Philosophy
It’s been my experience that just about everybody comes to yoga looking for some kind of change, shift, or transformation. Some people come looking to transform a knot of tension into relaxation, stiffness into mobility, weakness into stability, stress into relaxation, fear in courage, or distraction into mindfulness.
I’ve heard time and time again how people feel as if they are out of balance, unhealthy, discontented, or broken. So we begin with the idea that we are already infinite, eternal and whole. Inherently we are good, pure, and healthy of body, heart, and mind. However being a human and living life eventually creates layers of tension and for some all those layers can create a shell that lead to feeling disconnected internally and externally, isolated, and disengaged. The good news is that we all have the ability to heal ourselves, to make space in a closed heart, to slow a busy mind, soften the harshness of judgment, and loosen the noose of stress. Anyone can create harmony and ease on all levels of their being.
Celtic musician and storyteller Charles de Lint said, “When all is said and done, all roads lead to the same end.” Over my many years of being a student and a teacher I have collected an assortment of practices that all lead to the same end. These practices provide anyone with the tools to create inner and outer harmony, balance, and health. Each one of these practices empowers you with tools such as concentration, meditation, breath work, and movement in order to be a skillful explorer. Each practice starts off by asking you to pay attention, to listen a little more intently and feel more fully the rich inner life that is always present. They create an inner intimacy by enlarging and intensifying what you are experiencing inside, like when you look at something through a microscope. Each one of them helps you untie the knots of tension, un-glove the layers of separation, and crack open the hard shell of limitations. When there is more space your vision is clearer, you can see farther, and move with more skill and fluidly. This space makes cultivates an awakening and enlivening that opens you up. A metamorphosis begins, a blossoming from your inner world into the world outside yourself, leaving you more open, engaged, and connected. Ultimately this leads to you living a more wholehearted life.
