic movements continuously guided by breath cues. I can challenge students to connect to their subtle bodies with the power of the breath. I teach athletic classes but I encourage students not to push themselves too hard, instead to find a balance between effort and ease. It’s only in this middle ground that we can achieve stillness in the mind.
If you are over-focusing on the physical aspect of yoga you can actually create more agitation in the mind which defeats the purpose of yoga! It is only through cultivation of a peaceful and concentrated mind that we can master the mind. When the mind is calm and harmonious you can understand yourself and others better, you can see the world and your place in it with appreciation. You start to feel more positive and joyful and you start to see the world as a more positive and joyful place.
It is to this end that I like to integrate intentions of higher states of emotion into my practice and teachings. Not only do they serve as reminders throughout the practice to go beyond the physical but I have found that once we have unified our body, mind and spirit; this state is quite conducive to accessing our innate manifestation abilities. For example, I might use various themes in my classes such as: joy, faith, love, contentment, equanimity, bliss, gratitude, abundance or freedom.
All that being said, I like to share my teachings without dogma or expectations and give space to my students to explore their own beliefs and achieve their own personal goals. Many people begin yoga because they are curious about the physical aspect or they have aspirations to create beautiful shapes with their bodies. I like to honor these goals as the path of yoga is a glorious, never-ending journey and everyone’s voyage is unique and sacred.
