the Bhagavad Gītā

On Bhakti…and the Bhagavad Gītā

During the few golden years of 2016-2019 I found myself in the utter cosmos of freedom within my physical body: I had a profound couple of years of ease in āsana: slipping in and out of difficult postures, gaining wisdom in the spine and with the breath. What followed was a difficult pregnancy and traumatic labour with Calvin, so I focused again on the tradition of ashtanga yoga and my diet and elevated my body and mind to the highest level of yogic practice once again. I got it all back after the birth of Dashiel and again with Calvin. I had this unsatiable hunger to get back to the practice I once had and wanted to have again. I saw the yogi mother as someone who could do it all.

With all this time on the mat (usually between 4 am and 6 am or anytime while my little baby Calvin slept); this well-earned clarity of mind allowed me to see how things weren’t going well in some areas of my life. I saw and felt how my marriage was failing, I wanted it to work so I followed my husband Tim to Ireland; the move took me away from my yoga community and I had to start all over. It was this move to Ireland that broke me entirely.

Here we are in 2024, five years later and since then, things have been blossoming in some ways and also slowly deteriorating in others. My marriage has ended, and I found that freedom doesn’t come as easily in āsana nor does it live in the body, it definitely doesn’t live on a yoga mat. It does pulse and live the soul, it is alive through work and service, and it shines when there is a healthy relationship with the self. It shines when the body is quiet and the mind is still and this could happen anywhere, anytime, not actually only on a yoga mat!

It is awakened for me when I am breathing steadily, laughing with my children and focusing on an athletic, healthy and mindful lifestyle. It is also awakened when I am listening with a courageous ear and navigating my way through this world alone. Continuing to be quiet from my seated practice of meditation has taught me that sometimes the best act to do is the act of being still and quiet and to actually do nothing at all.

I feel blessed here in Ireland that I am able to live in this glorious city of Dublin, have an incredible climbing community and have a disciplined and kind yoga community: the Little Bird Mysore programme where I co-teach with my friend and student, Hannah Dabrowska. (We offer four days of week of Mysore/led classes and online chanting class once per week). I am grateful to the yogis and to the climbers who support me through friendship and kindness and I am delighted when I get to help others on the mat or climb with friends on the vertical wall.

With all this support that I have found after four years of living here, right now I feel confident that it is time to restructure and redefine how I teach and share yoga. Up until now, I have defined yoga as:

daily discipline,
a turning inwards (self reflection through creative journaling and writing)
asana (posture),
pranayama (breathing) and
mantra (tool for the mind -chanting).

And in the next ten years you’ll see me add a few more important parts of practice: devotion to the Lord and service. I am not sure what my service looks just quite yet - it may be getting a new job and a career change altogether, however it is coming along as I sit and listen. I am not sure if I will teach yoga forever however I will practice forever and share what I know as long as I can, even if it is a little bit here and there and not a lot.

This has all come about because my attention turned completely to the teachings from Bhagavad Gītā. This happened around the same time that I started rock climbing more regularly again, so my āsana practice and time on the mat became more thoughtful, more awakened and more soulful. It was also because I let go of holding on to a series - I simply began practicing parts of ashtanga yoga instead of an entire series…and this allowed me to listen more and to extract the gems out of each and every individual pose. I have to say, cooling down the fire a bit on the mat and adding fire elsewhere (my wellness and my climbing) brought me closer to the divine, it wasn’t that fourth series which I thought was!

Edwin Bryant defines this natural progression of adapting yogic practice towards the higher wellness of the self as bhakti: he taught me that first we need to learn the yoga sūtras, then look to the divine to guide us on the path of transformation. And the path for this is the Gītā. I wasn’t really ready to grasp this nor understood what he meant at the time. I was hungry to memorise the sūtras, now that has taken shape, picking up the Gītā became a natural progression.

It sure took a while! My life is about to pick up momentum as my divorce will finalise soon, I have retreats and weekend events ahead April through November and I’ll be a busy bee sharing the above defined yogic practices with yoga sutras and ślokas from the Gītā. I also plan to be out some weekends when I can at the Fairhead climbing.

I most excited about my upcoming 6-week Bhagavad Gītā course!

Join me Wednesdays 17 April through 22 May from 9:30-10:30 am where we will go into detail over the text, have discussions about jñāna yoga (the yoga of Knowledge), bhakti yoga (the yoga of devotion) and karma yoga (the yoga of service and duty). There will be much, much more including detailed pdfs and discussions on Sāṇkhya philosophy. Have a little glimpse into our study below - have a listen and do join us. (All sessions will be recorded so if you can’t attend live the recordings will be sent after. Any questions of course email me - I can’t wait to have you join me and share this experience with you.

Chapter 2 - The Yoga of Knowledge (72 ślokas)

śrībhagavān uvāca
the Blessed Lord spoke


47

karmaṇyevādhikāraste

in action alone the jurisdiction of thee,

mā phaleṣu kadācana

never in fruits at any time

mā karmaphalahetur bhūr

never action-fruit motive should arise,

mā te sañgo ‘stv akarmaṇi
never of thee attachment let there be in
inaction.

Your right is to action alone;
never to its fruits at any time.
Never should the fruits of action be
your motive;
Never let there be attachment to inaction 
in you.

48

yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi
in Yoga fixed, perform actions,

saṅgaṁ tyaktvā dhyanañjaya
attachment having abandoned,
Conqueror of Wealth,

siddhyāsiddyoḥ samo bhūtvā
to success or failure indifferent having
become 

samatvaṁ  yoga uchyate
indifference (is) Yoga, it is said.

Fixed in yoga, perform actions,
Having abandoned attachment,
Arjuna,
And having become indifferent to success
Or failure. It is said that evenness of mind
is Yoga.

49

dūreṇa hyavaraṁ karma
by far, indeed, inferior, action

buddhiyogād dhanaṁjaya
to intelligence-discipline, Conqueror
Of Wealth

buddhāu śaraṇam anviccha
in sight refuge seek;

kṛpaṇāḥ phalahetavaḥ
despicable (are) those who are motivated 
by fruit.

Action is inferior by far
To the yoga of wisdom, Arjuna.
Seek refuge in wisdom!
Despicable are those whose motives
Are based on the fruit of action.

50

buddhiyukto  jahātīha
He who is disciplined in intuitive 
Determination casts off here in the world

ubhe sukṛtaduṣkṛte
Both good and evil deeds

tasmād yogāya yujyasva
Therefore to yoga yoke thyself!

yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam
Yoga in action (is) skill

He whose wisdom is established
Casts off, here in the world, both good
And evil actions;
Therefore devote yourself to yoga!
Yoga is skill in action.

51

karmajaṁ buddhiyuktā hi
born of action, the intelligence
disciplined, indeed

phalaṁ tyaktvā manīṣiṇaḥ
fruit having abandoned, the wise

janmabandhavinirmuktāḥ
rebirth bondage freed from,

padam gacchanty anāmayam
(to the) place they go, free from pain.

Those who are established in wisdom,
The wise ones, who have abandoned the fruit born of action,
And are freed from the bondage of rebirth,
Go to the place that is free from pain.

And now, introducing the Intermediate Series, Irish yogis!

My dear student and friend Josephine Ryan - you can find her teaching in Co Offaly and at @joyoga_yoyofyoga on Instagram

This week marks my fourth year of teaching in Ireland!

I want to thank Amy Kokoszka for offering me the opportunity to teach at her studio the Rathmines Collective: her knowledge of hatha and ashtanga yoga is beyond exceptional; anyone who has been to her classes or practiced next to her have seen her devotion and grace and been awed by her magnificent breath! Thank you Amy!

I also want to thank Rionach Flynn and Gillian Mooney, to Suzanne and John -  here in Dublin - to Fiona and Martin in Galway, and to Gabriella Nicholson in Belfast and Euncie and Eamon in Cork; these yoga teachers have recommended my teachings to their students and shared my events. Thank you for your support over these last four years - being new here to Ireland, I didn’t know many people at all, and your support and sharing really helped me get started here.

I taught my first classes at Amy’s studio in March of 2020. This was just before covid; I think I taught for a week or so before the world shut down. I then moved all of my teachings online like most of us teachers did - offering free online classes, pop-up events, live chanting events and led and Mysore classes from home. When Amy closed the RC, I took my in-studio offerings to Little Bird Coffee and Yoga as I found the studio was the right size (can fit 18 tight); I found that Eileen and Elena run a fantastic center, and the LB is a beautiful space with great light and a lofty feeling of quiet, comfort and ease. 

I am now at the two-year mark of teaching at LB. I have never let the online go - it has become my bread and butter as an ashtanga yoga teacher: I have taught students from all over Europe and reached a few rural yogis here in Ireland who come as well. I won’t let this asset go, all my classes are to remain online!

After four years of observing, teaching and participating in the yoga scene in Ireland, I’d like to share what I have seen and share what I could see more of…I could see a few more students practicing the intermediate series! May this blog post inspire you to add a little kindling to the fire of your practice, be courageous and brave, and begin the Intermediate Series. I’d be delighted to help you along with this series. May the rest of this blog explain why.

[Of course if you are brand new to Ashtanga Yoga - looking for a teacher or a programme to start - I also teach the primary series to all new students. Please don’t take this specific blog post that I only want to teach intermediate - I love all the series and will take the time and great care needed to support you in your beginning yoga journey.]

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Since 2019, the strict, hard rules of ashtanga yoga have died a great death. Some old rules are still accepted in the mainstream ashtanga yoga world, however there are many ashtanga teachers like myself who continue to follow some of the traditional rules, however we bend a few more. Let’s look at what rules we do want to hold on to and some that could just go away.

To start, there is a standard in practice that in order to move forward into the intermediate series, one has to:
1), bind their hands in Marichyasana D,
2), bind their hands in Supta Kurmasana, and
3), come up to standing from Urdhva Dhanurasana from the floor.

Without the support of the intermediate series, it is difficult to build the strength and stamina to come up from the floor in a backbend to standing without the help of the first seven postures of intermediate. And, we all know that binding a posture - any posture really, however specifically Marichyasana D and Supta Kurmasana, doesn’t make the posture complete. What makes the posture complete is a steady breath, done without strain and with ease. This said, it doesn’t matter if you bind or not, what matters is that you have approached these poses with specific determination and have found ease and comfort in them by maintaining a steady breath.

These rules of achieving great awareness in these three pillar-posutres is quite sensible because having an established primary series will give students the base and stability to tackle such difficult postures as Kapotasana and Dvi Pada Sirsasana - gatekeeper postures nestled in the Intermediate Series.

Yet I have seen that students feel that they have to have these completions done to perfection in order to move into the intermediate series; here is where bending these rules is good practice.

Attempting to get that bind in Marichy D, those hands bound in Supta K and getting that backbend solidified will make the journey into Intermediate easier, however we don’t want to stay in Primary series so long that we feel weighted heavy or altogether bored and later, quit ashtanga altogether!

Another rule which isn’t best for everyone (some people need this, however not everyone) is that a student needs to add on the next series after primary series. This means the students’ practice becomes very long and arduous. This isn’t practical for a parent or someone who only has an hour and a half every morning before work. And this definitely isn’t practical for someone who is older and practices. Once one is proficient in primary, do the intermediate series to the best of their ability. And perhaps it is shorter version in the beginning (not as long as say doing full primary), however it is done with fluid teachings: i.e. just practice the first seven postures of intermediate with lots of Urdhva Dhanurasana in order to feel comfortable and stable to approach Kapotasana skilfully and then move on to the next one.

Why do the intermediate series once there is proficiency in primary?

The answer is that the apanic (downward flow of energy) quality of primary - all the forward bends which you go into via the exhale breath - create a heaviness in the body if done too long and without the pranic (upward flow of energy) quality of intermediate.

The intermediate series is the yang which supports this yin; we inhale to come into the posture in the Intermediate Series (not always but usually). This balancing of energy will replenish the nervous system and balance the apanic practice of primary.

Also there are less jump backs and more strength and flexibility based postures in the intermediate series, however nothing beats all those strength based seated jump backs in primary! So they balance each other out quite nicely.

When you are starting the intermediate series or primary series, whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned practitioner, don't forget about these hidden gems: these will help you along your dedicated yoga path!

-When you come to the shala, feel comfortable to start seated and begin with pranayama and chanting; when you come to standing to begin, chant the invocation;

-Practice and learn chakrasana (the back-wards roll out of asanas - this is a unique vinyasa that is tricky and may be lost and forgotten in twenty-years’time);

-Chant the Mangala Mantra (closing chant) softly to yourself at the end of practice or ask myself or Hannah to come next to you and we will teach it to you and chant it with you.

-Feel comfortable to receive adjustments; if there is any time that an adjustment isn’t safe or done without your consent tell your teacher right away;

-Give a thanks when leaving the Shala; a simple eye contact or gesture of thanks is a nice way to connect with your teacher and share a moment of gratitude for practicing in their company; they in return too can thank you for your hard work on the mat and your discipline and time spent with them.

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These elements above make Ashtanga Yoga unique! Indulge in your practice and modify and adapt anywhere in the series; do a little bit or a lot; be yourself, show up on your mat diligently and be ready to learn.

Chant soulfully! Don’t be afraid to chant the shanti mantras from the soul of your being; chanting is integrous to the practice of yoga and though it is unusual at first, sit and listen and give it some time, it may be something you’ll enjoy. After four years of chanting the yoga sutras online on a Monday, very few people come. Please try to chant and give it a chance!

Ashtanga Yoga used to be coined a ‘research’ based practice; hence the name Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute (AYRI, the old name of the Shala in Mysore). It was always growing and expanding, there were postures added in and taken out. Now a-days it is a set method (no changes are being made to the series) however you as a practitioner can continue to adapt and modify and design your practice so that it serves you best.

May us ashtangis here in Ireland continue to practice mindfully together; by joining together and practicing together we join other people all around the world who continue to practice. Because we continue to practice, we join this global community. Notice how it only takes thirty minutes to have a calming, body-centering and mindful experience of yoga - it doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t have to be a full series, just a simple breathing practice with a meditative mind on the breath.

Often the worst of my practices are the ones that teach me the most about myself.

The very worst practice is the one I don’t do.

Please feel welcome to join me on my retreats, join my online and Dublin-based Mysore programme (I teach Thursdays, Sundays and Hannah teaches on Tuesdays and we swap Fridays at Little Bird Coffee and Yoga), and join me online for pop-up led primary series classes, pranayama and chanting classes.

Join me the 14-19 July for a week of Mysore and Led Classes; this Dublin intensive is from 6:30-9:30 am Sunday through Friday and I would love to see you there.

For those of you who are not yet practicing intmediate series, please come to David Garrigues workshop here in Dublin 31 May - 2 June. You can register with me on my website and don’t miss an exceptional weekend to get started on your intermediate series journey. After all, the intermediate series supports the primary series and makes an ashtanga yogi a well-balanced practitioner.

Om tat sat.

Asana IS the goal of yoga

When I was in my early thirties, I was entirely focused on my yoga practice. I was just beginning to learn the third series. I hadn’t started a chanting or meditative practice yet - to be honest - asana was the goal of yoga. Now that I am 46, I have a few more skills to do on the mat other than asana, I practice meditation and pranayama and also have a devoted chanting practice. Truth be told, guess what…asana is still the goal.

(Asana in this blog post is to be referred as ‘yoga posture’. An example of this would be lotus pose, or padmasana. Padma (lotus) asana (posture) hence the name, “Padmasana”).

Any given yoga practice will have variety during one’s time on the mat. There will be philosophy, theory, there will be some chanting, there is meditation and of course, a little bit of pranayama. The hour or hour and a half of time one spends on the yoga mat will have all of these components involved; interestingly enough, one may only do asana. Through the asana, all of these components may happen! How is it that by just practicing postures, one can access a state of concentration and meditation without even trying?

The late BKS Iyengar describes the yoga sutra, “Shira sukham asana” (Yoga Sutra 11.46) as:

“Asana is perfect firmness of body, steadiness of intelligence and benevolence of spirit.”

— BKS Iyengar, "Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali", p. 158

Iyengar further goes on to share that asana isn’t always comfortable; this is very true as most of us know. In the beginning it is difficult to understand the anatomy, the purpose, the breath, the alignment of postures. Remember when you first learned Namaskara A and B? Remember how difficult it was to remember to link the breath with this and that and to do these postures with care, discipline and ease? In the beginning it was hard! And with time you may have become more comfortable, however it didn’t just come, concentration and discipline were required.

Most interesting to me is that as I continue to practice entering my second decade of daily practice, the asanas are still the greatest tools for manifesting dharana (concentration) and dhyana (meditation). Let’s look at why:

“Usually the mind is closer to the body and to the organs of action and perception than to the soul. As asanas are refined they automatically become meditative as the intelligence is made to penetrate towards the core of being.”

— Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

When you practice an asana, there is much more than alignment, anatomy, stretching, strengthening, yawdy-dawdy going on. This is probably why I love yoga so very much: there are a many specific actions required to be successful. Iyengar says these are “conative, cognitive, mental, intellectual and spiritual.”

Conative: this means that one needs to work hard and use their limbs and their organs to actually perform a posture: effort with the physical body and breath is required of us. A definition of conative is defined here as a wish, intention or effort to do something (Cambridge Dictionary).

Did you sweat when you practiced or was it just a sleepy tamasic dream? What went on and what exactly was required of your body to perform the postures? WHY do you want do to the yoga anyways?

Cognitive: perception of what happened and the results of what one did on the mat. Cognitive would be described as “thinking or even being away of what happened; the mental process”; this is whatgot you to do the posture! Example would be:

How do you feel afterwards? Directly written: did you freak out for four years when learning Kapotasana like I did, or did you just quit the pose because of the rigorous requirement it asked of you?

Mental and Intellectual: fusing the above two together - there is a knowing and realisation of what went on and what was required of you to perform the asana. This is also called ‘discriminative awareness’.

What kind of sacrifices do you have to to do in order to make the postures work? I am going to guess they were bigger than getting on the mat. You had to watch your diet, change your relationships a bit, find compassion for someone who had hurt you, heal your limbs that were in the past in pain in order to find freedom in the limbs to perform, etc.

Spiritual: there is a joy and/or a freedom that is felt when one can link their physical body with intellectual awareness - there may be a flow in the limbs of in the cells of the body…there may even be a sense of “well being” which brings you closer to your soul.

From the knowledge of what you had to do in order to attempt to practice these postures well - safely, securely, with or without props, with or without a teacher, perhaps on your own…this sense of knowing brought you ease and freedom in the body allowing you to sit still and to be with yourself and your breath. This perhaps led you ultimately, to witness your quieter self, to a place known as concentration and meditation.

Getting focused on your physical being, your fitness and your heart - your lungs and your breathing…notice how this directly affects how you feel about yourself. Postures are physically demanding shapes that bring you a slim waist, a clear mind and a sense of purpose. When you are required to do something that is a bit scary or new, you ultimately dig into a place of wonderment. I often will ask myself,

Why in the hell am I doing this? I really should take up another hobby.

However, I don’t quit. I haven’t quit in twenty-two years. This is because I feel the urge to move my spine. I love how it has changed in the last five years. After completing fourth series, I wondered, “Why do it?”

You don’t have to prove to anyone that you do yoga. You can do it here or there, you can do it anywhere. You can do it in the morning, in the evening, you can do it in your jammies or in your fanciest yoga outfits. You can do it on a bathroom towel or you can purchase a brand new fancy mat for €200. Whatever suits you best is what you do. You find yoga or yoga finds you. Yoga is about getting first physical and somatic. Yoga is an experience that is ultimately yours which directly takes you to the company of your quieter self and later, becomes a ritualistic and personalised expression where you get to be with the person you know you are.

Therefore asana is the goal of yoga and should be done regularly…and as BKS Iyengar says, “with benevolence of spirit.”

Happy practice to you, yogi!

The Ideal Yogic Practice

Natarajasana from today, 5 December 2023

There may be a time in your daily practice where you start listening a bit more, watching closely to the relationship of your hip, your spine, your breath, and you may even downgrade a little or go up a few more levels; in other words and more plainly written: you will adapt your practice to accommodate what is going on in your life.

Rock climbers understand this as “getting stronger” or even as “taking a break” as they scale/down-scale the grade-system of climbing. A 7a is one thing, a 7b+ (much harder grade of climbing), is another. This is likened to the ashtanga yoga practitioner practicing intermediate series for four to seven years, and the next year or two, finishing third series. There is a growth - an exponential one as it may seem, however it may be very inevitable.

I have been practicing since 2000: I spent the first four years learning the primary series, the following seven years learning the intermediate series and in the last twelve years, I’ve completed the third and fourth series. In the last twelve years, I have still practiced more primary and intermediate than advanced. In the last nine years I have had two children. And after 23 years of practice I would say that I mostly practice primary and intermediate, and I sprinkle in the advanced practice where I see fit.

Yoga practice comes in and away from you like the waves from the sea; I believe we have cycles that ebb and flow. The longer you practice the easier it is to notice. And now that some of you (like myself) have been videoing and photographing ourselves practicing (thank you, covid!), it is easy to see the changes in our bodies, in our minds and in the time and places where we have been.

I look at all the asana pictures of myself and I am reminded that this time too shall pass; and another year I’ll be less flexible or more so. If we think this is it, this is our best that we have to offer and there is nothing left, you’re wrong! Or if you are feeling washed up and wilted, remember there is always another year to practice and reinvent yourself and your relationship with your yoga practice. It too will come back to life like the Phoenix rises up from the ashes, reborn for the next great flight of her life.

Practicing smarter will be the key to building this type of compassion that will be required to have a successful, long term yoga practice. When you realise that you can no longer bust out Kapotasana after doing full primary and some of intermediate, the mirror of yoga will tell you simply: practice smarter! You can still do Kapotasana regularly, however maybe without a full series before it - or maybe without devastating your back doing a repetitive lousy upward dog. You’ll refine. You’ll re-draw the lines, and you will also, re-examine what and how you actually practice before you do Kapotasana.

It is pretty clear: some years you got it, some years…you just don’t. Injury happens, babies come, relationships break and shalas close. Teachers move away, and the worst of all, you change physically and mentally. Are you still a yogi when “the citt hits the fan?” (Thank you, Tim Miller, I first heard you share this during a retreat with you in Maya Tulum, Mexico in 2002 when I was just a newbie on my very long ashtanga yoga journey.)

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It is only a matter of time when you come to grips with how you need a compassionate mind set to continually adapt or redefine your practice. It will come when you notice how difficult it is to bust out a full series. Questions I have for you are: do you have the two hour time-frame a full series with Pranayama requires? Do you have the stamina and did you eat properly the night before? Are you holding yourself to a high standard of community around you to encourage you to practice day in and day out?

I started designing my practice primarily for peak postures. This meant that I was still doing some of third, some of fourth, some of intermediate and primary, I just wasn’t doing the full series leading up to the posture I was currently working on.

I started sometime in 2022: starting with classic standing postures, a few parts of intermediate or third or primary and second, and then approaching the ultimate posture - some days, Kurmasana, or Dvi Pada Sirsasana, and others, doing loads of backbends so that I could approach the ominous and informidable pose, Ganda Berundhasana.

I broke the rules. I broke them because after 23-years of practice I listened to my body crave compassion.

”Please don’t do the full third!” begged my practice mind.

”Hush you, you’re fine, you’re so strong you can do the full thing.” said my brain and my ego.

Natarajasana, after the Birth of Dashiel, 2017

The practice-mind ruled me over: to practice with a smarter mind and to not do the full series if needed: the result has been a dedication on the mat no matter what (that’s no change, lol!), to do what my body requires for that day. I do all of standing always including two additional one-legged standing postures, Ardha Chandrasana and Dikasana. Adding more standing postures helps my balance and my stamina, my knees and my feet. If anything that the ashtanga method lacks, is a lack of standing poses. I need more of them, so I add them in.

I always do a full primary and a full intermediate once a week: yes the full series. The stamina and balance of the series soothes my nervous system and calms my mind. I also do the full backbending sequence as much as possible. This traditional practice connects me to the community around me - if I all of a sudden went rogue and didn’t practice the traditional practice at all I would no longer feel connected as I do to the world community around me - which I strive to be apart of.

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Refine your practice and keep practicing what you love - never stop because you no longer do what you ‘used to do’. Practice what you do do well, and work on your hard-earned poses - even if you use straps, extra preparations, or even modify your practice for ‘peak poses’ no one will discredit you for your efforts: if anything, yogis around the world, who also struggle practicing this difficult method day in and day out, will congratulate you on your courage to adapt and change, modify and clearly wax and wane in your own glory…some years you’ll shine and others, you’ll still be working on getting it right.

Natarajasana, 2012 in Philadelphia when I had just learned it.

Going on a Treasure Hunt

Persistent practice means there is a soulful interest to get into the creative and quiet self. It isn’t easy for most of us and for many people like myself, I take a little more time to find that sweet place.

I write this on a fine Saturday morning, where there are no sounds outside, the sky is grey and wet raindrops soak the ground; there is a quiet cold to the season that is changing into autumn. This cold feeling sneaks it’s way into the air: it isn’t like one day it is cold, and dark - it is a slow persistent cooling that smothers the summer away.

The mat is rolled out and I have finished my morning coffee. The ritual of writing before practice started this past summer, when I participated in a three-month self-guided writing course by Julia Cameron, “The Artist’s Way”. Only now if I don’t feel like writing my three morning pages, I read for thirty minutes instead and then begin to practice. This sitting and being still with my thoughts clears out the cob-webs out so that when I do get on my mat, I find myself even more willing to practice.

This day in particular is unique because it is the day after I have gone climbing with friends, so my morning practice begins a little bit creaky. My body requires my attention. I need to roll around a bit, I need to knead out the knots in my upper back and I need to caress my feet, which have been clinging like claws and are worn and tired. My hands - my digits feel like they’ve been driven over by a machine and my legs are tired from holding myself upwards. Did you know that using your legs is a huge part of climbing? I tend to the soothing and rejuvenating, and then I do some intermediate or primary series. Yes, this all happens on a Saturday because I almost always climb on a Friday evening. 

Traction exercises; using belts or even a stick of a broom; pulling on some squishy bands, and hip and shoulder work begins my day. Then I move onto rolling around on spiky balls. This whole practice usually takes twenty minutes and then I am ready for some ashtanga yoga. 

Have you found that as you age, yogi, you need a little more tender loving care before you begin your practice? If you don’t and you are still a raging bull ready to get into that ring of fire, consider yourself unusual. Most of us as we age need a little more time to arch ourselves into that creative and selfless upward dog. My downward dog is an invocation into my spine, my legs and my shoulders feel tenderly embraced, so I stay for ages there, forget five breaths, often I stay for ten breaths, and the same for the upward dog. The first five Sun Salutations take longer than they used to, I stretch my breath and make it long and each vinyasa is valued; time is on your side during these beginning movements.

This exploration and warming up goes hand in hand with the maturity that the meditation of the practice starts to become more important than the postures. This means that you are simply happy with each asana and the breath that accompanied it - and you are committed completely to the act of simply being there - alone - in solitude - with your quiet and beautiful self. 

This to me has become more of my focus on the mat. How are my thoughts when I practice? Am I doubting myself and seeking more and wanting to be this or that and wanting to be great or prove something to someone, etc…or am I just content being with my breath and myself? The latter for sure. I want that sweet discovery of listening to my breath and watching it unfold. How glorious when time goes by swiftly and you find yourself in your upward padmasana in the closing sequence thinking of nothing but the tip of your nose and peering at your navel in total focus and care?

The practice begs our attention because it is so difficult; like rock climbing, it isn’t very forgiving. You must work at it. You must give it the attention it deserves, or you will be robbing yourself of the joys of samadhi. This bliss or place of all knowing - also called “samadhi” or absorption of the self - this is what we are seeking each and every time we step on that mat.

How you get there yogi, that is your own travel itinerary! Remember that your travels plans may or may not be the same pathway as someone else; in fact your path of yoga is always different from someone else’s! Each and every one of your practices is a personalised treasure hunt where you go searching for the gold. We all have our maps! Yet is it really the gold that us yogis want? No. It is the actual path that you are travelling upon - that you persistently have to figure out your way upon - that is the yoga! Your practice is your treasure, and it is the work that you do while on the pathway that brings you to yoga.

Practice with me this year in my upcoming day workshop here in Dublin, 11 November, 2023 from 9-5 pm where we will explore some pathways that may bring us towards yoga. Book your workshop place HERE.

Garbha Pindasana - Rock and Roll, baby! (Copy)

This blog post was published in January of 2012. I have reshaped it in hope that you will feel inspired to practice this potent āsana with a little more curiosity! If you like or dislike this asana - please bring your comments to the blog - the more the merrier! 

After I finish my practice,

I often reflect upon the posture that gave me the most grief, the most joy, and the most curiosity. When I am doing the primary series, it is always Garbha Pindasana that takes the cake: it fills the roll of all three. And in the intermediate series - it's a no brainer, of course it is Karandavasana. In the third series, it is Viranchasana B because of the knee intensity and my history of injuries from my days as a youth ski racer.

During my first practice in Mysore, I had a memorable experience with Garbha Pindasana. A woman next to me was attempting the asana at the same time, and we were both rolling at the same time. I stole out of the corner of my eye a smile from Sharath in wonderment of just how these two women were going to make nine rolls without having a bumper-car crash into each other or others around them. We didn't smash, but I'll never forget the focus it took to roll exactly when she did, and how much effort it took to link my breath with hers so that we could be collaborative in our efforts.

Garbha Pindasana is one of the most important postures for me to come back to often. I have a mild scoliosis in my thoracic spine and the unexpected relief I receive while rolling directly on my spine gives me a lightness through my back that I experience in no other way.  Also, I find that GP gives me a preparation for all of the deep leg-behind-the-head postures and backbending of the advanced series that are to come. 

I recently started taking this posture before I do my practice if I am not doing the primary series.  The intermediate and third series do not have a dynamic rolling posture anything close to this one, and I find that practicing GP before practicing intermediate or third series brings clarity and wisdom to my spine.

If you have any doubts about this posture, be sure to learn this posture from a trained teacher.  It is advised that you can do padamasana easily before attempting this asana as well as Marichyasana D. And don't just go start rolling around like a nimwit - be sure you are rolling directly on the spine and not on the side, or too fast or too slow.  Roll with the breath, deeply - exhaling on the roll down and inhaling on the roll up.

The rolling part is the most important part! The rounded shape you need to create in order to roll successfully gives the entire spine a kyphotic curve. By doing this, the spine gets massaged, relieved, and also, we emulated our earliest backbone's shape, how we were in-utero and this is a huge boon when we can track back to a time when there is little memory.

Understanding more and more about your own body (it's strengths and weaknesses) is mandatory as you go deeper and deeper into your ashtanga practice. This may mean that you research which asanas give you relief and pain. There may be something hidden that you may only learn about through reflection and study.

In Gregory Maehl's book, "Ashtanga Yoga - the Intermediate Series", he offers insight into the spine's earliest shape that I am always tapping into.

"The sacrum has a kyphotic shape. It is part of the primary curvature that the infant acquires in the womb, where the entire spine in curved in this direction.  The thoracic spine is the other area of the spine that has retained its primary curvature.  Two areas of the spine adapt to a lordotic (bent backward) curvature during the maturation process to produce the double S curve of the spine of the upright walking hominid.  The lordotic curve of the cervical spine begins to form during infancy with the constant effort of lifting the head while lying on the belly; it is necessary to support our heads in an upright position.  The lordotic curvature of the lumbar spine begins to form when we stand upright and start to bear weight in an upright position" (p. 66)

If you struggle with lotus or have knee pain, have a flat or stiff back lower back, or have a thin mat and are skipping this asana, still do the asana with crossed legs by wrapping your arms around your legs and holding your hands together in front of you.  Put a blanket underneath you to soften the surface below you to make the rolling more comfortable. Hold this for five breaths and then roll. Then lift up in lolasana to mimick the Kukkutasana gesture for five breaths.

Seeing people smirk at this posture is a dire loss, as the breathing-inspired rolling sends us into a state of breathing bliss. Also, a relationship with uddiyana bandha ignites as we use the breath and the bandhas as a softening buffer to the lower back as we roll.  

As I venture further and further into the practice, this is the posture that continues to inspire me. It is also the most unusual asana of the primary series and you can work this asana into Kukkutasana to gain strength for all the arm balances ahead in the practice.

May you too discover which asanas are best for your body and spirit by paying attention, listening, observing and reflecting.  Above all, it is your duty to pay attention, yogi! When you DO have an "Oh yeah!" moment, you will be smart enough not to miss it.

Saraswati, with your knowledge and wisdom, may you teach us the ability to listen and study - may you guide us in our efforts towards higher thinking and intelligence. From Down to Earth Yoga Studio, Bozeman, Montana. Thank you, Randa.

Hosting David Garrigues in Dublin: May 12-15 2022

David Garrigues: the Bad Man Bhakti.

There is great excitement surrounding hosting a teacher. Not just any teacher - YOUR teacher. And when you think of the event - the workshop, the small group Mysore classes, you think:


“Will my students learn something insightful and hidden about yoga from his teachings as much as I do?”


”Yes, yes they will!”


David has been my teacher since 2005. I met David while I was teaching yoga at the local YMCA in Boise, Idaho. When the Director of the Yoga programme Camille Thom told me that a Certified Ashtanga Yoga teacher named David Garrigues was coming to the YMCA, I was excited.

David’s calm nature and quiet chanting immediately had me contemplate myself and my actions - right from the start I was alarmed by my own presence and how I had not been listening to myself. This is a gift David has - he has this uncanny ability to bring out something inside you that has been hidden; either through chanting, through asana (posture) or through pranayama. Even listening to his voice telling you to “drop the navel and breathe behind it!” will bring you to a closer more mature understanding of yourself…and of course, uddiyana bandha.


The adventures I have had with David! The tears shed on the mat while practicing with him! These are healthy memories that support my regular daily practice, and let me share with you why:


I have a deep respect for David that keeps me returning to study with him year after year; the magnitude of śradda (faith) I have in him as a person and as a yogi and teacher; and the mutual respect I know he has in me - he has a confidence in me that is tireless.


There have been times where where I had filled my cup (finishing third series under his watchful eye) and needed a break just to digest all that he had taught me. I had to break it apart to understand it and embody it better.


It is a healthy act to step away from your teacher for a while and contemplate what they have been teaching you. I didn’t see David for four years from 2012-2016, and when I saw him in 2016 in London - it was magical. I took time breathing, practicing and integrating what he had taught me.


David shines his light on the practice that he has been cultivating for forty years! He recently turned 60 in December, and you wouldn’t know. His lively kid-nature, the trickster - always comes out in the Mysore room and even if you think you got what he is trying to teach you - he will smile and have you do it again.


A great story about Kapotasana with David goes like this:


It was 2016 during a Mysore intensive in London. That day in the Mysore room that day I caught my heels in the air in Kapotasana. I came up a little bit overwhelmed and prepared to take a vinyasa. David walked over to me. He said,


”Sarah, let’s do it again.”


I was stunned.


”No David, I really can’t I just can’t imagine doing this posture twice.”

“Do you want transformation, or not?”

So of course, we did it again together, the adjustment just what I needed - a little bit tighter, little more juicy.


And I am glad I did the posture again because I DO want transformation - we all do. Through our practices often we have to do them again to extract more from the posture. To this day I often DO do Kapotasana three times, mostly to extract the potency of the posture and to embody what David teaches me - don’t settle for anything - strive and seek your best potential.


David will be here for four days - offering two days of semi-private Mysore classes (morning of the 12th and 13th of May) and then a full weekend workshop consisting of Friday evening, Saturday from 9am-2 pm and Sunday from 9:30am-12. The full weekend workshop is €220. Don’t miss a wonderful chance to meet one of Ashtanga Yoga’s unique teachers out there.


To book your workshop - if you are in Dublin - pop over to Little Bird and leave a cash deposit of €70 in an envelope with your name on it or send it to seradee@sarahhatcheryoga.com via Paypal. Then the remaining fee of the workshop (€150) will be due during the first day of the evening class on Friday, 13th of May.

For more details about this event - click the button below:

Finally, a song that he taught me - the Guru Stotram - for you and for us all. To remind us to keep mining for the ultimate state of yoga while in asana - freedom and non attachment (kaivalya and vairagya) through mindful, practical effort. And always be grateful to the ones before us who guided us there.

Guru Stotram ॐ

brahmānandaṁ parama sukhadaṁ

kevalaṁ jñāna mūrtim |

dvan dvātītaṁ gagana sadṛśaṁ

tattvamasyādhi lakṣyam |

ekaṁ nityaṁ vimalam acalaṃ

sarvadhī sākṣibhūtam |

bhāvātītam tri guṇa rahitaṁ

sad guruṁ taṁ namāmi ||