ॐ February News ॐ

Hello good yogi and friend;

This short month of February brings us brighter days - is anyone else appreciating the sun’s light arriving earlier on their mats? I am definitely loving the longer days as we head into spring.

This month I am offering just one moon sequence on Thursday the 11th. The other cheeky moon day sits with us on a Saturday. Where did January go? How is your practice coming along during these cold winter months? Are you struggling to get on your mat or are you singing in your practice?

Or maybe you have children and are chasing after young people like a hockey player chases the puck, or you are helping your teens with their homework and you have become a maths teacher. Perhaps you are like me, and the only quiet time in your house is when your children are either sleeping in the morning or afternoon.

Take advantage of that quiet time, and do anything you can to listen to yourself breathe: get on your mat to get that exhilaration of air in through your nose: the breath will remind you that you can build your own heat, you are resilient, and you can endure this hardship.

I’ve been enjoying my time in the mornings by choosing to wake up each day between 4:15/4:30. Is this the right path for everyone? No, not necessarily. A few events made this possible: I stopped breast feeding, I began to turn the lights out no-matter-what at 9 pm and got off my electronics by 8 pm. This simple wake-up-early goal has fed my practice bringing a sincere light where it had dwindled.

My practice has brought me clarity and serenity, however it is YOU, my students online that have been a huge inspiration for me! The daily tune in has me more excited than ever to share the practice with you all and I thank you for spending your mornings with me.

Please continue to join me this month for daily online practice, prāṇāyāma on Wednesday and Sunday mornings before class and chanting on Monday’s at 4 pm. All are welcome.

You live in another time zone? Chanting class on Mondays and Led Primary on Fridays is always recorded. Sign up into the RC to receive the email recording.

Don’t miss out on a chance to practice and connect, reach out - send me an email and say hello. I’d love to hear from you!

All love,

Sarah x

ॐ Monthly Conference ॐ

Friday 5th February, THIS Friday - Free Ashtanga Yoga Conference: let’s talk about the eight limbs of practice and bringing the limbs into our lives.

8:30 am Dublin Time. Register here via the RC. Zoom Code and password will be sent before the event.

ॐ February Schedule, Online Classes via Zoom ॐ

Monday-Thursday 7-9 am Mysore

Friday 6:30 am Led Primary

Sunday 8 am Led Intro to Intermediate Series

ॐ Moon Days February ॐ

Thursday 11th - Moon Sequence 7 am

Saturday 27th - Take rest and eat porridge.

Monday Chanting Class 4 pm weekly - all welcome

Zoom ID 583 779 3991 - password is Practice.

All classes via Rathmines Collective. 5 class passes available as well as 3x a week and monthly passes.

ॐ Sanskrit word of the Month: vivekinaḥ ॐ

The vivekinaḥ is the yogi who has discrimination - the one who sees the need for discernment in all they do. Do we move on autopilot most of the time? Yes, however it is often when we change our habits or look closely at our repetitive thought patterns that change comes. The vivekinaḥ is listening and watching more than acting out.

What does this mean, this non-thinking? Feeling. Listening. Quieting. Becoming. Watching. Observing.

The vivekinaḥ also understands that there is suffering all around them. In Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras, sūtra 2.15 is where we find this word, and it is a good one to understand as we look at ourselves and our thoughts and actions in all honesty.

The vivekinaḥ is the yogi who sees that through our attachments to the results of our actions (“I did this so I definitely should get this in return”) there is suffering.

He or she also understands that there is physical and mental pain as results in the activities we do whether it be in our bodies or in our thoughts and words, it is understood we need to endure some pains as a result in what we do/have done/continue to do.

And the third way the vivekinaḥ understands suffering is that there are imprints, samskāras - some are good and some are bad (if they aren’t so good, then they are called ‘kleśas’), that we often don’t know are coming our way. When they come to us in the painful form, we suffer again.

And the fourth way the vivekinaḥ sees there is suffering is that the guṇas - all the elements around us are always changing, so when we attach to an ideal that everything has to be this way or that - the universe laughs at us - reminding us to see that change is inevitable, constant!

This also reminds us that there is no time to lose, so experience everything as if it was the last time you ever did it, be present, listen and observe more.

And try to do what Patañjai suggests, “suffering that has yet to manifest is to be avoided: heyaṁ duḥkham anāgatam” (sūtra 2.16). Translation by Edwin Bryant, page 212 “Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali”.