7 Breath Techniques to make your Yoga Practices more Meditative 🌬️

Breathwork is the key to open to door towards meditation, through the exploration and subtle manipulation of the breath, we have the capability of supercharging our practice, intentional breathwork practiced correctly can settle the nervous system and the mind, cultivating a deeply meditative state of being, supporting Mindfulness and Focussed Awareness, aka, Meditation.

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How to Make your Yoga Practices more Meditative

The idea that 'yoga' is a practice that has been abjectly separated from the practice of meditation is absurd, if not concerning. Where have we ended up? And how do we possibly get back on track to the destination that we were seeking? For any of you who are curious, to help navigate this journey I have collated a list of my top recommendations on how to make your yoga practice more meditative.

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I am No-one, I come from No-Where

In my journey as a yogi, I have steadily cultivated the art of dis-identification, the idea of being qualified  by my post-code seems disingenuous at best. Indeed the idea of being qualified by my skin colour, nationality or opinions about politics has become steadily more distant. As my meditation practice has progressed, the inclination to define myself by anything other that my kindness towards others has been gracefully softened.

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Yoga Teacher Training - There's Gold in those Hills...✨🕉️💛

I had been a student of yoga for over a decade before committing to formal teacher training, yet I always felt that I knew the time would come. I didn’t study yoga to become a teacher, teaching was a byproduct. I studied yoga because I really wanted to understand the way the world worked, and how I could live peacefully within it. I intuitively knew that yogic philosophy and practice had the answers that I was seeking, I just needed to commit to the journey of discovering what those answers were. I knew that there was gold is those hills, I just needed to start digging. 🧘🏼‍♂️

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The Yoga of Positivity... ✨

My teacher Swami Satyadharma was very fond of reminding me that the very definition of a yogi is the ability to be positive with whatever circumstances arise… always thinking what can I learn in this situation? how can I evolve? How can I improve karma & make these circumstances better for myself & those around me?

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9 Things that I have Noticed from 20 years of Meditation Practice

I have been engaged with a practice of meditation and self awareness for nigh on over 20 years, make that 25 years if I include the first five years of 'asana only' practice. It's a useful thing to be able to look back and reflect upon the journey and consider what insights that I have garnered along the way.

So here it is, my list of 9 things that I have noticed from 20 years of meditation practice;

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Breathwork the Boring Way

Every time I see an advertisement for Breathwork training - I can't help but think that Breathwork must be EXCITING. Transformational, rebirthing, orgasmic, these are the profound adjectives that are applied to the curative powers of the natural breath.

The thing is, this is all true, practiced in a particular way, the breath can indeed be a tool to transcendental realms. HOWEVER, this is only a part of the truth, and not even the best part!

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What does Yoga Consider to be ‘the Mind?’

When yogis speak about the ‘mind’ they are talking about much more than the brain. The Mind in Yoga is what is sometimes called the 'Body Mind’, references the idea that our memory and trauma is stored within the body, in the form of 'samskaras’ and that our pathway for improving our mental condition is to harmonise the chitta and release any trauma that is stored as varsanas & cause vrittis.

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Pranayama is the Control Panel for the Nervous System

I just finished teaching a lecture on our 200hr Teacher Training in Bali, exploring the Categories of Pranayama and how we can learn to use Breathwork as a powerful system to control the nervous system. I have been fortunate to have been well trained in this system and have lectured about it on many occasions, and this lecture next fails to impress….

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The Essence of a Tantric Practice

One of the bugbears that I have about the post-modern yoga landscape is the word 'Tantric Hatha Yoga' - ok admittedly, I also use this description, but I truly wish that I didn't have to.

You see - ALL Hatha Yoga (and that includes Vinyasa & Yin) - is Tantric. Hatha yoga IS a tantric practice, hatha yoga is, at it's heart, focussed on the refinement and activation of 'prana' or life force, Tantra literally means to 'Weave the Loom' or to Intentionally 'Refine Lifeforce Energy' and that is exactly what Hatha Yoga is designed to do.

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The World Needs Extraordinary Yoga Teachers

Whether you are destined to become a teacher for just a few people, or a teacher for the the many, the the world needs you right now. The world needs you showcase and instruct your sisters & brothers in how to connect deeply to their inner truth, to harmonise their physical bodies, to regulate their nervous systems, to become peaceful within themselves and then to shine that light for the whole world to see.

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Why do you Practice?

This isn’t a trick question, but a good question to ponder as we turn up to our mat, our cushion or our life, ie. anytime to conscious seek to bring ourselves into alignment through yoga.

Any of you who have done my yoga classes might recall an invitation I often make in the front end of the practice, ‘To stop & consider why we are here today, what quality do we seek to cultivate through our practice of yoga today?'

When I first started yoga (over 25 years ago, yikes!) the objective was simple, I wanted to surf better. I was transitioning from a decade of playing rugby to what I hoped would be a stellar career as a surfer, I’d read that a few pro surfers practiced yoga, I’d always enjoyed stretching, the logic I thought was simple.

It’s a fairly common pathway into yoga practice I think, we come for our bodies &  stay for our minds.

To be honest at that stage I didn’t really consider that I might have emotional & mental issues that would one day need a lot of attention, and little did I know that there were systems of yoga well beyond my comprehension that would offer exactly the answers that I didn’t even know that I would seek!

And yet there yoga was, a decade later when I hit a brick wall in my life’s journey  and needed to spend some quality time looking deeply into how I was showing up in this world.

The 'Why' of my Yoga Practice had changed, whereas initially I had thought to come to yoga to be strong, sexy & flexible, as my journeyed with yoga, happiness became the goal, as I went further than that (I realised alas that any happiness was going to be temporary) my goal became to remain equanimous, to be content with all of life as it presents, to allow myself all the feelings, sadness, ecstasy, anger, anxiety and joy.

These days I practice to keep my body strong and flexible, as my body ages I feel more than ever grateful of the gift yoga gives, keeping me physically attuned so I can run, dance, play and surf better than ever. The physical practice of asana is as important now as it ever was, yogis learn to move with intelligence, avoiding injury and managing energy to create maximum effect for every action.

However the subtle gifts of yoga are perhaps more profound, the capacity to reset my nervous system and my mind, plus gain deep healing rest through yoga nidra, balance the nervous system with pranayama and explore the machinations of my mind with meditation. All of these practices bring me closer to the divine - align my awareness with that of the source of all things. When I experience this, life is less anxious, I am more content, accepting of who I am and the reality of how things are.

There is also the added dimension of a sankalpa, when practiced with intention, yoga aligns my action and awareness towards specific goals, cultivating immense willpower and fortitude, the kinda superpower that (when used correctly) can change your own life and the lives of many others.

For me, this is why I practice, for the multitude of gifts that yoga brings, the simple things, feeling graceful in my body, relaxed and focussed in my mind, happy in my heart. And for the big picture stuff, yoga supports me to say no to the things that don’t serve, refine my focus and actions towards the things that do. Yoga supports me to achieve my highest potential, to walk the road to happy destiny, one slow breath at a time.

So please, do tell me, why do you practice?

We Teach the Yoga of Awareness

The Yoga of Awareness means what it says, we are seeking to practice Yoga / Union through becoming more aware. Awareness is a skill, it’s something that we can become better at, and there are some well tested ways to improve our capacity. Here’s a few below,

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