High On Yoga

Dear Yogis.

Over the years I have taken classes with teachers who have promised me that I can get high. They themselves seem very happy and, possibly, high. They promise euphoria, higher states of consciousness and transformation. Some talk about the drugs they used to take before discovering yoga.

Marcus Veda, for example, was an ‘international DJ’ ‘before he discovered the power of the breath’. I’ve been in a workshop with him where the class shared their energy and it was electric – drug-like, even! David Sye talks in class about taking drugs before he realised you could get high for free! His workshops have a very definite goal of getting high. Here’s a recording by David Sye showing you how to feel euphoria and “see the world in another way”.

I’m thinking along these lines because I hear of people taking more and more alcohol in response to the changes Coronavirus is making in society and in our lives. Well… why not? Most of us have had our lives change in unimaginable ways, including the death of loved ones. What’s not to numb? My dear friend Raakhee Thompson (many of you know her from Triyoga Ealing) describes beautifully how supportive alcohol can be. She says in a blog on joinclubsoda.com (her story is such a good read): ‘In my early twenties, I learned that alcohol was my friend. It gave me confidence when I felt shy, relaxation when I felt stressed, happiness when I felt sad, and elation when I felt good. It was quickly sewn into the fabric of my existence’. Who doesn’t need that kind of friend?

Kat Farrants, founder of Movement for Modern Life, was once a corporate lawyer feeling trapped in the life she had; she was just 'ticking off the days'. She was in a ‘half-asleep trance’. She said that when someone invited her to a pub it was the only time she felt herself come alive.

I can see that offering a 10-minute meditation session, or yoga poses to still the mind, might not seem able to compete with the all-encompassing offering that alcohol has. Yoga is interested in the absolute opposite of alcohol, the opposite of numbness, half-asleepness and soullessness. Kat Farrants started her move away from her trance with one yoga posture – handstands. She said that it’s a brave move to take that step away from alcohol. Society wants you to drink and even work promotions depend on it. My posture is Crow Pose – not for shifting from alcohol to teetotal but from my old office life to new yoga teacher life. That was my thing.

Zoom Classes 

People are visiting my website from the US, India, Thailand, Brazil, Uganda, Brunei, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Mexico, Bangladesh, the Republic of Korea, UAE, Greece, NZ, Sweden and loads more… International cousins, I hope you join a class soon. If the times don’t suit your time zone, let me know what might. You can book here and, don’t forget, there’s an Ashtanga class today at 4.30.

Yoga in the news 

The Independent has:  I am a white meditation and yoga teacher, so am I guilty of cultural appropriation? ‘For me personally, meditation has saved my life and improved my own health, wellbeing and happiness beyond recognition. Throughout my teens and adulthood I navigated anxiety, panic attacks, postnatal depression, career burnout, the pain of a divorce last year, and the overwhelming grief of losing my mother during lockdown this year, all with increased resilience and the ability to process my emotions better. I believe this is because I meditate daily.’

UNHCR has the lovely story of Rita, a Ugandan refugee and yoga instructor: Finding wellbeing through yoga at a Kenyan refugee camp.  “Some people think the poses are Photoshopped, but they are not,” says Rita, 28, who fled violence in Uganda as a child. She and her twin sister, Dorine, fled on their own as orphans, at the age of seven, after they witnessed the murder of their parents. Her father, she says, died defending his family from the armed group who attacked their village, leaving destruction and death in their wake. “Yoga has changed me spiritually, mentally and emotionally,” she says, setting out how it has benefitted her. “It has helped me practice self-acceptance and see opportunities to be a better person in the hurdles I have encountered.”