The Whole Yogi, Koshas And All!

Dear Yogis. 

Look at these words! They might apply to any of us when we have moments of doubt and I thought they would give a bit of steel to the backbone:  

“I was a whole person the moment I was born. I was a whole person, yes, even in my teen years. I am a whole person now. Even near death, even in death I am a full and whole person… I now evolve, change, morph in ways neither of us can predict or understand – I am still me! 

“Never will I be three-fourths of a person, half of a person, nor 1/73 of a person. There has not, nor will there ever be a moment in my life when I am not a complete Human Being. Please get this”. 

Yoga is always telling us that there is an essential being underneath all the layers of identity. It’s been a while since I wrote about the  yoga philosophy of Koshas back when I was taking part in  a silent retreat. I think it might be useful to think about the essential self - a fixed mark for times of tempests!

Long before we label our identities (my list has; daughter, carer, yoga teacher, runner, cyclist… and  granddaughter of quite an interesting guy!) this is what  the Koshas (the sheaths) say is actually me: a physical body (Annamaya Kosha); a vital energy via the breath (Pranamaya Kosha); the mind ‘stuff’ (Manomaya Kosha); the meditation state (Vijnanamaya Kosha); the divinity potential (Anandamaya Kosha). 

The Koshas shift the focus away from the ‘I’ identity and take us back to essentials. In times of frustration or depression or not feeling good enough or facing hostility or loss, the essential self is as it always was. As the song says, they can’t take that away from me. 

Zoom  Classes  

My goodness! The attendance in the Stretchy classes at the beginning of the week is growing! Thank you very much for bringing friends and family. I love it that it is so easy to ‘bring’ people to your class when, in normal times, it would be impossible to attend together! I love it.  You can book all classes here. And  don’t forget the class today at 4.30. If you’ve yet to try Ashtanga, yes, it involves some energy and strength but you can give it a go. You can take breaks! 

Yoga in the news  

The Guardian has:  UK's first yoga union fights for fairer share of £900m-a-year industry. “Tired of bending over backwards for employers, teachers join forces against downward dog eat dog world”. “The move comes ahead of a crucial supreme court judgment, expected within weeks, that will decide whether self-employed minicab drivers for Uber should be treated as workers and therefore receive the national minimum wage and holiday pay.” 

The Metro has:  Yoga class ‘burning away negative thoughts’ fined for breaking lockdown.  “Assistant Chief Constable Rob Carden tweeted: ‘Twenty people on yoga mats burning pieces of paper with negative thoughts written on them have now been given new pieces of paper by @MerseyPolice with the words “fixed penalty notice” printed on them”. 

The Telegraph has:   Join in with free online PE lessons: yoga Join in with free online PE lessons: yoga. North Hertfordshire College have picked up the baton for the online PE classes, in partnership with The Telegraph's Keep Kids Active campaign, with their latest offering focusing on yoga. 

Have a warm weekend.