Are You Actually Practicing Yoga? A Yoga Therapist's Honest Answer (VIDEO)

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Welcome.

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I'm Harmony Slater, your host of the Finding Harmony podcast.

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Over the past 20 years, I've taught thousands of yoga teachers and students to explore the intersection between ancient wisdom and modern everyday life, using mind body practices to heal, awaken, and manifest their dreams from the inside out.

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This podcast is a sanctuary for those feeling overwhelmed by life's challenges.

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Are you ready to jump? In and discover how these challenges aren't actually in the way, but are the way to finding harmony.

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Let's invite the magic back in.

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Well, welcome back.

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I'm so happy to have you here joining us today.

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My guest is Tara Mitra.

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She's a friend of the show and a dear friend of mine, and you might know her as an Ashtanga yoga teacher, yoga therapist, and also deeply involved in Vedic chanting.

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She is a lifelong student of the deeper layers of yoga, going beyond the physical practice, and is really a beacon for practitioners.

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Her journey is a powerful one, and we are going to talk about the importance of chanting, uh, im- the importance of coming back to the roots of India as the home base of yoga, and what she's learned over all of these years of practice.

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And so Tara's perspective is just a really rich and deep one.

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Uh, it's coming from her lineage, from her heritage, but it is very much grounded in her lived experience of spending time in India, specifically Mysore, India, with Saraswati being her assistant for many years, and then also learning the pranayama practices from the same teacher as myself, Sri O.

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P.

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Tiwari.

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And then continuing to deepen her learning by really following Krishnamacharya's lineage and going into the yoga therapy perspective and learning how this practice can be used in a therapeutic way to heal the body, uh, to channel the mind, and bringing in mantra as well as pranayama, as well as asana.

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And so take a breath, get out your notebook, and enjoy this conversation with the beautiful Tara Mitra, and let us know what your questions are.

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Reach out to us on social media.

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Tag us, and we'd love to hear what resonated for you.

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Uh, what were your takeaways today as we dive into this episode? Hello, Tara.

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Welcome.

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Thank you, Harmony.

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So nice to see you as always.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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It's nice to see you, too.

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And where are you right now? Are you in England? Yeah, I'm in England.

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Still here.

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Still here.

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For the moment.

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Between England and India mostly, but yeah.

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Beautiful.

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What do you do when you go to India? Usually I still spend time with my teachers.

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I'm a little bit, slightly devoted, so I'm continually with my teachers.

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also we have a Japamala company, so I'll go and, talk to some people and find some ethical sources for the Japamalas.

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and either that or Panchakarmas.

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That's usually what I'm doing when I'm there.

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Nice.

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Is it always in...

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Like you are mostly with the Desikachar lineage, in Chennai? yeah, the Sri Krishnapriya Desikachar, yes, but then all of his teachers are all over.

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So my teacher has asked me to come to one of his like deepening process work, workshops and teach the asana pranayama chanting in the mornings for all the students, so I'll be doing that, in just a few weeks.

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Yeah.

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And so it really depends.

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Sometimes it's global India, and then we have our own within these studies.

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Desikachar, yes, but we also do these other concepts.

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There's this Chitta Vidya, and we start looking at, yoga as the Antaranga Yoga.

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Yeah, looking at the human mind a little bit more which is, as you know, my s- one of my favorite subjects, so.

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What part of India are these retreats held in that you're assisting on? This one is in Rishikesh.

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Nice.

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Yeah.

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And then the next one will be in, the Western Ghats, so Southern India.

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Mm.

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Beautiful.

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Yeah, Rishikesh is the new age bookstore of the world.

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Absolutely.

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Yeah.

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we go to the quieter spots a bit, like in the ashramas and, yeah, we, we get off of the main, the main hub.

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Mm-hmm.

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I haven't been there for a long time, but I heard it changed a lot because the bridge got washed out on one of the ends of- Ah, right.

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I'll let you know when I go.

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I won't know.

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I haven't seen that.

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I just came from Haridwar in January we were in Haridwar and Yelapur and yeah.

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Yeah.

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So different spaces.

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Yeah.

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yoga practice sort of started in the Ashtanga lineage though, right? Yeah.

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Well, it started actually trying to figure out what I actually liked, and I think that was it for the first five years I couldn't figure it out.

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And so I had- Practiced everything I could possibly find.

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And at that time with work I was jumping around, and I had a pretty stressful job, and I was still working full time.

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And I started to line them all up, and I realized, wait a minute, all the things...

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Of course, I was living in, Toronto and then California, and at the time when I sort of started piecing it together, it was Jivamukti, and Ashtanga Blend, and Maya Yoga, and all of these different...

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And of course, people were making up yoga left, right, and center.

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But all the different practices led back to one thing, no? And it all led to Ashtanga.

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So when I understood that, then I started driving out to Johnny Smith and spent quite a number of years with him.

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He's great.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And then Tim, and then to India, and yeah.

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Yeah.

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And then obviously it evolved into, deeper practices or yoga therapy more.

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what do you say, like, drew you in that direction compared to Ashtanga? Which is, like, you know, my pranayama teacher, who also you know, Shiro Pithawari always said, like, "Ashtanga yoga's just exercise."

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Yeah.

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So what was the- Yes, a lot of the like, drew you into more, I don't know, like a, a more variety of, lineage practices? Yeah, I think a number of things.

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I think partially just watching so much, being around, and just witnessing some of the things that I had witnessed over the years, because living in Mysore and assisting for four years every day in the main shala, I learned quite a bit.

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And then I also wanted to learn how to help people.

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Like, not that I couldn't help somebody with Ashtanga, but realistically if I've got back pain and you're doing primary series, you know, good luck, right? We don't know what's happening.

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And so I had to figure out, you know, how I can actually really help somebody, and I think that's the thing is something in me already understood, yeah, that yoga isn't just posture.

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It's not just some technique.

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Yeah, there is some deeper purpose to practice, and I think that was part of it that, that, uh, I, I just started to understand that, you know, if I really wanna practice sincerely, I have to have a clear relationship with what it is that I'm practicing.

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Yeah.

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And that is where I was switching, right? And I was already chanting.

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I've been chanting since 2010.

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I started studying Sanskrit and trying to understand a little bit more.

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And deepening those practices and, from chanting, as you know, things just shift naturally.

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The curiosity will come in, and always sitting in these classes of may I have known what was going on or not, but sitting in Yoga Sutra classes, Upanishad classes, Bhagavad Gita classes, Hathayoga Pradipika again and again, just circling and constantly sitting in the classes, I think that something just naturally shifts.

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I understood- that there was something much deeper and much bigger, and I was very curious as well about Krishnamacharya, and so following his footsteps a little bit.

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Like, what he was doing in Mysore, all of the practices that he was doing, all the people he was teaching, and then followed to Chennai.

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Yeah.

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and learned a little bit.

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Not a little bit, a lot.

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I'm still in that lineage.

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I still follow that lineage.

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I don't say I'm in one or the other.

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I mean, still following what Krishnamacharya taught because the Mysore room as it was in the beginning, as we know, right, back in the early '70s or beyond that, it was anybody could walk in.

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If you were walking, if you could breathe, you can practice, right? That was the theory, but yet how many people are teaching like that? And so I wanted to be able to teach like that, and so I can.

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I've learned it, and so I understand now that if you can breathe, here I can teach you something.

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So I work with people that, are, you know, in, hospice or they have cancer or knee pain, back pain, hormonal imbalance.

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I mean, you know, it's, it's quite beautiful.

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It's a really, interesting and inspiring way to look at the relationship with yoga.

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It sounds like chanting and philosophy kind of opened up your mind to going deeper into other types of yoga studies.

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absolutely.

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I think it's natural, no? If it's a ekagrata practice, no? It's all of a sudden me and this certain practice, and there's no way to be really chanting, if you're really Vedic chanting, and not have some shift take place or doing japam or any of these practices.

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And the philosophy really starts helping us understand, our person, right, ourselves or our interaction with the world.

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Sankhya philosophy helps with this as well, where if I understand how I process information, how I move through the world, and then I can say, "Okay, the whole world isn't the problem.

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Maybe I should start looking at some things that I'm doing," no? Because it usually is there, "What's wrong with everybody?" I love that.

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That's such a, a key to, actually doing true yoga, is when whenever we're pulled out, looking at, what the problem is outside of ourselves, to, like, catch that tendency, that pattern, that habit and turn it back on ourselves, Yeah, absolutely.

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The entire process of yoga is relationship, right? The relationship we have to ourselves and the world, how we interact, how we respond to it.

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Yeah.

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What happens to us.

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And sometimes when you're so close you can't see that it's even happening, and that's usually where you're, you know, you're sucked into this, I call it the cotton candy of the mind, no? You get...

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It's just looping and looping and looping, and you're just so close to the, dukham or the struggle or whatever is happening that you can't see there's a problem and the world is the problem until you're able to stop and pause.

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And step back, which is what all the practices give us, right? You know, in all of our asana, I say this so much, in samasthiti, you're given the pause.

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Yeah.

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If you actually go into samasthiti in between all the postures, it's a gift.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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Sa- same with pranayama.

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Yeah, same with chanting.

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There's no possibility if you have that chandas, a specific meter.

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It's, it's all there.

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I love that, thread that you're kinda weaving because I, I feel that too, that whether it's pranayama or chanting or asana, Or even meditation, it's really like you go through sort of a, process or a journey in a way, and then you come back to the stillness.

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Yes.

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And then you go through another process or journey, or you get taken on a, thought train, and then you come back to the stillness.

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and so physically in the asana practice, the samasthiti is really like that embodiment of like the stillness, that steady set point of just- Yeah, absolutely non-movement, silence, being with what is.

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And then you do this other sort of like posture or sequence of postures that sort of unravels into something, and then you come back again to the stillness, to the reset.

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Exactly.

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Yeah.

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It's like this pregnant pause.

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Mm-hmm.

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Like, if I can really look at it, it's just filled with meaning in all of it.

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It's just so, so brilliant the way it is, so I'm always like when people are skipping the, samastitis and going through all these fancy transitions, I'm like, "That's great."

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Possibly can you go back into samasthiti, play with it? Of course it's fun, but, you know, we've all done them, and they're great, but it misses the point.

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It takes away that, ability to slowly start moving inwards.

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And even like meditation, the mind does that.

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It takes you out on a train of thought, but then you're just constantly coming back to the breath, back to your center, back to that stillness, that silence within.

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Yeah, that's- And same even with pranayama, right? You have the inhale and then the pause, the silence, the stillness, and then the exhale, and then the pause, the silence, the stillness.

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And so it's really like learning how to be with the dynamic movement or the change, and then how to also come back and hold the center, I feel.

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Exactly, like not getting taken for a ride.

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Even though the thoughts are there, you can see them.

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It's when we get entangled, right? It's if I can see it and then I, I go off, okay, even if I do, no problem.

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You just...

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You know, there's beautiful thought that's often used, from my teachers that they say you train the mind like a child, like super sweetly, gently, calmly.

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You just bring it back.

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No problem.

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Okay, I went here.

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No problem.

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I come back.

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We know that the mind is, you know, all these different concepts, right? They say that there's a, monkey mind, but it's way beyond that, right? You have A mind that's a monkey mind, but not just a monkey mind.

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It's like a, a monkey that's, stung by a scorpion, yeah? And a monkey that's haunted, and a monkey that's drunk, right? Yeah.

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And then all of a sudden you do these practices.

163
00:13:46,217.99445157 --> 00:13:51,967.9934979
You start doing your asana, the monkey's not drunk, yeah? You start doing your pranayama, the scorpion bite is gone.

164
00:13:52,427.99448972 --> 00:13:57,731.32797564
Yeah, and you start continuing doing deeper dharana practices, and then you're not, haunted anymore.

165
00:13:57,731.32797564 --> 00:14:01,301.32767046
However, you still have a monkey, but now you can just watch the monkey.

166
00:14:01,401.32805193 --> 00:14:04,271.32889117
Yeah, so it's these, these beautiful concepts.

167
00:14:04,411.32828082 --> 00:14:04,701.32919634
Yeah.

168
00:14:05,161.32828082 --> 00:14:05,561.325992
Yeah.

169
00:14:05,704.66573402 --> 00:14:16,351.33148516
that's the, kinda the key to, really truly understanding yoga and what yoga is, and, you know, Pattabhi Jois would say this, and, I mean, the Yoga Sutras say this, right? Yoga is chitta vritti nirodha.

170
00:14:16,831.3310274 --> 00:14:18,331.3310274
Yoga is mind control.

171
00:14:18,331.3310274 --> 00:14:19,561.33056963
Yoga is mind medicine.

172
00:14:19,751.32919634 --> 00:14:31,291.33011187
Yoga is really about how we're being with ourselves, and that's our mind, our spirit, our energy, how we're relating to ourselves and the world.

173
00:14:31,291.33011187 --> 00:14:32,201.33377398
And, you know, it's...

174
00:14:32,601.32767046 --> 00:14:47,584.6533744
I'm grateful for my mother, 'cause she would always say that if, You see something you don't like in someone else, look in yourself, because it's in you, That same thing is in you, so find it and fix it in yourself first, and then you'll notice it changes outside of you.

175
00:14:48,144.65856239 --> 00:14:49,754.65917274
And Pattabhi Jois said the same thing.

176
00:14:49,754.65917274 --> 00:14:51,724.65276405
I was always kind of blown away about that.

177
00:14:51,724.65276405 --> 00:15:07,547.11208585
Like, if there's people who are, you know, angry or, hostile in your environment, or doing things that you don't like around you, it's a reflection of, that, samsara or that, seed that is still within you.

178
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And so go inside and purify or, you know...

179
00:15:10,617.11178067 --> 00:15:12,187.11147549
I hate that word- Yeah purify, actually.

180
00:15:12,277.11239102 --> 00:15:13,197.11234811
but, you know- Cleanse it.

181
00:15:13,197.11234811 --> 00:15:13,637.11228612
Look at it.

182
00:15:13,637.11228612 --> 00:15:14,27.11239102
Yeah.

183
00:15:14,57.11236241 --> 00:15:14,347.11232426
Yeah.

184
00:15:14,347.11232426 --> 00:15:18,117.11206677
Look at it and work with the part of you that's like that.

185
00:15:18,927.1117616 --> 00:15:19,147.11202862
Yeah.

186
00:15:19,147.11202862 --> 00:15:21,7.1116853
It'll always be there, right? That is the mirror.

187
00:15:21,37.11237195 --> 00:15:24,307.11187604
Your mother sounds like a beautiful, beautiful person.

188
00:15:24,307.11187604 --> 00:15:24,397.11202862
Yeah.

189
00:15:24,567.11210492 --> 00:15:28,630.44631563
Yeah, I mean, she's, what a beautiful thing to say, is to stop and to look at it.

190
00:15:28,630.44631563 --> 00:15:29,210.44623934
Because it is.

191
00:15:29,210.44623934 --> 00:15:32,740.44501864
It's the outer triggers are what's triggering something within us, yeah? Yeah.

192
00:15:33,320.44494234 --> 00:15:43,210.44318758
It's very interesting, because, when we look at pranayama, yeah? Like, prana and ayama, right? It's speaking about the expansion and the extension, the regulation of prana, right? We know that.

193
00:15:43,540.44501864 --> 00:15:47,980.43983065
It's not just manipulating and I'm going to, like, hold these breathing patterns.

194
00:15:48,190.44272982 --> 00:15:52,450.44105135
It's exactly like you said, right? It's the relationships, my relationship to myself.

195
00:15:53,10.44242464 --> 00:15:57,430.44440828
Yeah, and if I understand, that pranayama is not simply breath control.

196
00:15:57,870.44303499 --> 00:16:01,440.44272982
Yeah, it's a process of refining the movement of prana through the entire system.

197
00:16:01,440.44272982 --> 00:16:04,90.44120394
I think this is so important, because That is the main tool.

198
00:16:04,995.44182859 --> 00:16:08,375.44158541
And so we prepare the system, and we really start thinking about it.

199
00:16:08,375.44158541 --> 00:16:13,495.44147097
So the pranayama is the tool that shows the disturbance in the breath, right? We understand this.

200
00:16:14,175.44177614 --> 00:16:14,325.44139467
Yeah.

201
00:16:14,385.44181429 --> 00:16:15,565.44211947
Shvasa prashvasa.

202
00:16:16,25.44215761 --> 00:16:18,35.44143282
All of these are discussed in the Yoga Sutras.

203
00:16:18,605.44208132 --> 00:16:24,935.44200502
And I think that that's also helpful when we see the yoga as just a tool, and it's not like, I don't know.

204
00:16:24,935.44200502 --> 00:16:44,261.6451023
I think sometimes people get caught up in sort of worshiping at the altar of, a guru or a practice or a technique and miss the point that it's actually, that prana or that life force within you, that it's actually, much bigger than all of that.

205
00:16:44,478.3140578 --> 00:16:44,668.3126845
Yeah.

206
00:16:45,228.3140578 --> 00:16:48,268.3111586
That is the nature though, isn't it? I mean, we talk about this.

207
00:16:48,268.3111586 --> 00:16:56,118.3134475
I mean, we can get caught in all these ideas if we don't have any stability within ourselves or any trust in ourselves or any stability.

208
00:16:56,118.3134475 --> 00:16:59,188.3093276
You That is what you just said, right? Yoga chitta vritti nirodhah.

209
00:16:59,658.3105483 --> 00:16:59,868.3096328
Yeah.

210
00:16:59,898.3084121 --> 00:17:03,668.3088698
Yoga is the falling away of the movements or the fluctuations of the mind.

211
00:17:04,138.3100905 --> 00:17:04,288.3116164
Yeah.

212
00:17:04,288.3116164 --> 00:17:09,518.3073439
As we said, it's not suppression of anything, but the vrittis, these external thoughts, start falling away.

213
00:17:09,829.4271616 --> 00:17:17,302.7604949
And so if that's happening, then, the vrittis are all the agitations, my patterns, my clinging onto somebody to come and save me unconsciously.

214
00:17:17,302.7604949 --> 00:17:18,892.7644622
We should be aware of these patterns.

215
00:17:18,892.7644622 --> 00:17:29,762.7672088
I should be understanding, oh, This is from my childhood, and because I wasn't loved from my childhood I always wanted to be seen, then I'm gonna go to the teacher and say, "Please recognize me," and if they recognize me, I love them.

216
00:17:29,762.7672088 --> 00:17:36,662.7687347
If they don't recognize me, I hate them, and I go to another teacher and another teacher and another teacher until they give me what I want unconsciously.

217
00:17:36,952.7620208 --> 00:17:37,32.7638519
Yeah.

218
00:17:37,32.7638519 --> 00:17:42,742.7629363
And I keep doing this same pattern, not even realizing that I'm doing it, and I move through the world like this.

219
00:17:43,152.7665985 --> 00:17:43,322.7647674
Yeah.

220
00:17:43,322.7647674 --> 00:17:44,62.7626312
I wanna be seen.

221
00:17:44,62.7626312 --> 00:17:44,912.7687347
I wanna be famous.

222
00:17:44,912.7687347 --> 00:17:53,532.7714813
Not even understanding what is it that I'm doing, and then I'm rechanging the entire practices so I can be seen and loved, and it is...

223
00:17:53,532.7714813 --> 00:17:53,902.7742278
it's...

224
00:17:54,2.772702 --> 00:17:57,132.7699554
it doesn't make any sense, you know? The yoga is so discreet.

225
00:17:57,772.769345 --> 00:17:57,982.7684295
Yeah.

226
00:17:57,982.7684295 --> 00:17:58,352.7711761
Yeah.

227
00:17:58,462.7687347 --> 00:17:59,952.7665985
it's a very different...

228
00:18:00,172.7699554 --> 00:18:06,382.7690399
the idea is what tara drastu if you go to the next sutra, right? Tara drastu svarupe avasthanam.

229
00:18:06,672.7775848 --> 00:18:08,662.7678192
the scene abides in its true nature.

230
00:18:09,172.762326 --> 00:18:09,252.764157
Yeah.

231
00:18:09,252.764157 --> 00:18:12,962.7708709
It doesn't mean some mystical person is going to appear and come and save you.

232
00:18:13,392.7635467 --> 00:18:16,536.1139699
It means, like, it's a capacity for clear perception.

233
00:18:16,896.1145802 --> 00:18:21,696.117632
And when the vrittis or agitating movements are dominating my mind, then my perception is colored.

234
00:18:21,977.3458197 --> 00:18:27,871.1081363
If my perception is colored, then, if these perceptions that are colored slowly start falling away, then I can see clearly.

235
00:18:28,261.1075259 --> 00:18:28,531.0965396
Yeah? Mm-hmm.

236
00:18:28,531.0965396 --> 00:18:29,41.1063052
The, the...

237
00:18:29,121.1081363 --> 00:18:34,31.0965396
That will be blocking, but mostly we're not still long enough to be able and go there.

238
00:18:34,351.1014224 --> 00:18:40,247.781288
How do you think, sometimes people come into the practice- of yoga in whatever tradition.

239
00:18:40,247.781288 --> 00:18:47,647.7802389
I mean, yoga's so, vast now with, millions, maybe even a billion people practicing.

240
00:18:47,697.7804296 --> 00:18:48,157.7804678
I don't know.

241
00:18:48,157.7804678 --> 00:18:48,947.7804296
There's a lot.

242
00:18:48,987.7803915 --> 00:18:49,657.7804678
At least.

243
00:18:50,397.7802389 --> 00:18:50,627.7807348
Yeah.

244
00:18:50,717.779743 --> 00:19:02,864.5887418
So with all of these people who are exposed to the practice of yoga and, you know, to different degrees or, different senses of devotion to it or dedication to it.

245
00:19:03,467.9242114 --> 00:19:14,664.5927091
I'm thinking from, like, the football players who are, practicing yoga to stretch their bodies and- I used- like, help them, yeah, in their sports to- I used to teach a group of football players years ago in, in LA.

246
00:19:14,664.5927091 --> 00:19:17,984.5924039
They're fantastic, sweetest guys.

247
00:19:18,104.5913358 --> 00:19:22,234.5924039
Yeah, right? They're like- They had so many muscles they couldn't bend.

248
00:19:22,234.5924039 --> 00:19:23,4.5928617
Exactly.

249
00:19:23,394.5922513 --> 00:19:40,257.9214648
So, like, using it that way, which is much more sort of, like, physically, therapeutically for sort of physical, goals in mind to, sadhus or people who are, like, fully using it for a spiritual goal or for spiritual means.

250
00:19:40,947.9239062 --> 00:19:51,237.9187182
I guess the question is, like, within all of that, how do we decipher what really is yoga and even using the term yoga And does it even matter? I don't know.

251
00:19:51,487.5107466 --> 00:19:56,607.5134932
I think in, in a lot of ways it does matter, and I think it, it matters more if you're a teacher versus a student.

252
00:19:56,607.5134932 --> 00:19:57,787.5137984
If you're a student, it doesn't matter.

253
00:19:57,787.5137984 --> 00:19:59,577.5147139
Just whatever makes you happy, just come.

254
00:20:00,177.513188 --> 00:20:09,517.5095259
That is okay, right? The, some people, you know, there's different levels of learners as we know, right? And people that are coming in to just come practice, no problem.

255
00:20:09,767.5095259 --> 00:20:11,67.5125777
Let them experience something.

256
00:20:11,67.5125777 --> 00:20:12,487.5107466
It doesn't matter what we're teaching.

257
00:20:12,487.5107466 --> 00:20:24,577.5147139
I think this also gets so hung up, is that, you know, even if we teach the football players or anybody else, whatever, they should experience one moment of peace, something that is calming for them.

258
00:20:25,137.5122725 --> 00:20:25,537.5137984
Yeah? Yeah.

259
00:20:25,877.5177657 --> 00:20:32,527.5116621
If we're going to go to this deeper level of, playing in what is yoga, we're not even practicing yoga because if we were, we would already be in samadhi.

260
00:20:32,557.5104414 --> 00:20:33,877.5177657
We're on the path to yoga.

261
00:20:34,417.5110518 --> 00:20:35,517.5171553
That is one of the first things.

262
00:20:35,517.5171553 --> 00:20:39,197.5098311
We're all saying yoga, yoga everywhere, but nobody's actually practicing yoga.

263
00:20:39,497.5128828 --> 00:20:41,7.5073897
We would be way beyond here.

264
00:20:41,7.5073897 --> 00:20:44,587.4939619
So I think that in of itself is the misunderstanding.

265
00:20:45,7.5073897 --> 00:20:48,767.5018965
But if somebody can find more peace, that's okay.

266
00:20:48,767.5018965 --> 00:20:52,757.5073897
It doesn't matter, right? If we can bring them some sort of quietness in the mind and...

267
00:20:53,7.5073897 --> 00:20:56,747.4976241
A good yoga practice, whatever it may be, is going to bring that in.

268
00:20:57,367.4927412 --> 00:21:06,237.5031172
And it's, I don't mean, like, peace because I've practiced for two hours and I'm exhausted and I pass out kind of peace, you know? Or two and a half hours, which used to be my practice.

269
00:21:06,237.5031172 --> 00:21:07,447.4945723
Mm-hmm.

270
00:21:07,817.5049483 --> 00:21:47,96.2189987
It's more like you know, can I experience this deeper level, right? Can I experience, and then do I actually notice that- do I have the ability to sit back and see what's happening? Am I able to see my patterns, my, programming, my past history, how that's coming through? And am I able to look at the samskaras like you're talking about, or the vasanas, the samskaras that haven't come into, the seed form that hasn't come into full effect yet? Am I able to be a- look at this? Am I able to actually remove and stop and change my actions if I'm hurting people, if I'm hurting myself? You know, if I'm moving through, everybody's saying ahimsa, ahimsa, but what is really ahimsa? It starts with us.

271
00:21:47,486.2183884 --> 00:21:59,586.2206772
Yeah, how are we actually interacting with ourselves? And that usually, that self voice is driving all the rest of the behaviors, right? See me and be me, like, and it's so unconscious.

272
00:21:59,856.2173202 --> 00:22:06,186.2191513
So the first part is, you know, start dusting, polishing your crystal you know? Start removing some of these layers.

273
00:22:06,186.2191513 --> 00:22:07,816.2202194
Start being able to sit still.

274
00:22:08,186.2191513 --> 00:22:11,916.2186935
Can I sit with this discomfort without having to change it? Yeah.

275
00:22:11,946.2174728 --> 00:22:15,996.2167099
Whatever it may be, can I sit still? That is what the samasthiti will teach us.

276
00:22:16,316.2164047 --> 00:22:19,112.7094772
That is what the pauses in pranayama teach us.

277
00:22:19,592.7128341 --> 00:22:20,232.7122238
All of these things.

278
00:22:20,232.7122238 --> 00:22:21,652.7103927
Even in chanting there's a, I...

279
00:22:22,72.7085617 --> 00:22:30,572.7085617
My very bad joke is samasthiti of the tongue because you can't chant without letting the tongue go each and every time for each and every syllable, or it's impossible.

280
00:22:30,872.7116134 --> 00:22:32,642.7082565
Yeah, all the sounds will be muffled.

281
00:22:33,62.7140548 --> 00:22:34,772.7131393
So if there's a, a...

282
00:22:34,902.7103927 --> 00:22:40,472.7100875
Can I be able to first sit, even if it's one moment? And we always have those moments of silence.

283
00:22:40,512.7110031 --> 00:22:41,972.7100875
I think you've heard me say that before.

284
00:22:41,972.7100875 --> 00:22:45,482.7122238
The end of your practice, usually there's a moment of silence.

285
00:22:45,932.709172 --> 00:22:55,42.7097824
Yeah, or when you wake up first thing in the morning, just before you actually come into reality, there's a few moments that there's just deep peace.

286
00:22:55,42.7097824 --> 00:22:57,512.7110031
You're not actually quite there, and the moment in between.

287
00:22:57,802.7119186 --> 00:22:59,372.7116134
So I always say, don't grab your phone.

288
00:23:00,52.7119186 --> 00:23:00,812.7140548
Just allow.

289
00:23:00,962.7155807 --> 00:23:01,672.7146652
Yeah, check in.

290
00:23:01,672.7146652 --> 00:23:02,552.7119186
See how you're doing.

291
00:23:02,902.7103927 --> 00:23:09,742.71436
Really just start checking in with yourself throughout the day, then you really start understanding because yoga has nothing to do with anybody else.

292
00:23:10,452.7134445 --> 00:23:14,732.7168014
Literally, it's just our own understanding of who we are, how we interact, as we said already.

293
00:23:15,35.2390114 --> 00:23:21,125.2365652
Yeah, and a lot of the metaphors also I think are really- pointing us in that direction.

294
00:23:21,125.2365652 --> 00:23:29,245.23657
You know, especially in Buddhism, like polishing the mirror, right? Why are you polishing a mirror? So you can see yourself more- Yeah clearly.

295
00:23:30,85.2367226 --> 00:23:33,75.2364937
Polishing the mirror or, or the concept of the vessel, right? Yeah.

296
00:23:33,75.2364937 --> 00:23:36,665.2366463
If the vessel is dirty, yeah, the vessel becomes so dirty, then you...

297
00:23:36,925.2368751 --> 00:23:41,835.2367226
If you have a dirty pot, you can't actually fill water in it and start cooking, no? You have to actually clean it.

298
00:23:42,315.2362648 --> 00:23:46,385.2359596
And so that is the entire essence of tapas, right? I have to come and I have to start cleaning this.

299
00:23:46,795.235807 --> 00:23:52,855.2371803
Then once it's clean, then I'll, like, be able to see clearly, but it doesn't automatically happen, so you have to stay at it, you have to keep going.

300
00:23:52,855.2371803 --> 00:24:02,175.2368751
And you need to have a very wise teacher that actually is able to help you, not inflict their personality on you and, you know, try to force them to do what you want to do.

301
00:24:02,175.2368751 --> 00:24:03,655.2364174
There has to be somebody that actually...

302
00:24:04,65.2362648 --> 00:24:07,425.2368751
Because usually, actually, what the person wants to do, they want more and more and more.

303
00:24:07,425.2368751 --> 00:24:15,685.2351967
Like, the, we know the Rajastic person that wants to do three hours of Asana should actually just lie down in Shavasana.

304
00:24:16,195.2373329 --> 00:24:16,715.2377907
So.

305
00:24:16,895.2380958 --> 00:24:16,955.2356544
Yeah.

306
00:24:17,195.2373329 --> 00:24:17,785.2374855
Yeah.

307
00:24:17,981.9389376 --> 00:24:20,151.9371065
that's, uh, interesting.

308
00:24:20,151.9371065 --> 00:24:30,330.0908107
Like, I guess, when we talk about sort of spiritual bypassing, I think a lot of people use this, this term, but they don't actually necessarily think about what it really means.

309
00:24:30,360.08959 --> 00:24:52,520.082571
And I guess for me, it sort of is like being so caught up in your, like, spiritual discipline or your spiritual tapas or sadhana or practice to the point that you're kind of using it to not actually look at yourself, not actually deal with the discomfort of being a human in the world as it is today in this current lifetime.

310
00:24:52,520.082571 --> 00:24:53,20.082571
Exactly.

311
00:24:53,319.0725126 --> 00:24:57,649.0743436
I totally agree, right? This spiritual bypassing is to avoid reality.

312
00:24:58,59.0780058 --> 00:24:59,919.0786161
Yeah? Rather than deepen my relationship.

313
00:24:59,919.0786161 --> 00:25:01,109.0734281
This is uncomfortable.

314
00:25:01,109.0734281 --> 00:25:04,59.0780058
We're all trained like this, and then we have to figure out how not to do it.

315
00:25:04,269.0770902 --> 00:25:05,209.0795316
This is uncomfortable.

316
00:25:05,239.0783109 --> 00:25:06,19.0770902
I don't like it.

317
00:25:06,499.0804472 --> 00:25:07,359.0734281
This is comfortable.

318
00:25:07,469.0740385 --> 00:25:07,859.0734281
I love it.

319
00:25:08,249.0804472 --> 00:25:18,479.0761747
And this is, like, unconsciously I'm gonna constantly build all of the things that I love, and I carry these things, and anything that's uncomfortable I avoid, where in fact we're supposed to face the discomfort.

320
00:25:18,479.0761747 --> 00:25:21,279.0715971
We're supposed to sit in these spaces, not wallow in it.

321
00:25:21,619.0831937 --> 00:25:31,419.0490141
Be able to watch it, right? And if we don't actually do it, then all the unresolved emotional issues, yeah, the psychological wounds or, these development tasks that come up.

322
00:25:31,549.0538969 --> 00:25:37,539.0624418
You know, that's why this good vibes only, yeah, it's so misleading, because it's actually usually avoidance.

323
00:25:37,569.0612211 --> 00:25:40,339.0502348
What do you mean good vibes only? Of course it's not such a thing.

324
00:25:40,339.0502348 --> 00:25:41,279.0526762
There's...

325
00:25:41,309.0514555 --> 00:25:45,299.0569486
Everything is going to be different, and it means usually there's a huge amount of avoidance.

326
00:25:45,299.0569486 --> 00:25:46,649.0630521
I find it massively.

327
00:25:46,849.0600004 --> 00:25:49,879.0587797
I can do my practice and do these things, but please don't confront me.

328
00:25:50,509.0484037 --> 00:25:50,569.0612211
Yeah.

329
00:25:50,569.0612211 --> 00:25:52,499.0538969
And then we have to understand what are the things.

330
00:25:52,529.0526762 --> 00:25:52,789.0624418
Yeah.

331
00:25:53,379.0587797 --> 00:25:55,259.0484037
Or people will say, like, "Oh, but I'm...

332
00:25:55,579.0557279 --> 00:25:59,9.0514555
You know, it's, learning to do a pose and sit in discomfort.

333
00:25:59,489.0654935 --> 00:26:05,859.0606107
you know, I'm, I'm allowing discomfort, or getting up at 4:00 in the morning is so hard and so I'm, accepting discomfort."

334
00:26:05,859.0606107 --> 00:26:26,779.063014
But- It's interesting because it's sort of like a trick of the mind, I find, where we tell ourselves that we're disciplining ourselves in this way, and that's the goal, or that makes it okay, everything, you know, that we do for the rest of the day or in our lives because we're allowing discomfort.

335
00:26:26,779.063014 --> 00:26:35,399.0638532
But it's still controlled discomfort because you're, like, allowing discomfort in this area to this extent, and it's like you've agreed to it.

336
00:26:35,539.0632429 --> 00:26:40,579.0641584
Whereas actually being able to sit with discomfort is sitting with the things that you haven't agreed to.

337
00:26:40,893.7668985 --> 00:26:41,693.7661355
Absolutely.

338
00:26:41,863.7681192 --> 00:26:48,173.7656778
And I think that's it, and there's all this, like, premature transcendence, right? I have to get a- above all this raw and messy stuff.

339
00:26:48,233.767051 --> 00:26:49,813.7650674
I don't wanna sit with this.

340
00:26:50,263.7658303 --> 00:26:54,404.057803
Yeah, and I have to let that go, but they're not really letting it go.

341
00:26:54,554.0555142 --> 00:26:55,534.0550564
They're suppressing it.

342
00:26:55,974.0574978 --> 00:26:56,234.0558193
Yeah? Mm-hmm.

343
00:26:56,624.055209 --> 00:27:02,634.0573452
And so it's like what's happening to all these things? Or I'm detached, but it's like I'm emotionally unavailable.

344
00:27:02,984.0558193 --> 00:27:07,694.0549038
everything happens for a reason, but that's like, again, you know, maybe I can just bypass it.

345
00:27:07,694.0549038 --> 00:27:11,424.0506313
I don't wanna look at the grief, or I don't wanna look at anger or accountability.

346
00:27:11,814.0530727 --> 00:27:14,874.0506313
There is a part in my life I remember for sure I didn't want to...

347
00:27:15,764.050021 --> 00:27:17,544.0488003
If anger came up, I was like, "Oh, no.

348
00:27:17,544.0488003 --> 00:27:19,44.0488003
I'm supposed to be practicing.

349
00:27:19,304.0509365 --> 00:27:21,634.0527676
I'm supposed to be a," you know, "a yoga practitioner.

350
00:27:21,634.0527676 --> 00:27:22,904.0494106
I shouldn't be angry ever."

351
00:27:23,374.0506313 --> 00:27:33,544.0488003
And then it was like, well, of course, this is, like, one of the navarasas, right? It's one of the emotions that, that we shouldn't actually suppress it, but can I be okay with having these feelings? Everybody will have them.

352
00:27:33,544.0488003 --> 00:27:37,544.0488003
Even Dalai Lama talks about having anger, but he just doesn't dance with it.

353
00:27:37,544.0488003 --> 00:27:38,534.0542934
He just watches it.

354
00:27:39,84.0497158 --> 00:27:42,694.0503262
So I mean- Yeah can I sit with the grief? And, like, all of these avoidance.

355
00:27:42,694.0503262 --> 00:27:45,854.0539883
Something happens and I, I grieve, but I don't wanna talk about it.

356
00:27:45,894.0549038 --> 00:27:47,414.0591763
that's actually not really great.

357
00:27:48,34.0542934 --> 00:27:48,174.0536831
Yeah.

358
00:27:48,174.0536831 --> 00:27:56,182.938717
Yeah, of course, when you're ready and calm, but the entire essence is that, you know, to have this authenticity is we have to be honest.

359
00:27:56,512.9405481 --> 00:28:01,842.9423791
We have to actually- Yeah you know, I shouldn't just do this because I want to maintain this spiritual identity.

360
00:28:01,842.9423791 --> 00:28:03,982.9417688
It should actually help me see more clearly.

361
00:28:04,632.938717 --> 00:28:06,612.9420739
It should help me become a better person.

362
00:28:07,52.9445153 --> 00:28:09,902.9506189
It should help me become, more relatable to the world.

363
00:28:09,902.9506189 --> 00:28:13,442.943905
I should eventually have, you know, maitri, karuna, mudito, peksanam.

364
00:28:13,662.9451257 --> 00:28:20,102.9475671
I should have some more kindness and compassion, and I should be so happy when something good happens for somebody else.

365
00:28:20,522.9457361 --> 00:28:20,632.9463464
Yeah.

366
00:28:20,662.9451257 --> 00:28:27,788.9473028
If that doesn't happen and I become jealous, what's happening to me? I mean, it's such a every moment of your life discipline.

367
00:28:29,458.9607305 --> 00:28:30,308.9515752
Absolutely.

368
00:28:30,308.9515752 --> 00:28:31,918.9521856
I mean, it's Eastern psychology.

369
00:28:32,128.5973996 --> 00:28:33,998.5925167
that's the entire essence of antaranga yoga.

370
00:28:33,998.5925167 --> 00:28:36,648.5864132
So we can do yama-niyama, and most people aren't...

371
00:28:36,648.5864132 --> 00:28:38,658.5961789
You know, it's very difficult to do that in itself.

372
00:28:38,998.5925167 --> 00:28:40,778.591296
Yama-niyama, asana, pranayama.

373
00:28:41,228.5882443 --> 00:28:42,528.591296
Yeah? Pratyahara even.

374
00:28:43,93.5937231 --> 00:28:50,263.5936802
And most people try to jump over pratyahara and start rushing to dharana, dharana, dhyana, and this concept of samadhi.

375
00:28:50,263.5936802 --> 00:28:51,703.5937374
So okay, I'm moving towards that.

376
00:28:51,703.5937374 --> 00:29:07,973.5932415
But if I cannot sit with myself, if I can't look at actually the way that I'm interacting, the way that this happens, even in the asana, am I rushing through postures? Am I stalling because the next posture is kapotasana? You know? Or you know, what am I doing? Am I taking extra breath? We'll be able to see it.

377
00:29:07,973.5932415 --> 00:29:11,353.5943096
You can see it in the very first spaces from the minute that you get on your mat.

378
00:29:11,773.5943859 --> 00:29:17,806.6578227
Am I going really, really slow? Am I going way too fast? What's happening within the body? And we look at the gunas.

379
00:29:17,806.6578227 --> 00:29:20,286.6595012
That should all be, looked at from that space.

380
00:29:20,286.6595012 --> 00:29:26,156.6584331
If I understand that and I understand this essence of sattva, rajas, and tamas, what am I doing? It...

381
00:29:26,156.6584331 --> 00:29:40,986.6587383
'Cause it's not even there, then what is the food that I eat, the people that I talk to, the sounds that I listen to? You know, I can sit around and I can, listen to, Wu-Tang, or I can listen to the, the, you know, the Narayana Upanishad or something like this.

382
00:29:40,986.6587383 --> 00:29:48,36.66179
Like, what am I putting into my, my brain? I don't even know much about Wu-Tang, so like it's just the first name that came up.

383
00:29:49,216.6620952 --> 00:29:51,76.6627055
So I'm not sure if that's good or bad, so sorry.

384
00:29:51,76.6627055 --> 00:29:52,416.6590434
If, if he's good, amazing.

385
00:29:53,299.0284266 --> 00:29:53,559.0284171
Yeah.

386
00:29:53,669.0285506 --> 00:30:00,25.0055871
like I think also that it brings up an interesting point also about our minds always seeking stimulation.

387
00:30:00,395.0054726 --> 00:30:13,295.0045953
and there's something, and even, like, we feel like we have to do so many things in order to, experience ourselves or to understand yoga or to bring about the experience of yoga.

388
00:30:13,295.0045953 --> 00:30:24,725.0029931
But I really like to challenge people who are listening that, I mean, one of the most profound practices I think you can do, actually, is to do nothing.

389
00:30:25,925.003756 --> 00:30:26,185.0020776
Yeah.

390
00:30:26,505.0055871 --> 00:30:26,875.004519
Absolutely.

391
00:30:26,875.004519 --> 00:30:30,137.3437214
And just like, don't even drink a tea or water.

392
00:30:30,307.3418904 --> 00:30:35,417.3425007
Just- Yeah go, sit, look out a window, and do nothing for 30 minutes.

393
00:30:35,947.34128 --> 00:30:37,347.3428059
Like, I really- Absolutely really dare you.

394
00:30:37,347.3428059 --> 00:30:37,517.3447895
Yeah.

395
00:30:38,707.3434162 --> 00:30:39,707.3434162
Don't meditate.

396
00:30:39,917.3425007 --> 00:30:40,557.3418904
Don't do pranayama.

397
00:30:40,557.3418904 --> 00:30:40,847.3428059
Yeah.

398
00:30:40,847.3428059 --> 00:30:41,567.3440266
Don't chant.

399
00:30:41,607.3449421 --> 00:30:45,77.3423481
Just go do nothing and see what happens.

400
00:30:45,857.3449421 --> 00:30:45,937.3429585
Yeah.

401
00:30:45,937.3429585 --> 00:30:46,967.3417378
Yeah, absolutely.

402
00:30:47,447.34128 --> 00:30:52,429.992549
And this is the thing, and learn so much about yourself, so much about yourself.

403
00:30:52,559.9974318 --> 00:31:03,289.9931594
And you can even start that, you know when you do the samasthiti on the mat, and you don't actually do anything, you just stand there, and you try to even out your feet or you close your eyes? You know, it's very fascinating to watch people how long they can do that.

404
00:31:03,329.9940749 --> 00:31:03,699.9968215
They get...

405
00:31:04,9.9943801 --> 00:31:05,119.9949904
You know, they wanna get out of it.

406
00:31:05,119.9949904 --> 00:31:09,709.9913283
So exactly, can I sit with myself without going for my phone? Watch the natural urges.

407
00:31:10,59.9974318 --> 00:31:12,229.9956008
I wanna reach for my phone, or I wanna take a photo.

408
00:31:12,229.9956008 --> 00:31:15,489.997737
I see this beautiful bird or tree, then I wanna capture it.

409
00:31:15,489.997737 --> 00:31:26,589.9932011
Can't I watch it? Can't I just sit with it? Can I just witness it, All of these things, and we jump out of the moment so quickly because, like you said, you know, I, I wanna experience this, I wanna be here, I wanna see this.

410
00:31:26,929.9933537 --> 00:31:31,9.9932774
Yeah, can I experience, can I feel the wind on my skin? Can I just observe? Do I...

411
00:31:31,259.9932774 --> 00:31:36,309.9934681
Without even that might be if you get caught in it, but can you actually just be there? Yeah? Yeah.

412
00:31:36,489.9937733 --> 00:31:37,449.9928578
And just watch.

413
00:31:37,919.9940785 --> 00:31:38,179.9924
Just watch.

414
00:31:38,179.9924 --> 00:31:39,569.993697
See what, see what arises.

415
00:31:39,569.993697 --> 00:31:55,552.619639
It's pretty profound actually, because I think when we stop trying to get anywhere or do something, and we just allow ourselves to totally just be a part of time and nature, and just observe.

416
00:31:56,852.6188761 --> 00:31:57,182.6207071
Yeah.

417
00:31:57,752.620402 --> 00:32:09,543.8940404
And w- we're not given that time though, there's constant information just coming at you, right? And people, "Okay, I have to fill every single moment of the day so that I can be, successful, or I can do this, or I can..."

418
00:32:09,543.8940404 --> 00:32:11,3.8931249
I mean, I don't know what we gain.

419
00:32:11,343.8932775 --> 00:32:19,63.8944982
I always find it so fascinating because we look at this from the lens of Ayurveda, because we study, I study all of these things to have the whole holistic view.

420
00:32:19,513.8914464 --> 00:32:25,989.3001128
And, the concept of Ayurveda is, so interesting because if we're talking about ayu- we're talking about the system, we're talking about health.

421
00:32:26,519.2988921 --> 00:32:30,999.2946197
And, you know, back in the day, people were waking up only when the sun came up.

422
00:32:31,779.2964507 --> 00:32:33,589.3016387
They plowed the land that they owned.

423
00:32:33,589.3016387 --> 00:32:45,449.3013335
They grow their own food, go inside and cook it so the body's strong from going out and working in the fields or digging up your vegetables, and being in nature, then going inside and cooking it, and again, mindfully, quiet.

424
00:32:45,739.3022491 --> 00:32:48,229.3001128
There was no radio and things, right? Back in the day.

425
00:32:48,529.3031646 --> 00:32:51,621.9822783
It was just the sounds of nature or anything else, in the house.

426
00:32:52,181.9798369 --> 00:32:52,701.9841094
That's it.

427
00:32:52,731.9828887 --> 00:32:56,636.2619718
And then at the end of it, the sun goes down, you go to sleep.

428
00:32:56,998.8615499 --> 00:32:59,128.8664328
And so the system, you're on the natural rhythms.

429
00:32:59,128.8664328 --> 00:33:02,438.8639914
Nowadays, we have information constantly pulling us.

430
00:33:02,438.8639914 --> 00:33:04,218.8627707
You can have the lights on 24 hours.

431
00:33:04,218.8627707 --> 00:33:11,368.8642965
You can be in an AC, an air conditioned, you know, place that just really will, again, just adjust the system, adjust the body.

432
00:33:11,738.8670431 --> 00:33:15,738.8670431
And then people working at opposite times on different time zones.

433
00:33:15,738.8670431 --> 00:33:20,328.8481222
I mean, we're really throwing the systems, you know, wild I wanna say, for a toss.

434
00:33:20,368.8566671 --> 00:33:22,508.8560568
My, all of my friends in India say that.

435
00:33:22,598.8523947 --> 00:33:22,668.8597189
Yeah.

436
00:33:22,698.8584982 --> 00:33:24,238.8517843
Throw it, take it for a toss.

437
00:33:26,148.8548242 --> 00:33:26,628.8547836
Yeah.

438
00:33:26,658.8548742 --> 00:33:33,704.3132358
I mean, there's blessings to it all as well, in that, Things are happening at light speed, a lot of them.

439
00:33:33,704.3132358 --> 00:33:33,734.3129687
Mm-hmm.

440
00:33:33,734.3129687 --> 00:33:45,856.9381027
Or at least the speed of sound, where we can- Yes connect across the globe with each other, in a fraction of the time that it would take us normally.

441
00:33:45,856.9381027 --> 00:33:48,636.9387894
Yeah, which is wonderful, which is why we're here right now, right? Yeah.

442
00:33:48,636.9387894 --> 00:33:53,928.1583268
You're in Calgary and I'm in England, and so there's definitely some wonderful things about it, no doubt about it.

443
00:33:53,928.1583268 --> 00:33:54,38.1589371
Yeah.

444
00:33:54,418.1600052 --> 00:33:57,368.1607682
But it's, it's when it's out of balance, right? Everything in balance.

445
00:33:57,808.1593949 --> 00:33:57,868.1607682
Yeah.

446
00:33:57,928.1583268 --> 00:34:03,188.1592041
So how am I using the modern- day technology, what am I doing with it, you know? Mm-hmm.

447
00:34:03,588.1592995 --> 00:34:03,658.1589943
Yeah.

448
00:34:03,658.1589943 --> 00:34:04,708.1591851
It'd be very fascinating.

449
00:34:05,468.1589371 --> 00:34:07,908.1594712
Yeah, and how are we using it to, like...

450
00:34:08,198.159433 --> 00:34:20,558.1593567
And it, it's so much like the mind, I think, the, what we're building, what we've built as a collective humanity is really just we've taken the mind, and we've brought it into the collective.

451
00:34:20,588.158136 --> 00:34:25,208.1589752
I mean, what is this but us connecting through our minds, really? Yeah.

452
00:34:25,613.9016471 --> 00:34:39,173.9011131
So there's something about taking that time to come back into your body, but, like, in a way that isn't forced or contrived or performative, but is just really natural.

453
00:34:39,453.9029441 --> 00:34:46,384.0874463
what does it feel like to be in this physical form? I mean, that's the most important thing.

454
00:34:46,384.0874463 --> 00:34:50,604.0903455
Of course, we need to be able to feel how we are in our bodies, right? That is important.

455
00:34:50,824.0915662 --> 00:34:52,934.0883618
But there is still the collective, like you said.

456
00:34:52,934.0883618 --> 00:34:54,284.0906506
I mean, there is no separation.

457
00:34:54,504.0880566 --> 00:35:01,804.0911084
It's so interesting because, yes, it's, you're very much walking the path alone, and you're very much in community and in connection.

458
00:35:01,804.0911084 --> 00:35:02,464.0871411
You need both.

459
00:35:02,794.0920239 --> 00:35:07,552.9522961
This is what supports and uplifts and, and do- does all of it, and the greater collective.

460
00:35:07,552.9522961 --> 00:35:09,702.953822
I mean, all of these chants are talking about this.

461
00:35:10,92.9532117 --> 00:35:12,902.9507702
When you start looking at the collective mind, most of them are talking about that.

462
00:35:13,202.953822 --> 00:35:13,262.9513806
Mm.

463
00:35:13,262.9513806 --> 00:35:19,32.9480237
Purnamadah Purnamidam Purnat Purnamudachyate Purnasya Purnamadaya Purnam eva Avashishyate.

464
00:35:19,322.9489392 --> 00:35:21,92.9532117
Om Shanti Shanti Shantihi.

465
00:35:21,382.9541272 --> 00:35:26,862.9498547
And this and so many other, it links us right back into, that we're not separate.

466
00:35:26,862.9498547 --> 00:35:37,411.5979014
And I think this idea of what happens with this individualization and this I am so wonderful, and, I need to do this, you know, the dissociation, especially here in the, the...

467
00:35:37,571.6015635 --> 00:35:42,821.6015635
Well, I can't say that I was gonna say the West, but, um, I find in India there's a little bit more of a connection.

468
00:35:42,821.6015635 --> 00:35:49,521.5985117
It seems slightly easier because you still have, like, joint families and, you know, of course, in the healthy environments always.

469
00:35:49,901.5957651 --> 00:35:52,431.6021738
But, you know, when you have that, you're still surrounded by people.

470
00:35:52,431.6021738 --> 00:35:54,847.2879218
Everyone's always there, Everyone cares for each other.

471
00:35:54,895.9112067 --> 00:35:56,925.345447
But here in the West, everybody's separate.

472
00:35:57,145.3466677 --> 00:36:09,665.3204226
Yeah? You've got everybody that lives in different places and not talking to each other, and it can really play some tricks on the mind, no? I mean, this is the interesting part is, like, being in connection with humans and being in...

473
00:36:09,665.3204226 --> 00:36:13,955.3442263
Especially, you know, I'm Canadian Indian, and those two cultures are, we love people.

474
00:36:13,955.3442263 --> 00:36:17,525.3362918
We wanna talk to people, and I wanna feed people and them to come home.

475
00:36:17,525.3362918 --> 00:36:20,575.3393435
And I say that to somebody in England, and they're like, "Oh."

476
00:36:21,485.3430056 --> 00:36:23,595.343616
They think I'm absolutely mad.

477
00:36:23,815.3448367 --> 00:36:24,775.3362918
I has to preface it.

478
00:36:24,775.3362918 --> 00:36:25,885.3369021
I'm like, "I'm so sorry."

479
00:36:25,885.3369021 --> 00:36:30,635.3369021
Like, "I grew up in Canada, and I'm Indian, so I'm not going to poison you."

480
00:36:30,775.3362918 --> 00:36:32,595.343616
"I just want you to come over for tea."

481
00:36:32,930.1483333 --> 00:36:41,522.080706
Yeah, there's something, I think, where people, you know, I think we've heard this before, like, we're more connected than ever, but people are feeling more alone.

482
00:36:42,442.0788749 --> 00:36:48,297.086428
And yet- They're not actually at home in their bodies or, like...

483
00:36:48,657.0860847 --> 00:37:04,327.0871147
Because when you're actually at home in your body and you're in your body, like feeling embodied, you don't actually ever feel alone because then you have that clear communication with source and connection, and you feel safe and you feel loved.

484
00:37:05,127.0863518 --> 00:37:07,917.0853599
There's no other- Yeah, because- way to feel when you're in your body.

485
00:37:08,464.049858 --> 00:37:10,234.0503157
Yeah, I love that because it's true.

486
00:37:10,234.0503157 --> 00:37:20,72.2082474
Yeah, there's this grounding, this space, You know, we talk about all the different, the koshas, right? This, uh, apana, prana, manomaya, yeah, vijnanamaya.

487
00:37:20,72.2082474 --> 00:37:27,232.2080948
When we get into that special space, right, when we start to really understand, we're able to listen and we're able to understand a little bit about who we are.

488
00:37:27,232.2080948 --> 00:37:32,762.2068741
We're also able to, to understand our inherent nature, and we're at peace with who we are.

489
00:37:33,112.2091629 --> 00:37:36,262.2068741
We don't need to be in the past, who I was 25 years ago.

490
00:37:36,542.2056534 --> 00:37:42,920.7780103
I don't need to be chasing who I can be if in five years if I keep changing this and get my goals and rewrite my goals.

491
00:37:42,920.7780103 --> 00:37:53,220.7810621
And can I just be happy with who I am right now, where I am right now, and in this beautiful body, right? This entire vessel that I've been gifted in, if I'm able to see that.

492
00:37:53,697.7144051 --> 00:38:03,29.3056711
this is the entire essence, The whole concept of the, the prana stanas, right, as well, right? We have the five different ways that the air is functioning from the body.

493
00:38:03,359.3075022 --> 00:38:03,449.3038401
Mm.

494
00:38:03,479.3026194 --> 00:38:04,999.3068918
And this also is so grounding.

495
00:38:04,999.3068918 --> 00:38:13,799.3023142
So when you talk about pranayama, it's like people think, "Okay, yeah, I'm just doing this breathing," but in fact, actually, I'm not just breathing.

496
00:38:13,799.3023142 --> 00:38:14,309.3044504
I'm really...

497
00:38:14,579.3010935 --> 00:38:16,29.3056711
Yes, I'm connecting to myself.

498
00:38:16,29.3056711 --> 00:38:21,359.2998728
Yes, I'm connecting to my mind because instantly we know that with one conscious breath we can settle the system.

499
00:38:21,778.9390145 --> 00:38:32,28.9390145
But then if I understand that, okay, if I won't actually have a lot of pain and disturbance in the body, because we know the nava antarayas, if there's any, obstacles in my way, I'm not going to be able to practice.

500
00:38:32,28.9390145 --> 00:38:39,868.9429818
So if I take these out of the way with asana, pranayama, chanting, yeah, whatever the practices are, then the pancha vayus also are functioning.

501
00:38:40,188.9350472 --> 00:38:40,318.93993
Yeah.

502
00:38:40,318.93993 --> 00:38:41,648.9417611
The apana moves downwards.

503
00:38:41,648.9417611 --> 00:38:43,88.9442025
The samana is digestion.

504
00:38:43,398.9417611 --> 00:38:46,68.93993
Not just digestion of food, it's my experiences.

505
00:38:46,538.9411507 --> 00:38:47,508.9423714
No? Yeah.

506
00:38:47,508.9423714 --> 00:38:49,428.9405404
Pranastana, yeah, the, the whole seat.

507
00:38:49,488.9380989 --> 00:38:52,598.9387093
This is also establishing, right, the sense of self and everything.

508
00:38:52,598.9387093 --> 00:38:53,888.9472542
It's also the kurmandadi.

509
00:38:54,328.9344368 --> 00:39:01,533.9406929
Yeah, the udana vayu, my whole expression- You can hear when someone's udana vayu is stuck because the voice is not strong.

510
00:39:02,23.9404641 --> 00:39:07,223.9402733
You know? And then vyana vayu, like all of the, the whole circulation, everything that we're doing is because of vyana vayu.

511
00:39:07,223.9402733 --> 00:39:17,793.9409218
So I find it very fascinating to say, "Okay, yes, can I sit within myself?" But it's so difficult to sit within ourself when all these other distractions are coming up, so first settle the system.

512
00:39:18,303.9411507 --> 00:39:26,363.9406166
If I can settle my system enough that I'm able to actually sit with it, and then connect to that space that you're talking about, you know, that purity, the quiet space.

513
00:39:26,683.9403115 --> 00:39:28,163.9398537
You know? Like the eye of the storm.

514
00:39:28,573.9397011 --> 00:39:29,963.9390908
I get into that space.

515
00:39:30,443.9416848 --> 00:39:30,913.9429055
yeah.

516
00:39:30,913.9429055 --> 00:39:32,483.9426003
The eye of the storm, exactly.

517
00:39:32,483.9426003 --> 00:39:32,843.9393959
Mm-hmm.

518
00:39:33,463.9421425 --> 00:39:35,773.9397011
And the breath is, like, really the key, I think.

519
00:39:35,853.9422951 --> 00:39:50,983.941227
the breath is such a key, I don't know if we, like, talk about it enough in yoga, practices even though we talk about the breath a lot, but really understanding that it's what helps to unlock our subconscious mind.

520
00:39:50,983.941227 --> 00:39:54,203.9424477
It helps to bridge the subconscious to our conscious mind.

521
00:39:54,203.9424477 --> 00:39:57,353.9439736
It helps to bridge the body and the mind together.

522
00:39:57,793.9387856 --> 00:40:04,223.9390908
It takes what is unseen and brings it into the scene, and- Yeah you know, it connects us to our emotions.

523
00:40:04,263.9400063 --> 00:40:07,393.9448891
It connects us, like, to our entire energetic field.

524
00:40:08,163.9415322 --> 00:40:09,343.9418374
And I think we don't really...

525
00:40:09,666.5126865 --> 00:40:15,125.0383255
even though we talk about the breath being central, we don't really understand just what a powerful tool it is, what...

526
00:40:15,205.0401565 --> 00:40:20,295.0364944
And it's not even a tool, it's a part of us, right? It's like the most- Yeah intimate part of us.

527
00:40:21,65.0407669 --> 00:40:21,765.0377151
Absolutely.

528
00:40:21,795.0364944 --> 00:40:31,25.0398513
We d- we talk about it as the great friend, right? You can forget about your breath and it's always there, right? It's like a good old friend, and you're like, "Oh yeah, you're here," and there's still no problem.

529
00:40:31,25.0398513 --> 00:40:32,585.0374099
I'm still happily breathing away.

530
00:40:32,925.0413772 --> 00:40:38,605.0386306
But then when you fine-tune that, I completely agree with what you're saying because the breath is so powerful.

531
00:40:38,605.0386306 --> 00:40:44,345.0441238
Now if I can refine this breath, if I understand, okay, if I breathe like this, here's what actually happens.

532
00:40:44,345.0441238 --> 00:40:44,555.0432083
Mm-hmm.

533
00:40:45,25.044429 --> 00:40:47,655.0416824
If I try this, then here is what actually is happening.

534
00:40:48,105.0386306 --> 00:40:48,565.0453445
And if I'm...

535
00:40:48,595.0441238 --> 00:40:52,965.039241
You know, it's very much a, a, a single-pointed practice, right? Mm.

536
00:40:53,15.0422927 --> 00:40:53,675.0383255
Ekagrata.

537
00:40:53,675.0383255 --> 00:40:56,235.0435135
So I'm bringing my awareness and dropping all of the attention.

538
00:40:56,235.0435135 --> 00:41:03,255.0477859
If I can drop the attention off of everything else and just be aware to my breath, can I sit and just watch my breath? It's enough.

539
00:41:03,895.0471756 --> 00:41:05,345.0441238
Yeah? Then can I go to the deeper...

540
00:41:05,345.0441238 --> 00:41:16,135.0526687
But even that, how many times are we able to just sit and stop and just observe our breath? What's actually happening? Knowing when I hold my breath, yeah, most of us with no problem inhaling.

541
00:41:16,135.0526687 --> 00:41:26,185.0404617
Everybody can take a nice deep inhalation, but exhaling is, is where, you know, things come in, right? So we're looking at that, and it's also linked to the parasympathetic and all these other concepts.

542
00:41:26,185.0404617 --> 00:41:29,335.049617
So even just lengthening out the exhale.

543
00:41:29,815.0453445 --> 00:41:31,265.0422927
Even just a simple om.

544
00:41:31,265.0422927 --> 00:41:35,965.0544998
Even, you know, if you don't like the sound of om, it's too weird, amen.

545
00:41:35,965.0544998 --> 00:41:36,915.051448
You can use anything.

546
00:41:36,915.051448 --> 00:41:39,5.0477859
You can ama.

547
00:41:39,435.0478002 --> 00:41:39,915.0477597
Yeah, ru.

548
00:41:39,915.0477597 --> 00:41:45,665.0477001
You can use any kind of sound, right? It's just trying to lengthen this out, and then you work in the nervous system.

549
00:41:46,135.0474903 --> 00:41:46,655.047948
so beautiful.

550
00:41:46,655.047948 --> 00:41:49,415.0472232
I mean, this is the whole entire essence of Vedic chanting as well.

551
00:41:49,815.0477954 --> 00:41:58,215.0483677
But can I connect to this space and quiet and create this stillness within myself? Pranayama's so subtle.

552
00:41:58,555.0485202 --> 00:41:58,745.047147
Yeah.

553
00:41:58,745.047147 --> 00:41:58,955.0481388
Mm.

554
00:41:58,955.0481388 --> 00:41:59,965.0483677
Asana's very gross.

555
00:42:00,5.0473758 --> 00:42:00,455.0481388
We know.

556
00:42:00,455.0481388 --> 00:42:01,65.0468418
I do this.

557
00:42:01,65.0468418 --> 00:42:05,555.0485202
I, if I do this movement, then great, I understand that I do this.

558
00:42:05,555.0485202 --> 00:42:09,55.0485202
Okay, now I've able to wrap one leg around my head.

559
00:42:09,55.0485202 --> 00:42:10,645.0486728
Okay, now I can do two legs.

560
00:42:10,855.0477573 --> 00:42:13,365.0460788
So there's some physical I can see I've done this.

561
00:42:13,445.0479099 --> 00:42:17,855.0477573
I think this is so tangible, and so I think people like it because of that, which is no problem.

562
00:42:18,195.0479099 --> 00:42:20,695.0479099
But then the subtle, that pranayama's so subtle.

563
00:42:21,215.0483677 --> 00:42:21,895.0486728
You know, you...

564
00:42:22,685.0457737 --> 00:42:25,445.0479099
Y- people don't know what it's doing and you really have to stick to it.

565
00:42:26,235.0488254 --> 00:42:26,515.0476047
Yeah.

566
00:42:26,515.0476047 --> 00:42:45,435.0495884
And I- You have to slow down enough in your powers of observation to feel it, to see it, to sense it, and I think our minds are going so fast, and even in our asana practice, you know, it's my experience that you can do an asana practice and your mind can still be going very quickly, you know? It is.

567
00:42:45,435.0495884 --> 00:42:55,195.0431797
And oftentimes, you're, say, doing primary series, and then all of a sudden you're in Janu Sirsasana A or B and you're like, "How'd I get here?" Like, what happened, right? Yeah.

568
00:42:55,475.041959 --> 00:42:56,535.047147
That's not samadhi.

569
00:42:57,465.0474521 --> 00:42:57,525.0450107
No.

570
00:42:57,735.0440952 --> 00:43:00,335.0425693
People think it's them- I mean, that's it- not being in their mind.

571
00:43:00,335.0425693 --> 00:43:02,85.0425693
It's actually them not being in their body.

572
00:43:02,195.0431797 --> 00:43:03,755.0483677
It's them being in their mind.

573
00:43:03,785.047147 --> 00:43:04,305.04379
Yeah, not be...

574
00:43:04,305.04379 --> 00:43:05,335.0425693
Exactly.

575
00:43:05,965.0474521 --> 00:43:08,215.0474521
And like, it's been so many years that I, I don't...

576
00:43:08,335.0425693 --> 00:43:08,765.0428745
Yeah.

577
00:43:08,985.0440952 --> 00:43:10,495.0462314
I'm trying to think if I've experienced that.

578
00:43:10,725.041959 --> 00:43:27,222.9117465
It's interesting, because if you really are following, like, if, if you say for Ashtanga, if you're really following Trishana, like really, ideally, you know, if you're really utilizing this and you're looking at your breath and your drishti and the, posture itself, and the, you're continually looking at the breath, right? this is exactly it.

579
00:43:27,222.9117465 --> 00:43:38,852.9089999
That's where injury happens, right? The breath becomes held or, you know, I'm not paying attention anymore, or in my case, my 12-year-old Kapotasana injury, I held my breath because someone's feet came by and they weren't those of my teacher.

580
00:43:39,202.907474 --> 00:43:41,502.9028964
And he started So I held my breath.

581
00:43:41,602.9089999 --> 00:43:50,872.9132724
But you know, th- this, the thing is, yeah, you can completely disassociate, but I think all those patterns that we were talking about before that take place in regular life happen on the mat.

582
00:43:51,152.9120517 --> 00:44:03,505.7715789
Am I avoiding it? Am I disassociating? Am I, you know, am I able to be here? Like, what's actually happening? So in fact, you should be able to see all of it from an early space, it's not the teacher's job to yell that out.

583
00:44:03,505.7715789 --> 00:44:06,335.7703582
It's the student's job to observe it and notice.

584
00:44:06,675.7666961 --> 00:44:12,575.7605926
And maybe if the relationship is there, maybe eventually they can gently say something that alludes to it and they can figure it out.

585
00:44:12,605.7593719 --> 00:44:24,555.7715789
But actually, if you practice the whole essence of practicing the shastras, the, the darshana, yoga is a darshana, so if you're practicing these, the supporting texts, yeah, the Yoga Sutras, you start really looking at yourself, you'll see it.

586
00:44:24,905.7624237 --> 00:44:25,425.7666961
You'll know.

587
00:44:26,87.2997566 --> 00:44:28,267.2995849
Yeah, and trusting that it's a process too.

588
00:44:28,267.2995849 --> 00:44:33,627.2997184
I think that's the other thing that we have to always kinda keep in mind is, is when...

589
00:44:33,687.2991844 --> 00:44:39,267.3000618
You know, I always love to say this, like, when you're exploring the infinite, it's an infinite journey.

590
00:44:39,487.2993751 --> 00:44:39,587.2997566
Yeah.

591
00:44:39,587.2997566 --> 00:44:40,247.3005577
An infinite process.

592
00:44:40,647.3001762 --> 00:44:42,907.3004051
There's no- Yeah you're never gonna get there.

593
00:44:43,447.2994133 --> 00:44:43,867.2994895
Sorry.

594
00:44:44,927.2989555 --> 00:44:45,277.299337
Well, yeah.

595
00:44:45,327.3004814 --> 00:44:47,377.3016258
Because pranayama's not something that we're doing.

596
00:44:47,677.3008628 --> 00:44:56,477.3000999
Yeah, it's a process through the system, right? And each time that you're processing, it's becoming more and more refined, like you're saying, more balanced, and you become more perceptive.

597
00:44:56,917.3025413 --> 00:45:01,487.3022361
That is the- Mm the essence, right? And then the movement of prana itself becomes steadier.

598
00:45:01,487.3022361 --> 00:45:03,387.2999473
The mind becomes steadier, steadier.

599
00:45:03,907.3004051 --> 00:45:04,7.3026939
Mm.

600
00:45:04,37.3014732 --> 00:45:08,527.3031517
Yeah, that's the actual, you know, what's happening, what is happening in my body and mind.

601
00:45:08,997.3005577 --> 00:45:11,257.3026939
Because most people just say, "Okay, I just do this," and...

602
00:45:11,627.3016258 --> 00:45:13,567.3002525
Or you hear people say mindless meditation.

603
00:45:13,567.3002525 --> 00:45:21,187.3029991
I'm like, how is it mindless? What is bringing you to the spaces before you get into that space? You can't just jump and try to sit there.

604
00:45:21,187.3029991 --> 00:45:24,937.3029991
Of course it's going to be, I'll be irritated by bugs and things all around me.

605
00:45:24,937.3029991 --> 00:45:28,867.2994895
I need to create some sort of stillness before I try to move that space.

606
00:45:29,477.3000999 --> 00:45:29,907.3004051
Yeah.

607
00:45:30,17.3040672 --> 00:45:33,184.8573631
But even if you do, you know, that's still also part of the process.

608
00:45:34,114.8576682 --> 00:45:35,204.8616355
Yeah, absolutely.

609
00:45:35,204.8616355 --> 00:45:35,834.858889
It's definitely...

610
00:45:36,84.858889 --> 00:45:36,794.8579734
It's still there.

611
00:45:36,904.8585838 --> 00:45:44,728.6798667
Yeah, all the Vipassanas I've done, I've, I've certainly experienced the, all of the full spectrum of colors from, meditation.

612
00:45:44,928.676815 --> 00:45:44,998.6765098
Yeah.

613
00:45:45,108.6771201 --> 00:45:46,8.3119894
Yeah, yeah.

614
00:45:46,128.0000754 --> 00:46:01,487.9961081
if maybe you have the intention of understanding, of seeing yourself, of connecting with God, I always love that quote, attributed to Krishnamacharya, right? "When I breathe in, "God moves, in me, and when I breathe out, I move towards God," something like that.

615
00:46:01,487.9961081 --> 00:46:01,547.9936667
Yeah.

616
00:46:01,547.9936667 --> 00:46:20,882.7788103
I think it's such a beautiful, image, Because this breath, in every religious tradition actually, like the respiration has the essence of, espare, which is spirit, and breath is this connection to spirit, to God, to, Something higher.

617
00:46:20,882.7788103 --> 00:46:21,552.7769792
idea our creator.

618
00:46:21,552.7769792 --> 00:46:23,842.7702653
Yeah, whatever you wanna call that energy.

619
00:46:23,842.7702653 --> 00:46:25,192.7763689
Whatever you wanna call it.

620
00:46:25,452.7708757 --> 00:46:28,622.7690446
Maybe, I mean, that's the essence, 'cause Krishnamacharya himself said that.

621
00:46:28,622.7690446 --> 00:46:34,972.7598894
He did say as well that you can have all these different practices, You can have asana, you can have pranayama, you can do all of that.

622
00:46:34,972.7598894 --> 00:46:42,172.7720964
But if you, at Tapas Swadhyaya Ishvara Pranidhana, without the Ishvara Pranidhana, you can't actually go deeper.

623
00:46:42,612.7745378 --> 00:46:42,782.7727067
Exactly.

624
00:46:42,782.7727067 --> 00:46:43,942.7611101
And so this is the idea.

625
00:46:44,352.7647722 --> 00:46:56,306.4576064
So I can do my tapas, I can do all of the asana things, burning off and polishing, yeah? Swadhyaya, I can study myself and actually study the, supporting text and Ishvara, connect to something higher.

626
00:46:56,336.4563857 --> 00:47:05,146.4539443
But if I'm stuck in this space that nothing is higher, I hate everything, and if I'm, if I'm in this, like, it's hard to get to that space.

627
00:47:05,576.4563798 --> 00:47:09,156.4564525
It doesn't mean that you have to connect it, like you said, anything, Allah, Jesus.

628
00:47:09,456.4564048 --> 00:47:11,646.456462
It could be the sun, the moon, the stars, the Earth.

629
00:47:11,646.456462 --> 00:47:12,346.4562713
It doesn't matter.

630
00:47:12,346.4562713 --> 00:47:13,716.4561568
Something beyond myself.

631
00:47:14,346.4562713 --> 00:47:15,166.4559661
Yeah, I love that.

632
00:47:15,166.4559661 --> 00:47:18,896.456462
Tori always said, "You don't have to believe in God, but you have to trust.

633
00:47:18,966.4561568 --> 00:47:20,486.4566146
You have to trust in something."

634
00:47:20,806.4563094 --> 00:47:20,846.4553176
Mm-hmm.

635
00:47:21,736.4566146 --> 00:47:24,956.455928
And I think trust- It sounds like him is such a key.

636
00:47:25,16.4556228 --> 00:47:26,606.4557754
it's such a key concept.

637
00:47:26,606.4557754 --> 00:47:37,368.0171001
what do you trust in? In the darkest night of your soul, actually, I mean, which is kind of beautiful and- terrifying, who do you call out to? What do you trust in? Yeah.

638
00:47:38,428.0146587 --> 00:47:53,10.8996794
And- Well, that's it, right? It's a gift and a blessing when you reach that place because you start to then really, like, see where the trust is, You come face to face with your god, whatever your god is.

639
00:47:54,650.8990691 --> 00:47:55,40.9022734
Yeah.

640
00:47:55,143.0075404 --> 00:47:56,233.0076929
I think that's what happens.

641
00:47:56,233.0076929 --> 00:48:12,393.0055567
If we don't trust ourselves because we don't understand ourselves enough, that is where the concept of getting entangled in this whole, idea of, a guru or, you know, worshiping something else beyond me, looking for some sort of savior, but we know that's not going to happen.

642
00:48:12,673.004336 --> 00:48:14,323.0058619
No one is going to come and save us.

643
00:48:14,600.3542565 --> 00:48:17,510.5114342
We are the ones that are going in control of our life.

644
00:48:17,510.5114342 --> 00:48:18,700.5138756
We are the ones that are here.

645
00:48:18,700.5138756 --> 00:48:24,820.5166222
Someone will hold the mirror, and it should- Mm-hmm be holding it stably, yeah, not dictating and all these other things.

646
00:48:24,820.5166222 --> 00:48:31,10.5114342
And so there has to be enough stability for that person to say, "Hey, go back and look at yourself," not, "Here's what you do."

647
00:48:31,10.5114342 --> 00:48:32,220.5105186
Go back and watch.

648
00:48:32,551.4214677 --> 00:48:39,173.8048842
I think this is why the, idea of the guru has- Mm-hmm been so misunderstood, right? A guru doesn't mean blind faith.

649
00:48:39,213.8057997 --> 00:48:41,223.807936
I need to go and find this blind space.

650
00:48:41,533.8054946 --> 00:48:48,63.8042739
And considering how we see our worlds, we talked about Sankhya philosophy, how I come through the world, how I take in information.

651
00:48:48,373.8094619 --> 00:48:49,393.8061049
Here's my processor.

652
00:48:49,393.8061049 --> 00:48:54,123.8018325
Everybody that I've met to the time I am born has programmed me to believe all of these different things.

653
00:48:54,533.8054946 --> 00:48:58,883.8115981
Now I believe all these things, and now you're gonna come talk to me about a guru or something else.

654
00:48:58,883.8115981 --> 00:49:01,733.8024428
I'm gonna have a hard time making sense of it, right? I...

655
00:49:01,733.8024428 --> 00:49:02,483.8024428
Forget that.

656
00:49:02,483.8024428 --> 00:49:04,443.8091567
I don't want authority, and I don't need this.

657
00:49:04,443.8091567 --> 00:49:06,393.8061049
And it's not about authority.

658
00:49:06,678.6350049 --> 00:49:09,518.7404917
The idea is the one that is removing darkness.

659
00:49:09,948.7484262 --> 00:49:10,348.7423227
Yeah? Mm-hmm.

660
00:49:10,598.7423227 --> 00:49:12,658.7398813
It's not actually giving you anything new.

661
00:49:13,68.7435434 --> 00:49:15,448.7484262
It's removing the cover on yourself.

662
00:49:15,518.6193672 --> 00:49:16,995.0283576
removing what's actually the...

663
00:49:16,995.0283576 --> 00:49:18,435.030799
Everybody has that light within.

664
00:49:18,435.030799 --> 00:49:22,205.0350715
We all have this spatikaya, this beautiful fire that's there.

665
00:49:22,475.0240852 --> 00:49:36,282.9280949
It's hidden, and so the person brings us back to ourself, clearly, so that you're able to see, and then you can see, but saying, "I don't need a guru" in the beginning and then riding around in our own thoughts and running about, sometimes we can't see it clearly.

666
00:49:36,877.9348206 --> 00:49:41,817.935009
So it's basically like I wanna do the work, but I'll do it all with distortion.

667
00:49:41,817.935009 --> 00:49:58,345.1319739
So the whole work of the entire Patanjali Yoga Sutras is about clarity of the mind, yeah? How do I be able to see the distortion that I'm looking through? Yeah? And if I can see my conditioning, if I can see my vrittis, if I can see the gunas, what's happening to me, if I understand how I'm...

668
00:49:58,385.1328894 --> 00:50:10,155.209342
This is all happening because of what I eat, how I interact, my beliefs, and everything experienced is filtering through prakriti, which we know is all the gunas, sattva, rajas, tamas, which is, it constantly changing.

669
00:50:11,135.212699 --> 00:50:20,526.4358672
We know my perception is conditioned, right? So it's already colored, and if I'm coming through here and walking through the world, how do I correct that, yeah? First I have to look at my conditioning.

670
00:50:21,446.4340361 --> 00:50:23,386.4364776
Yeah, because that is where the only time...

671
00:50:23,656.4369353 --> 00:50:28,266.433731
And this word guru is so unusual, but it doesn't mean what it's been perceived to mean.

672
00:50:28,686.4357146 --> 00:50:37,256.4354094
It's not as a, like I said, an authority to go surrender blindly, but it's someone who's not caught in the same distortions as you, someone that is clear.

673
00:50:37,256.4354094 --> 00:50:37,836.4372405
Yes.

674
00:50:38,11.919613 --> 00:50:38,621.9202233
I love that.

675
00:50:38,621.9202233 --> 00:50:41,761.919613
Someone who is clear, who isn't caught in your own distortions.

676
00:50:41,761.919613 --> 00:51:02,21.9141198
I think that's also where Buddhism is so helpful, and yoga has this too, but just Buddhism has sort of really laid it out in the Triple Gem, you know, which is the Buddha, which could be, your guru or a teacher, the person who isn't caught, right? 'Cause Buddha just means the one who's enlightened, the enlightened one, you know? Or the enlightened energy.

677
00:51:02,21.9141198 --> 00:51:02,81.9193078
Yeah.

678
00:51:02,81.9193078 --> 00:51:13,501.5064534
So it could be your concept of God even, or Jesus or- Yeah you know, Krishna or whatever, right? But the ideal sort of enlightened path, let's say.

679
00:51:13,501.5064534 --> 00:51:13,751.5064534
Mm-hmm.

680
00:51:14,321.5061482 --> 00:51:21,891.5012654
And then the Dharma, which is the teaching, which is, the wisdom, as we're learning and walking the path, what's being revealed.

681
00:51:22,571.5015706 --> 00:51:25,71.5015706
And then the Sangha- Yeah which is the community.

682
00:51:25,581.5037068 --> 00:51:27,241.5073689
Because sometimes- That's it I think it's hard.

683
00:51:27,241.5073689 --> 00:51:32,321.5092
We don't have, a guru maybe, right? Or we can't be with our guru or a teacher.

684
00:51:32,371.4969929 --> 00:51:37,500.6918046
Or, you know, maybe we're, Christian, and so we're like, "Oh, well, Jesus is my guru."

685
00:51:38,90.6881425 --> 00:51:39,520.6960771
That's great, right? Yeah, that's the...

686
00:51:39,520.6960771 --> 00:51:39,950.6887529
Like that...

687
00:51:39,950.6887529 --> 00:51:42,250.6918046
Or Buddhist, and you can say, "Buddha is my guru."

688
00:51:42,984.5864572 --> 00:51:44,594.5870675
find a relationship, and that...

689
00:51:44,594.5870675 --> 00:51:46,814.5882883
Or Ishvara, right? I mean, that's the whole point of Ishvara.

690
00:51:46,814.5882883 --> 00:52:01,820.6746575
It's a special type of Purusha, a special type of person who isn't affected by kleshas or karmas or time who's beyond the- Yeah confines of the mind and, the problems that humans- generally have.

691
00:52:02,510.6747147 --> 00:52:11,780.6744572
So Yeah, it's anything that can help you be able to reflect back and see where things are not working the way that could be the most helpful or beneficial for you.

692
00:52:11,780.6744572 --> 00:52:12,360.6743809
That's it.

693
00:52:12,560.1825944 --> 00:52:16,124.3914428
You know, it gets so confused in all these different spaces, and I love that.

694
00:52:16,124.3914428 --> 00:52:21,524.3910614
I love what you're saying about Buddhism, and, you know, it links so much to, yeah, the Shastras and Dharma.

695
00:52:21,524.3910614 --> 00:52:23,304.3898407
Can I live in Dharma? Yeah.

696
00:52:23,304.3898407 --> 00:52:26,394.3899933
Yeah, if I can live in what's uplifting myself, what uplifts the world.

697
00:52:26,424.3906799 --> 00:52:29,884.3897644
But if I'm so caught in other things, of course I'm not uplifting myself or the world.

698
00:52:29,884.3897644 --> 00:52:39,704.3894592
I'm too busy hurting myself unconsciously and doing all of these things, and not understanding and then fighting, fighting, fighting instead of just, you know, like you said, sit into the space.

699
00:52:40,324.3922058 --> 00:52:40,574.3922058
Yeah.

700
00:52:40,574.3922058 --> 00:52:41,564.3900696
You know, the eye of the storm.

701
00:52:41,564.3900696 --> 00:52:45,904.3902221
Can I just rest in the space? Can I just take a breath? Do I just do a Shavasana? Yeah.

702
00:52:46,664.3923584 --> 00:52:47,544.3896118
Just lie there.

703
00:52:48,473.0438833 --> 00:52:49,513.0447988
just feel it all.

704
00:52:49,553.0418997 --> 00:52:50,103.0449514
Feel it all.

705
00:52:50,503.0426626 --> 00:52:52,183.0429678
But then also- Yeah like having the community.

706
00:52:52,183.0429678 --> 00:53:23,409.6668991
I think the community is so important, and I love that, that having, a healthy sangha, not that it's centered necessarily even around one person or a guru, but- who are the seekers in your life? Who are the people that helped you to see yourself clearly, that help, you feel lightness, you know, both- Yeah literally and metaphorically? Well, that's exactly it, right? The sangha is so important because then you're saying all of a sudden, "Well, wait.

707
00:53:24,119.6659836 --> 00:53:27,119.6659836
I'm like all these other people that are similar to me.

708
00:53:27,119.6659836 --> 00:53:36,89.6595749
I'm not the only one that's has these questions about life and how I'm interacting," 'cause maybe most people don't have a, a group of yoga people around and they...

709
00:53:36,89.6595749 --> 00:53:39,919.661406
You know, the more we practice yoga, you know, the weirder we become to everybody else.

710
00:53:39,969.6644577 --> 00:53:44,999.663237
They don't understand what we're doing and why we're doing it, and we start to look strange.

711
00:53:44,999.663237 --> 00:53:49,199.6601853
We're going to bed earlier, not eating dinner, doing all of these unusual things, and it's just...

712
00:53:49,549.6662888 --> 00:53:54,519.6598801
You know, so yeah, what is space? You know, in our spaces there is no teacher-student.

713
00:53:54,999.663237 --> 00:53:56,289.6641525
It's just we're here.

714
00:53:56,749.663237 --> 00:54:00,39.6641525
I may be saying something, maybe I know something, maybe I don't.

715
00:54:00,39.6641525 --> 00:54:03,197.3073288
I don't know, but the role of the teacher is not to impose beliefs.

716
00:54:03,507.3048874 --> 00:54:05,107.2957321
Yeah? It's to guide understanding.

717
00:54:05,477.3061081 --> 00:54:05,937.2975632
That's it.

718
00:54:06,492.6065411 --> 00:54:08,342.6126446
if I don't know something, I ask my teachers.

719
00:54:08,342.6126446 --> 00:54:11,926.6788919
I still have a entire army behind me of teachers.

720
00:54:11,926.6788919 --> 00:54:11,986.6917093
Yeah.

721
00:54:11,986.6917093 --> 00:54:14,196.6831644
I see my teachers eight days a week.

722
00:54:14,226.6819437 --> 00:54:14,286.6795023
Yeah.

723
00:54:14,586.682554 --> 00:54:16,956.69293
I'm constantly studying, so- A team yeah.

724
00:54:16,956.69293 --> 00:54:17,446.6831644
A team.

725
00:54:17,446.6831644 --> 00:54:19,816.6935403
I do have- I think we all need a team.

726
00:54:20,526.6849954 --> 00:54:20,836.682554
Yeah.

727
00:54:21,926.6788919 --> 00:54:26,6.680723
Well, that's it, because if I have a question, then I have somebody there, and it's, it's beautiful that...

728
00:54:26,56.680723 --> 00:54:27,156.6868265
You know, I have such access.

729
00:54:27,156.6868265 --> 00:54:35,76.6849954
That is the benefit, like you said, of the global, is all my teachers are still in India and I'm very, very lucky to have such wonderful teachers behind me, so.

730
00:54:35,876.6880472 --> 00:54:36,106.6837747
Yeah.

731
00:54:36,106.6837747 --> 00:54:36,166.6813333
Yeah.

732
00:54:36,166.6813333 --> 00:54:41,291.4967821
So you and I have been in this space for- You know, a couple decades or more now.

733
00:54:42,801.4965342 --> 00:55:10,736.8491228
So you kind of develop a lot of resources and connections and tools and a sort of, I'm gonna say a rich understanding of, yoga and, Buddhist or whatever, like whatever religious traditions you're, you're interested in, which- you know, being in a spiritual path as long as I can remember in some shape or form, and then, studying comparative religions.

734
00:55:10,936.8508012 --> 00:55:15,626.849428
this is, like, the work that I've been doing my whole life really.

735
00:55:15,656.852022 --> 00:55:15,746.8521745
Yeah.

736
00:55:16,156.852022 --> 00:55:20,16.8533952
but if someone's new, I realize You know, a lot of people don't have that.

737
00:55:20,16.8533952 --> 00:55:28,836.9342417
A lot of people come from, backgrounds or families that don't have, any kind of spiritual connection or, Yeah tradition.

738
00:55:29,112.9352605 --> 00:55:37,325.528919
how does someone start? 'Cause they come to yoga and so now we're, we're maybe breathing and moving our bodies, 'cause that's usually where people start.

739
00:55:37,865.5298345 --> 00:55:41,545.5301397
Or maybe like- Yeah doing a little bit of transcendental meditation or something.

740
00:55:41,545.5301397 --> 00:55:42,155.53075
I'm not sure.

741
00:55:42,155.53075 --> 00:55:52,534.3362483
But, as somebody who's new to these types of practices or ideas or thoughts, like where would you suggest someone start? Yeah.

742
00:55:52,564.3350276 --> 00:55:53,614.3380794
I think they just start.

743
00:55:53,644.3368587 --> 00:55:54,864.3380794
I think not by thinking.

744
00:55:54,864.3380794 --> 00:55:55,114.3380794
I think...

745
00:55:55,114.3380794 --> 00:55:57,184.3377742
And the one thing is is I clearly- Not by thinking.

746
00:55:57,184.3377742 --> 00:55:57,834.3393001
I like that.

747
00:55:57,984.340826 --> 00:55:58,44.3383845
Yeah.

748
00:55:58,44.3383845 --> 00:55:58,604.3359431
Just start.

749
00:55:58,604.3359431 --> 00:55:59,54.3405208
Not by thinking.

750
00:55:59,54.3405208 --> 00:55:59,434.3377742
Not by thinking.

751
00:55:59,434.3377742 --> 00:56:01,134.3347224
Just, just try it.

752
00:56:01,244.3353328 --> 00:56:03,354.3359431
You know, ch- you have to figure out what you like.

753
00:56:03,354.3359431 --> 00:56:08,324.3371638
I think the essence is for each person, we can't inflict what they should like.

754
00:56:08,654.3389949 --> 00:56:11,344.3338069
And they have to connect to something in each and every person.

755
00:56:11,614.3411311 --> 00:56:12,984.3362483
As a teacher, that is our job.

756
00:56:13,374.3386897 --> 00:56:25,454.3328914
I should already know if that person likes God or if the person likes Ganesh or if the person connects to the earth or, you know, what it is that they like, because then that'll actually help me understand something about them.

757
00:56:25,774.3325862 --> 00:56:29,144.3277034
So we have to find that one thing that is connecting that person.

758
00:56:29,664.3319759 --> 00:56:32,424.3417415
Through that, then we can actually work with the person.

759
00:56:32,774.3325862 --> 00:56:35,644.3277034
There is no religiousness in yoga, none whatsoever.

760
00:56:35,644.3277034 --> 00:56:40,414.3319759
I mean, the Hindu gods and these types of things, maybe they come up, has nothing to do with yoga.

761
00:56:40,704.3283137 --> 00:56:43,274.335638
the chance of things are something s- totally different.

762
00:56:43,779.3319747 --> 00:56:48,999.3320331
Yeah? And the opening and closing chants, if you're looking at most of the chants, they're not related to God.

763
00:56:49,379.3321475 --> 00:56:50,449.3318423
So I just clear that up.

764
00:56:50,449.3318423 --> 00:56:53,719.3318233
And so, yeah, maybe we say the name of gods at certain times.

765
00:56:54,159.3323573 --> 00:56:56,479.3320521
That has nothing to do with the space of yoga itself.

766
00:56:56,479.3320521 --> 00:57:00,659.3323573
In the teachings of yoga, there's no god mentioned besides Ishvara in the Yoga Sutras.

767
00:57:01,39.3315181 --> 00:57:03,539.3315181
Yeah, the Bhagavad Gita, Ramayana, these...

768
00:57:03,539.3315181 --> 00:57:03,829.3324336
They're...

769
00:57:03,829.3324336 --> 00:57:14,239.332281
We're not talking about gods here, we're talking about concepts, and it's actually archetypal characters to show us all the different personalities so I can see actually what's actually happening within me.

770
00:57:14,609.3312129 --> 00:57:16,489.332281
And so these are all supporting texts.

771
00:57:16,909.33045 --> 00:57:19,735.2291864
And so I think that's one thing that I notice that comes up quite a bit.

772
00:57:19,765.2279657 --> 00:57:24,90.9979482
But if somebody wants to practice, I think we as teachers shouldn't interfere.

773
00:57:24,360.9945913 --> 00:57:26,630.995049
You just talk to them and see.

774
00:57:27,10.9961171 --> 00:57:31,729.9322316
That's our duty, yeah? You see what actually the person likes, see how they respond.

775
00:57:31,729.9322316 --> 00:57:39,689.9351308
You're going to know, because some people, you know, especially when you first come to a class, people don't like being told that, "Don't do that, don't do this, don't do that."

776
00:57:40,79.9345204 --> 00:57:43,489.9343678
You know, they're gonna start running away and thinking, "Oh God, I'm not coming to this class.

777
00:57:43,489.9343678 --> 00:57:55,229.9360463
This person's so strict," or they're you know, or the people that are all of us Ashtangis that were glutton for punishment that we kept- Yeah coming back, you know? But there's a- The punishment samskara in our field.

778
00:57:56,699.937267 --> 00:57:59,539.9336049
Some sort of, uh, you know, disciplinary thing.

779
00:57:59,539.9336049 --> 00:57:59,769.9369618
Yeah.

780
00:57:59,889.932079 --> 00:58:01,409.9332997
But it, it really depends.

781
00:58:01,509.9317738 --> 00:58:10,733.2545945
That's what I would say is, you know- Mm-hmm let the person just come in and, and try it, because also coming in and doing something new and, there's a whole amount of different insecurities that can come up.

782
00:58:10,733.2545945 --> 00:58:15,193.253679
I'm moving my body, I'm in this room, all these other people are looking at me, especially when you're new.

783
00:58:15,193.253679 --> 00:58:15,343.2552048
Mm-hmm.

784
00:58:15,893.2582566 --> 00:58:20,813.2564255
And so it's also important to remember what's happening to somebody that's new, so we need to back right off.

785
00:58:20,905.0811015 --> 00:58:24,135.076829
Create the space and just let them just breathe.

786
00:58:24,665.0756083 --> 00:58:24,805.074998
Yeah.

787
00:58:24,805.074998 --> 00:58:24,865.0801859
Mm.

788
00:58:24,865.0801859 --> 00:58:25,855.0780497
First start there.

789
00:58:25,885.076829 --> 00:58:27,655.0811015
See if the person can find their breath.

790
00:58:27,967.4962988 --> 00:58:28,827.4969091
Then their feet.

791
00:58:29,47.4981298 --> 00:58:32,207.4941625
Then, you know, then to see if you can put it together.

792
00:58:32,327.3460776 --> 00:58:32,547.3472983
Yeah.

793
00:58:32,547.3472983 --> 00:58:33,257.3463828
I love that.

794
00:58:33,257.3463828 --> 00:58:36,487.346688
Like, creating, like soft, approachable spaces.

795
00:58:36,937.3436362 --> 00:58:38,937.3436362
I feel like people really need that these days.

796
00:58:38,937.3436362 --> 00:58:53,638.8295002
Like the world is rough, you know? And there's so many rules and, as you're saying, like, so much criticism, and if we can create spaces that are softer and accepting and loving, then- Please transformation will happen.

797
00:58:54,748.8301105 --> 00:58:55,528.8288898
That's exactly it.

798
00:58:55,528.8288898 --> 00:58:58,568.8374348
That's exactly what I was gonna say is that there's only spaces...

799
00:58:58,568.8374348 --> 00:59:14,468.8313312
What are the spaces where healing actually takes place? If we're talking about yoga, we can just say, okay, it's healing theoretically, but what does it really mean? The only places that we ever hear are the spaces that we're seen, we're accepted, you know, we're not judged, that we can be ourselves.

800
00:59:14,468.8313312 --> 00:59:16,128.8349934
Those are the healing spaces.

801
00:59:16,618.306679 --> 00:59:18,338.3066182
That is really where it takes place.

802
00:59:18,388.3066182 --> 00:59:33,328.3062462
And that's, you know, I spend so much time of my work on this because that's also the yoga therapist in me that will say, "Okay, I've taught asana to thousands of people literally," because in, Mysore and things and before that in LA, so thousands and thousands of bodies.

803
00:59:33,328.3062462 --> 00:59:42,428.3066277
I've seen thousands of people, but the most I've ever helped somebody is by getting them to connect back to themselves, has been in the most simplest practices.

804
00:59:43,208.305407 --> 00:59:44,248.3063225
Nothing complicated.

805
00:59:44,792.1574164 --> 00:59:45,532.1552802
Keep it simple.

806
00:59:47,72.1561957 --> 00:59:47,452.1572638
Yeah.

807
00:59:47,692.1551276 --> 00:59:48,242.1581793
Yeah.

808
00:59:48,242.1581793 --> 01:00:00,375.613416
And, like, use your practice in a way that's for your healing, for your integration, for your coming back into wholeness, Remembering yourself, bringing the pieces and the parts of yourself back together.

809
01:00:00,405.6121953 --> 01:00:10,655.6114323
I think if you can have an intention in your yoga practice as a practitioner, that that's, gonna be the most beneficial for- Yeah moving.

810
01:00:11,705.6144841 --> 01:00:11,825.613416
Yeah.

811
01:00:12,745.6153996 --> 01:00:13,425.6157048
Absolutely.

812
01:00:13,425.6157048 --> 01:00:21,15.6120427
And also notice that if I'm overdoing it, if all I'm doing is I'm constantly trying to heal this and heal that and heal that and heal this, then take a break.

813
01:00:21,485.6132634 --> 01:00:21,675.6157048
Yeah.

814
01:00:21,675.6157048 --> 01:00:21,875.612653
Mm-hmm.

815
01:00:21,875.612653 --> 01:00:22,785.6163151
Stop trying to heal.

816
01:00:23,25.6141789 --> 01:00:27,965.6089909
And so, so starting to also notice all the different spaces, because that's a big thing too.

817
01:00:27,965.6089909 --> 01:00:38,515.4375765
I wanna, I want this, so I jump from this, and that's where, you know, the vishita mind, the butterfly mind, where I'm jumping from I like ashtanga, I like this, or I, this teacher, that teacher, this teacher, that teacher, this...

818
01:00:38,585.4372713 --> 01:00:39,555.4384921
No stability.

819
01:00:40,185.4433749 --> 01:00:40,355.4415438
Yeah.

820
01:00:40,355.4415438 --> 01:00:40,585.4372713
Mm-hmm.

821
01:00:40,585.4372713 --> 01:00:42,825.4427645
Without that stability, so just try something.

822
01:00:42,825.4427645 --> 01:00:47,295.4363558
I mean, of course research and have a good teacher first, but then stick to it.

823
01:00:47,765.4375765 --> 01:00:48,355.4339144
Stick to it.

824
01:00:48,355.4339144 --> 01:00:55,235.4311678
Because the mind will do crazy things and, you know, it's always the joke, we know this as teachers, that at one point or another it's the teacher's fault.

825
01:00:55,405.4369662 --> 01:00:55,565.4329989
No.

826
01:00:56,215.4345248 --> 01:00:57,385.4326937
We don't like that teacher.

827
01:00:57,625.4305575 --> 01:01:00,575.4351351
And we don't know why, but we have to watch it.

828
01:01:01,65.4329989 --> 01:01:01,95.4317782
Mm-hmm.

829
01:01:01,95.4317782 --> 01:01:02,985.4311678
And so many times that comes up.

830
01:01:02,985.4311678 --> 01:01:03,505.4354403
It's like that.

831
01:01:03,505.4354403 --> 01:01:08,615.4406283
It's even in the Taittiriya Upanishad, talks about the teacher-student relationship, so interesting.

832
01:01:08,835.441849 --> 01:01:09,25.436661
Yeah.

833
01:01:09,280.7401146 --> 01:01:10,570.7410301
find some stability.

834
01:01:10,881.058406 --> 01:01:12,491.0590164
I think also stay open.

835
01:01:12,671.0516922 --> 01:01:31,912.2562022
I think that's a really important quality, in the practice of yoga that we don't maybe highlight or talk about so much, because in my own path, you know, it felt like the more into the yoga I got, the more closed I got at some point to other people, other things.

836
01:01:32,201.0556282 --> 01:01:34,291.0672249
I felt my world kind of shrinking.

837
01:01:34,891.0580696 --> 01:01:42,141.0580696
And for me, my constitution, that is not a comfortable situation or place to be.

838
01:01:42,751.0638367 --> 01:01:48,261.074823
and I also feel like it's not actually the intention of the yoga.

839
01:01:48,261.074823 --> 01:01:56,819.4128198
It's not supposed to shrink you, it's supposed to help you recognize, how- truly expansive you are as a being.

840
01:01:57,300.5315217 --> 01:01:59,660.5316552
Yeah and how also similar you are to everyone.

841
01:01:59,820.5315026 --> 01:02:02,720.531598
Like, how everyone is having the same struggle.

842
01:02:02,720.531598 --> 01:02:05,540.5312928
You are actually everyone, and everyone is you.

843
01:02:06,210.5313691 --> 01:02:10,370.5321702
Krishna says it in the- Yeah Bhagavad Gita, right? "I'm in the heart of all beings, and all beings are in my heart."

844
01:02:10,890.5307206 --> 01:02:20,520.5317887
And so- Yeah I think if we're open, then we're able to receive, and if we're closed, we're shut down.

845
01:02:21,140.5307206 --> 01:02:37,473.882728
And I think that- Yeah that's an important kind of concept just to bring into an intention to your practice as well because, it's really about, yeah, staying open to receive, staying open- Yeah to see, to hear, to have those eyes to understand.

846
01:02:37,473.882728 --> 01:02:38,43.8824229
Definitely.

847
01:02:38,43.8824229 --> 01:02:44,443.8839487
I mean, yeah, as a student, it's always a space of beginner's mind, yeah? We'll never learn anything without coming into...

848
01:02:44,443.8839487 --> 01:02:46,93.8816599
You come into a class and say, "I know, I know.

849
01:02:46,93.8816599 --> 01:02:48,783.8841013
I've heard this," then you're not teachable anymore.

850
01:02:48,863.8821177 --> 01:02:49,763.8836436
Yeah, we all know that.

851
01:02:49,763.8836436 --> 01:02:50,473.882728
Yeah, you see that.

852
01:02:50,473.882728 --> 01:02:50,973.882728
Mm-hmm.

853
01:02:50,973.882728 --> 01:02:52,927.3376595
And then also, in the world, may I be open.

854
01:02:52,927.3376595 --> 01:02:55,497.3373543
Okay, I can practice yoga, but I still can go to work.

855
01:02:55,837.3413216 --> 01:02:57,727.3407113
I still can talk to the people.

856
01:02:57,727.3407113 --> 01:03:00,637.336744
Although they don't practice yoga doesn't mean that they're that different.

857
01:03:00,717.338575 --> 01:03:01,237.3352181
No problem.

858
01:03:01,237.3352181 --> 01:03:03,787.3382698
I can still integrate into my family and with my friends.

859
01:03:03,972.560114 --> 01:03:10,582.5616399
and so maybe things are slightly different, but I can have an open mind, remain open but also remain intelligent.

860
01:03:10,582.5616399 --> 01:03:16,282.5543157
You have to have a certain, intelligence and steadiness and groundedness because in that space it will remain open.

861
01:03:16,282.5543157 --> 01:03:21,302.5585882
Then I can just, "Oh, well, I should just love everybody," that can also be the other flip side of it.

862
01:03:21,609.1553164 --> 01:03:23,839.3889467
And, I've been burned by that because I want...

863
01:03:24,139.3843691 --> 01:03:30,19.3892519
I should be yogic, and I should love everybody, and everyone should be peaceful and harmonious, and that was a big thing for me.

864
01:03:30,19.3892519 --> 01:03:30,929.3852846
I was like, "Well, I should..."

865
01:03:31,229.3883364 --> 01:03:35,709.3840639
That's actually not true because, you know, regenerate them but they share me, set them but they share me.

866
01:03:35,709.3840639 --> 01:03:42,70.5836911
You know, all of these, tanma- mabatu, tadvak, taramabatu, like all of these concepts, you know, speak truthfully.

867
01:03:42,430.1925467 --> 01:03:43,810.1898001
you should also be direct.

868
01:03:43,910.1882742 --> 01:03:45,610.1928518
A lot of people don't like direct.

869
01:03:46,150.1937674 --> 01:03:54,730.1955984
Yeah, this is the way that w- we're taught, right? There's a level of being direct, and I should be able to hear something directly, not hurtfully, because ahimsa is still always in that.

870
01:03:54,730.1955984 --> 01:03:59,40.193157
But if somebody says something to me clearly and directly, I shouldn't have a big reaction.

871
01:03:59,356.4006031 --> 01:04:03,706.3914478
And you give gratitude, right, to the teacher that knowingly or unknowingly teaches me.

872
01:04:04,216.4012134 --> 01:04:04,396.3938892
Yeah.

873
01:04:04,396.3938892 --> 01:04:04,466.4012134
Mm.

874
01:04:04,466.4012134 --> 01:04:06,518.1849533
So much wisdom in all of these, chants.

875
01:04:07,3.7220372 --> 01:04:14,607.6613304
Yeah, and I actually think that you can love everybody, but you don't have to- Yeah allow yourself to be used or a doormat to people either.

876
01:04:14,657.6613304 --> 01:04:17,117.6680443
You can hold your boundaries.

877
01:04:17,117.6680443 --> 01:04:20,507.6674339
You can hold your container, and you can still...

878
01:04:21,297.6759788 --> 01:04:25,247.6729271
Because, you know, really love itself is rooted in that truth.

879
01:04:25,327.6747581 --> 01:04:30,897.6688811
It's rooted in that- ability to allow people to have their experience, whatever it is.

880
01:04:31,597.6686904 --> 01:04:32,387.6686522
Absolutely.

881
01:04:32,427.6686141 --> 01:04:45,270.7371504
And, and it's rooted in that trust, that trust that everyone is, doing what they need to do exactly the way that they need to, and trust in that something greater will come of all the things that we don't understand in our little human minds.

882
01:04:45,820.7375319 --> 01:04:58,890.7372267
I love what you're saying because this whole idea of, of course, boundaries are huge, right? There should be trust, and there should be all of the, the love, and all of these things are there, right? It's everything we've just been talking about that kind of links it together.

883
01:04:58,890.7372267 --> 01:05:00,440.7364638
And this is, you know, the essence.

884
01:05:00,440.7364638 --> 01:05:04,80.7396681
Yama and niyamas are this, The boundaries of myself, the boundaries of others.

885
01:05:04,500.7378371 --> 01:05:04,560.7392103
Mm.

886
01:05:04,560.7392103 --> 01:05:06,830.7396681
If I can understand that, I should start with that.

887
01:05:06,910.7376845 --> 01:05:06,970.7390578
Yeah.

888
01:05:07,190.7402785 --> 01:05:13,340.7379896
So I don't break the boundaries of others, I don't break the boundaries of myself with the discipline and all the other things that we have to take place.

889
01:05:13,530.7366164 --> 01:05:13,590.7379896
Yeah.

890
01:05:13,730.7373793 --> 01:05:14,80.7396681
So, yeah.

891
01:05:14,80.7396681 --> 01:05:15,900.7393629
There's nothing wrong with that.

892
01:05:15,900.7393629 --> 01:05:21,70.7375319
And you having strong boundaries, you having clear boundaries is actually loving other people.

893
01:05:21,570.7375319 --> 01:05:21,610.7384474
Yeah.

894
01:05:21,610.7384474 --> 01:05:22,430.7381422
It's actually compassion.

895
01:05:22,430.7381422 --> 01:05:23,60.7392103
Absolutely.

896
01:05:23,410.7376845 --> 01:05:26,800.7408888
Because then people know- Mm-hmm exactly where they stand, and they know what to expect.

897
01:05:26,940.7402785 --> 01:05:30,290.7387526
And that's- Yeah being in a healthy, clean, loving relationship.

898
01:05:30,850.7363112 --> 01:05:31,690.7402785
Love isn't messy.

899
01:05:31,720.7390578 --> 01:05:33,880.7350905
Love is super clean, super clear.

900
01:05:34,180.7381422 --> 01:05:34,240.7357008
Yeah.

901
01:05:35,0.7378371 --> 01:05:36,210.7369215
Yeah, absolutely.

902
01:05:36,500.7378371 --> 01:05:40,620.7405836
They might be messy, but it's usually our emotions and things that come in to make it this way.

903
01:05:40,620.7405836 --> 01:05:41,250.7378371
Yeah, true love, true love.

904
01:05:41,250.7378371 --> 01:05:41,570.7375319
But yeah.

905
01:05:41,570.7375319 --> 01:05:42,460.7369215
Unconditional love.

906
01:05:42,460.7369215 --> 01:05:42,770.7421095
True love.

907
01:05:42,810.7353956 --> 01:05:43,70.7375319
Yeah.

908
01:05:43,140.7372267 --> 01:05:45,500.7378371
The emotions are very messy at times.

909
01:05:46,180.7381422 --> 01:05:46,770.7421095
Yeah.

910
01:05:46,820.7375319 --> 01:05:48,480.741194
But- The nabhas they will come in.

911
01:05:48,480.741194 --> 01:05:51,230.741194
Yeah, that's- They will be there that's the love I'm talking about.

912
01:05:51,483.498255 --> 01:05:51,963.4939825
Understood.

913
01:05:51,963.4939825 --> 01:06:01,983.498255
I mean, and but that love is developed from, you know, a really To be able to feel those spaces, to be able to sit in those spaces develops merely from strong practices.

914
01:06:01,983.498255 --> 01:06:08,173.493067
And I don't mean ex- aggressive or forced, but you know, consistent, clear practices, like you're saying, moving towards that.

915
01:06:08,173.493067 --> 01:06:12,23.4869635
And that, that is the essence, right? We're moving towards that, meditative space.

916
01:06:12,23.4869635 --> 01:06:13,553.4933722
We're moving towards stillness.

917
01:06:14,33.4890997 --> 01:06:16,793.4912359
And that will also naturally bring all of these experiences.

918
01:06:17,123.493067 --> 01:06:20,583.4921515
The, what we talked about earlier, maitri, karuna, mudito, peksanam.

919
01:06:20,583.4921515 --> 01:06:22,303.4933722
That is a byproduct of practice.

920
01:06:22,813.487879 --> 01:06:23,693.4927618
You can't force it.

921
01:06:24,513.4924566 --> 01:06:24,653.4918463
Yeah.

922
01:06:24,653.4918463 --> 01:06:24,983.4936774
Yeah.

923
01:06:25,92.7362127 --> 01:06:37,650.2965276
joyful for the virtuous, friendliness to the happy, compassionate to the suffering, and indifference or equanimity to those who are struggling with evil devices.

924
01:06:37,821.1270567 --> 01:06:38,791.1282774
That's exactly it.

925
01:06:39,421.1179015 --> 01:06:42,191.1221739
Equanimity, that's a big, big practice.

926
01:06:42,191.1221739 --> 01:06:44,991.1252257
That's why we're practicing samskridhi, you know? That's right.

927
01:06:44,991.1252257 --> 01:06:45,731.1307188
You start there.

928
01:06:45,731.1307188 --> 01:06:46,372.5143246
Equanimity.

929
01:06:46,691.1221739 --> 01:06:47,511.1294981
Keep coming back.

930
01:06:48,291.1282774 --> 01:06:50,511.1294981
Just keep coming back again and again.

931
01:06:50,511.1294981 --> 01:06:52,231.1307188
That's the first- Yeah starting point.

932
01:06:52,561.4123467 --> 01:06:58,891.4141778
Well, thank you so much for being with me today and having this deeply philosophical conversation about yoga.

933
01:06:58,891.4141778 --> 01:07:01,591.411126
It was so nice and really rich.

934
01:07:01,671.4129571 --> 01:07:23,549.2613536
I think it's- It's so nice to have, conversation about what practice is and the essence of practice and what we're doing when we do all these things- Yeah like pranayama and chanting and asana, and, like, where are we going with it, and what does it all mean? Because I think it's easy to get misled or sidetracked in today's world.

935
01:07:24,309.2615825 --> 01:07:25,59.2615825
Absolutely.

936
01:07:25,59.2615825 --> 01:07:29,789.2611248
I mean, isn't that the great question of the universe? In doing what I'm doing, what am I really doing? Yeah.

937
01:07:29,819.2599041 --> 01:07:33,719.2595226
If we just remember that and ask it again and again, it will help guide us.

938
01:07:34,499.2621166 --> 01:07:34,999.2621166
yeah, beautiful.

939
01:07:34,999.2621166 --> 01:07:35,59.2634899
Yeah.

940
01:07:35,59.2634899 --> 01:07:36,569.2618114
It was so nice to be with you, Harmony.

941
01:07:36,569.2618114 --> 01:07:37,289.2630321
Always is.

942
01:07:37,579.2639476 --> 01:07:39,9.2642528
I just love our conversations.

943
01:07:39,439.264558 --> 01:07:39,549.2651683
Yeah.

944
01:07:39,549.2651683 --> 01:07:40,179.2624218
Thank you.

945
01:07:40,229.2616588 --> 01:07:47,58.1471505
Tell everyone where they can come find you and chat with you and do all your online offerings You can always find me taramatriyoga.com.

946
01:07:47,268.146235 --> 01:07:50,578.1437936
And yeah, we do the mentorship program.

947
01:07:50,938.1444039 --> 01:07:53,248.1419625
yeah, lots of Vedic chanting classes.

948
01:07:53,638.1413522 --> 01:07:55,178.1422677
yeah, all types of things.

949
01:07:55,268.1424203 --> 01:08:00,628.1392159
Just continually, Yeah, with, Upanishads, Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Bhagavad Gita.

950
01:08:00,628.1392159 --> 01:08:03,479.8816409
I mean, you name it, there's a continuum of, classes.

951
01:08:03,479.8816409 --> 01:08:07,839.8822512
Yoga sutras I teach every week for years now, so we just, yeah.

952
01:08:07,949.8828616 --> 01:08:11,69.8856082
There's always a continual way to practice, study.

953
01:08:11,409.8819461 --> 01:08:11,549.8813357
Beautiful.

954
01:08:12,449.8828616 --> 01:08:13,79.8877444
So everybody's welcome.

955
01:08:13,109.8865237 --> 01:08:16,216.2783193
And they can reach out to you on Instagram too if they want Exactly.

956
01:08:16,386.2764883 --> 01:08:17,586.2810659
Thank you so much, Marla.

957
01:08:17,586.2810659 --> 01:08:18,661.0907447
Thanks, Wow.

958
01:08:18,911.0907447 --> 01:08:21,281.0906899
I hope you loved that conversation.

959
01:08:21,281.0906899 --> 01:08:24,171.0905564
I hope you got so much out of it.

960
01:08:24,661.0908043 --> 01:08:28,171.0905564
And make sure that you share it with a friend.

961
01:08:28,171.0905564 --> 01:08:52,2.2582121
It's so important to just share this information about yoga, and to have these deeper conversations about spirituality and the more esoteric aspects of the yoga practice, and keeping the yoga connected to its roots and to its heritage, and to the land from which it, arose.

962
01:08:52,402.259738 --> 01:08:56,72.2579069
Especially if you're teaching yoga, these are really important conversations to have.

963
01:08:56,662.2580595 --> 01:09:05,142.2576018
And so if you are traveling or if you live in Portugal, I would love to see you June 25th to the 28th.

964
01:09:05,282.2569914 --> 01:09:10,82.2562285
I'll be teaching at Lisbon at Agora Yoga Lisboa.

965
01:09:10,302.2574492 --> 01:09:19,492.2560759
And July 7th to the 11th, I will be leading a five-day immersion in Faro at the Ashtanga House Faro.

966
01:09:19,602.2566862 --> 01:09:26,732.261569
You can find all the details for these trainings and intensives and workshops on my website, harmonyslater.com/events.

967
01:09:26,732.261569 --> 01:09:38,821.098816
And until next time, keep listening, keep practicing, and continue to find harmony That's it.

968
01:09:38,881.098816 --> 01:09:42,511.098816
We've concluded another episode of the Finding Harmony podcast.

969
01:09:42,991.098816 --> 01:09:49,561.098816
I just wanna thank you so much for doing the work that changes the world, starting with yourself.

970
01:09:49,861.098816 --> 01:09:53,251.098816
It truly does make a huge difference.

971
01:09:54,61.098816 --> 01:10:01,291.098816
Please make sure you have your automatic downloads turned on wherever you listen, so you don't miss any of the upcoming episodes.

972
01:10:01,426.098816 --> 01:10:04,876.098816
I have so much more magic I can't wait to share with you.

973
01:10:05,746.098816 --> 01:10:21,16.098816
Lastly, if you're on Instagram, I love connecting and hearing from you, so come on over and say hello at Finding Harmony podcast, and you can also come say hello to me personally at Harmony Slater official.

974
01:10:21,406.098816 --> 01:10:23,266.098816
Thank you again for being here.

975
01:10:23,446.098816 --> 01:10:27,556.098816
I cannot wait to share more with you in our next episode.