Sarasvati Flow

Knowing the Self Through the 5 Klesas

अविद्यास्मितारगद्वेषाभिनिवेशाः क्लशाः

avidyāsmitā-rāga-dveṣābhiniveśāḥ kleśāḥ

PYS II.3

The kleśas are said to be the key obstacles to samadhi, bliss. If you can surmount these then you are good to go as an enlightened being. Ha! Easier said than done. There are quite a few lists, tips and tricks in the yoga sutras of Patanjali, and the list of five kleśas is one of them. It is believed that the kleśas can be destroyed through observation:

the kleśas become like burnt seeds, scorched by the fire of discrimination, and thus they become unproductive, and one is no longer subject to these afflictions and the kliṣṭa (detrimental) vṛttis they produce ( 1 )

It is only by watching the mind move through these obstacles, or afflictions, that we can become aware of them, exposing them to the fire of discrimination. When we meditate we create a space to watch the mind move, free from the distractionfs of daily life, even just five minutes a day can make a difference. Here is a brief run down of these five points to work with in the jouney to self awareness.

Avidyā technically means ‘not knowing’, the verb vid to know, and a as in the Greek, not, or without. Avidyā is most commonly translated as ignorance, but this can sound a bit harsh when you’re rooting around your psyche, and of course the most important thing in this case is to be kind to yourself. It is sometimes said that Patanjali and his students ordered the sutras so that the most important things come first, like Ahimsa before Satya in the niyamas, and in this verse it is avidyā that takes first place. To be in a position of ‘not knowing’ is one of the toughest places to be. ‘Give me a clue’ we find ourselves saying, trying to find our way out of the clouds that blind us. ‘I’ve got thi nagging feeling’ we might say to a friend, ‘I can’t put my finger on it’ we say to ourselves as we grapple with some unseen, unresolved feeling that is trying to tell us something. This is the primary obstacle to samadhi. Figuring out tricks to decipher the feelings inside of me is one thing that yoga has taught me. Ways of moving, ways of breathing, patience, flexibility of mind, all these things help to dispel the darkness that obstructs the mind from seeing clearly.

Asmitā, or ego, is possibly the funniest of the kleśas. Having learned to watch my mind, the things I watch my mind getting hung about is almost shameful. But it’s important to approach this task of getting to know the self with forgiveness. Its hard to be a yogi and not laugh at yourself. Shadow sides of the ego include anger, controlling others, manipulating situations, or believing that ‘I am the doer’ rathe than something greater than us. It’s hard to say more without spoiling the next point, but yep you guessed it, raga attachment, and dvesha, its opposite, hatred or aversion shape much of what we see in ourselves when the ego is in operation. I guess you could say that ego or asmitā is rāga and dveṣa in their nascent states. If you can catch yourself moving into ego thenyou can stay in a place of buddhi awareness, where the veil of ego fails to move you.

Rāga means attachment, and since learning to watch my mind, I have found myself atached to all kinds of things. If you’re one of these people who likes things to be ‘just so’, identifying attachment in your persoanlity can be liberating. Perhapas you see it in someone else, and instead of feeling stifled you can let it go, laugh even. Knowing where I cling to things has been one of my most valuable lessons. The hope of positive transformaiton that yoga brings through this kind of learning is why I love yoga. Greater self awareness fosters greater, connection.

Dveṣa means aversion or hatred. Rather than clinging to something, you are desperate to change it, or make it disappear. Dveṣa can be very uncomfortable, particularly when you are unaware that you have slipped into this ‘exterminate’ mode, it can be too easy to feed the pain and slip into a downward spiral. We are taught to be good children in assembly at school and negative emotions are much less explored, so our tool kit to deal with these kinds of emotion are more limited. Maybe things have changed, I don’t know, but certainly in my day, we weren’t welcoming hatred with openness and curiosity. Perhaps it take a certain level of maturity. I feel like saying at this point that some aversion and hatred can be a good thing, it protects us from what we don’t, or cannot understand. As with all the kleśas, they are there for a reason, and our jounrney to samadhi an ever evolving process. We can only see little bits of our self at a time, and it’s useful to accept them before moving to change them. Somewhere in the space between rāga and dveṣa is equanimity, or non-attachment, a massive Buddhist topic, and one of the keys to enlightenment. By observing rāga and dveṣa we can more easily cultivate a space of equanimity.

One of the first Sanskrit words I learned was abhinivesha. It means fear of death. I remember being impressed that yoga had a word for this concept. We hear so little about this kind of fear and yet it is with us consciously, or unconsciously with every breath we take. When you let go of this fear, or overcome it, you can experience samdhi. Abhiniveśā, however difficult an emotion to conten with that it is, I find it more tangible than avidyā. Avidyā is your blind spot, abhiniveśā smacks you in the face with anxiety, it narrows your vision, it tenses your body. I think the solution to this feeling is positive community. Yoga encourages us to look inside, but also to seek sangha. It is very difficult to survive without people around you, not impossible, but difficult. Sangha is a community of likeminded individuals that can help overcome feelings of fear. Of course you can also work to overcome feelings of loneliness. Being alone won;t kill you, although you can feel that it might. The beauty of being entirely self sufficient needs to be balanced with your own karmic need for companionship.

We have looked at ignorance, ego, attachment, aversion and fear of death as the five key obstacles to enlightenment. Whichever klesas you most easily identify in yourself, learn to watch the feelings inside you, then you can bgin to know yourself, then you are on the journey to self realisation.

(1)Bryant B. F. (2009) Te Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. New York: North Point Press. p.175

Thai green curry

Classic, simple, non-spicy English take on the traditional Thai green curry. So simple, so delicious. Serves 2-3

Carrots x 2

Leek x 1

Broccolli x 1 small

Thai green curry paste (half a jar)

Coconut milk (one can)

Lemongrass (fresh from the plant if you can get it)

Chop and fry veggies, add paste, add coconut milk and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Serve with couscous, rice or noodles. Simples!

Kiss the Earth

The Earth As My Home (1 – 2)

Last moon, we focussed purely o n the root chakra at the base of the spine with peak pose Bird of Paradise. As we move up the sushumna, away from the the root chakra, towards the sacral chakara, we arrive at the intersection between the two chakras: Root and sacral, earth and water, self and other. From focussing on getting to know the self during the last moon cycle, when we were working on the root chakra, as we move up towards the sacral chakra we begin to look to the idea of the Other.

The second chakra, said to be connected with the water element is associated with creativity and partnerships, physically located next to our sexual organs it is symbolically in line with this meaning. From the stable, solid, unmoving earth of the changeless Self, we now contemplate fluid, changing, curious water that seeks to come into relationship with the Other.

I have come to see the earth element mnaifesting in two ways. There is earth as in the solid, gross matter that you can touch and see, and then there is ethereal earth, where the ether body becomes heavy. Yoga is all about leanring to watch the ether body, the unseen element, but I am curious to know more about earth in its gross form too. It is so unlike us in our mind form, even though we are made of it.

The two most gross elements in combination make for a muddy, soup like substance; volcanic lava, a silty riverbed, leavs, bark, flesh, blood and muscle all remind me of this combination. The human body is solid, but filled with liquid. Overall the body is 60% water, even the bones contain water (31%). Without earth there would be no structure, and without water there would be no movement. In order to know the other, we must first know ourselves and this lesson ‘Kiss the earth’ invites the student to study that moment of moving out of the self to come into relationship with another. It doesnt have to be another human, it could be an animal or plant friend, it could even be as simple as a step on the earth. What can be seen in that moment? Is it that what is internal becomes external, our heart and lungs move to say ‘Hello’; and what is external becomes internal, ‘I see you, I smell you, I touch you’? The Self, present in all beings, even the earth, is expressed in that moment of connection.

We can imagine the big Self and the small self (note the big ‘S’ and the little ‘s’) coming together just like earth and water coming together. When small self, identified as the ego, separates from the big Self, the place of universal consciousness, the atman emerges from the paramatman, and signifies the original moment of creation. As the soul, the atman, becomes human, it separates from the paramatman, becoming encased in the ego. Imagining them like earth and water you can identify the experience in meditation. Sometimes thoughts lap at the shore of peace and tranquility, reaching out to greet us, sometimes they crash like a wave, clamouring for attention, the earth holds them all, unmoving, steady and stable .

To Kiss the Earth is not a new idea in yoga. The Buddhists teach it as a way of imbuing mindfulness in their students. ‘Move gently, with love, if you can’, it is saying. Love the earth, your home. In the song of the same name, Ajeet sings ‘Let’s kiss this earth we walk upon with our steps’ epitomising the idea of moving gently in self awareness. It is about cultivating an attitude of care and attention in every step. If we want to be enlightened, we want to create a loving connection to earth, which means walking lightly and kindly on it .

What we find in yoga is that a lot of students find it hard to ground and connect with their root chakra. Indeed the sun saluation and standing poses are designed to ground the students and to increase their awareness of their legs. But the reason students find it hard to ground is manyfold. Some might have issues relating to family, work or their home, others might be more in touch with their ether body, others more intouch with their minds, others mihgt have no connection to the earth as in nature. Persoanlly, I have come up against all these reasons over the years for feeling ungrounded. And the more I know myself, the more I know that each day is diferent. But there are overarching themes that typify periods of my life. The way I spend my time, the people that I meet, all of these things influence how I am feeling in my body.

One of the things I am missing most at the moment is a close connection to the earth. I don’t have my own garden and getting my hands dorty is one thing that I really crave. Soil is said to be a natural anti depressant thanks to a certain friendly bacteria that promotes serotonin production. Showthe earth some love and it knows just how to show some back! One of my happier memeories is going to practice yoga after volunteering in a garden. My mind was full of bean plants, and as I sat up tall, I saw the green ends of the bean plant curling up and around me. My mind’s eye was full of the curling tendrils and the lotus shaped leaves that somehow seemed self similar to my uneven body. Plants are beautiful, delicate beings that mimic humans in their simplicity. Earth (root chakra) meets water (sacral chakra), the plant grows out of the ground, just like humans, reaching for the light of the sun (solar chakra) as it rises in the morning.

Working to connect with the earth as your home is something you can do in your body on the yoga mat, but for your spirit to feel the healing power of the earth, you must go out and meet it. Leanring to walk lightly on the earth is up to each of us, it is our karma yoga,or our yoga of service. Jupiter is now in Taurus, an earth sign and also symbolic of tilling the land, it is the sign of farming. There has never been a better time to connect with the earth. Now is the time to volunteer at your local gardening group, get on the waiting lit for that elusive allotment, tend to the outdoor spaces around your home, aquire some houseplants or even buy a piece of land. If we don’t love the earth, it cannot love us back. And in reaching out to the earth around us we might just learn about ourselves too.

four green stew

Stir fry steam bowl

Preparation time: 1 hour

soup makes 6 portions, stores 5-6 days in fridge. fry tofu separately 5min

with Indian, Asian and English influences this dish combines four green vegetables, beans, nuts, soya and spices…

Fry big chopped leek (inc green tops) and two courgettes

add spices (organic garam masala, extra cumin, extra clove, curry leaves, salt, pepper*)

large handful chopped walnuts*

drizzle of date syrup*

leave to simmer for 15-20min, then add

can of kidney beans (inc aquafaba – water in tin)*

1/3 chopped cabbage

1/3 bag spinach leaves

4 inches of boiling water

Leave to boil for 30min or until cabbage soft, serve with ladle

Fry up scrambled tofu (plain or Clearspot Scrambled Tofu*) and serve on top of soup

The World Is The River of God

In a state of enlightenment, acceptance is one of the dominant emotions, and it is no surprise that it is the emotion associated with the root chakra. Acceptance of what is, as it is, with nothing wrong at all, we see the world as perfect. I remember coming back from India one time, where I had stayed in a forest, and by the sea. I had been surrounded by nature and felt nourished by it. When I returned to my home town, the buildings dominated the landscape and I felt troubled inside. The buildings looked ugly, megaliths of stone and concrete, some with small windows, others greying with age. I had recently learned in meditation that if I wanted to stay in state of enlightenment, I needed to wacth the emotions moving through me, and avoid getting attached to negative thoughts. So when I looked at the buildings, I changed what I thought. I told myself that everything was just as it is, that nothing was wrong. I saw the cut stone, I imagined it being cut out of the ground, and I felt gratitude for the gift it was, and impressed that we humans had come so far in our journey that we could create such buildings.

Shvetashvatara upanishad, verse 4 – 5 (1)

The world is the wheel of God, turning round

And round with all living creatures upon its rim.

The world is the river of God,

Flowing from [ it ] and flowing back to [ it ].

This verse reminded me of the moment looking at the buildings. It is saying that the whole world is god, that it is an expression of god, no matter what it is. And so I accepted that the buildings were part of god. It is a moment that I have come back to several times since then. I believe that the natural world is our teacher, that wihtout it, we cannot be enlightenened, or truly happy. The buildings seemed to me like an aberration of nature, that in building them we had moved far away from the lush forest and the refreshing sea. But I realised that we humans are so clever that we can change our own minds, we can choose what to think. In other words, we can consciously evolve. We can do this so much so that what was once abhorrent to us, can become a source of peace.

It means that instead of seeing stone buildings as the product of earth, literally carved out of it, or a finite resource that releases carbon into the atmosphere, we see an achievement. Now many people already do this, they do it wihtout thinking. And I think this is where campaigners can become unstuck, because they are, in some ways, unelightening the people they are talking to. They are asking them to see ugliness where they see beauty. I guess it applies to many of the things around us that we consume: cars, cosmetics, phones etc. Since at least 600BC, when the Upanishads were written, we have seen acceptance of everything that is, as the road to enlightement, as the wheel of god.

The Upanishads are full of words that aim to cultivate acceptance of things as they are, and to see the totality of reality as a manifestation of god. It is a guiding principle that to be enlightened you must first see everyone and everything around you as enlightened. I understand this as a beautiful concept, and a challenge that makes life more interesting, it’s not exactly and easy task. But I think religion is largely rejected today because it is easy to see this kind of attitude as something people in power, or an established order, would seek to tell their people. Accept things as they are, we have everything under control. Personally, I feel that the words written down are true, but they were written at a time when we didn’t see thw whole picture.

When we deal with cultural texts from the past we accept that there is a certain amount of simplicity. That is not to belittle our ancestors, nor commit to a 100% linear evolution of mankind, but to appreciate that in terms of written texts and the knowledge that they purvey, they are less than perfect. We started to write things down so that we could build on what we knew, so that we could amass more knowledge than what we could remember. It also meant that the same knowledge was shared more widely, and the things that were shared became massively influential. The Hindu texts are no exeeption. But what I love about yoga is that it is scientific. It is not just a philosophy, or a way of life, but it tries to understand the light that moves within us.

Verse 15/16

‘Like oil in sesame seeds […]

so dwells the [Lady/]Lord of Love,

The Self in the very depths of consciousness.

Realize [it] through truth and meditation.

The self is hidden in the hearts of all’

So to meditate is to seek love and consciousness within. It is not about seeking fulfillment outside the self, in material goods or acknowledgment from other people, but about exploring the energy system within the body, using the breath, heart and bhandas to unlock our limitless potential.

Sometimes, if you’re lucky, when you meditate, certain truths are revealed, that help the meditator to navigate their daily life. These truths may be universal, such as we are all one, we are all energy, we are all light, or it might be more mundane, you;re being a control freak about this, or that person is taking advantage of you. All of these things are true, and they enlighten the pratictioner. This is the benefit of harnessing the inner light and illumnating onces own consciousness.

It is incredible to think that two and a half thousand years ago, we were advanced enouh to write down what we knew of this science. Today, talk about an inner light is often met with skepticism. It is not always easy to access, or it is used to create mischief. The rise of aestheism points to a world that doesn’t want to ascribe to the institution of religion, and I think that is because many people don’t want their inner light to be dictated by someone else. In other words, we learn right and wrong from our parents or guardians or friends or TV. So it is up to us to understand the light, the effect that it has and ultimately, what it means to be enlightened today.

If we are going to make inroads into earth-consciousness, to wake people up, we need to be aware that we are asking people to change what it measn to be enlightened, and to acknowledge that we are rejecting someone else’s enlightenment. When we say that we don’t want to develop along the same lines that we have been developing for the last five thousand years (at least) then we need to be aware that for many people this is scary.

In 600BC, we didn’t have science to tell us that many animals will go extinct if we behave in certain way, that high levels of consumption destroy habitats, that the atmosphere could be ruined, that as such, our mindset of progress is dangerous to our own livelihoods. When we established cities five thousand years ago, we changed what we thought of as enlightening. Instead if nature, we committed to the idea of civilisation as enlightening, and now we are destroying the planet. This is scary, what if people don’t wake up in time to stop climate change?

Is there such a thing as too much acceptance? Does too much acceptance lead to fatalism? A fatalist is someone someone who believes that people cannot change the way events will happen and that events, especially bad ones, cannot be avoided (2).

The root chakra, is all about acceptance as the antidote to fear. The root is our home, and everything that entails: our family, our job, and our sense of self. NO BIGGIE. If our root chakra is out of balance we cannot look after ourselves or our home. Looking at the state of our home, the earth, with all its utter destruction and pollution, the air, the water, the soil all wrecked, it looks like we have a serious problem with out root chakra.

If we’re looking at too much acceptance, rather than too much fear, which is what we’re always taught, ‘cultivate acceptance’ us yoga teachers say, does the world look any different? What we need to protect the earth, rather than more acceptance, is actually more fear. More fear to act by eating a vegan diet at least some of, if not all the time. More fear to take the bus, or the train, or to cycle. To reject the way things are, is in some ways is to reject enlightenment. Which means that to recognise that something needs to change means moving towards a place of fear. Waking people up means scaring people. (not too much, beasue if an aim is not acheivable people won’t be motivated to act) it means learning to navigate difficult issues with sensitivity and bravery so that constructive seeds of fear can be sown.

For me God is the unknowable,it is what is common to all of us, although not everyone agrees on what it is. The ancient scriptures show that people have been asking the same questions for eternity. If you’re into yoga you probably feel drawn to texts that deal in light, but the point is that while god is the unknowable that underlies all things, how we come to be enlightened, how we cultivate acceptance, and gratitude, how we negotiate our way between the light and our perception of what is good for us, is not even as simple as being enlightened, or happy. Sometimes we need to cultivate fear, so that we can act.

(1) Easwaran, E. (1987) The Upanishads reprinted 2007. US: Nilgiri Press

(2) https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/fatalist

purple sweet potato and chestnut curry

A super simple recipe with a rich, creamy nuttiness thanks to the chestnuts and spices.

Purple sweet potato – chopped into cubes 2-3cm

Broccoli – sliced into batons

Chestnuts – in a jar, ready cooked

Chickpeas

Coconut milk – one can

Spices – paprika, thyme, garam masala, salt and pepper

Chop the potato and fry in spices. Add coconut milk and bring to the boil until potatoes begin to soften. Then add broccoli, chickpeas and chestnuts. Cook until broccoli soft, stir occasionally. Serve with rice, couscous, or salad and bread.

Time to Earth

I must say I enjoy practicing with the cycle ofthe moon. It’s the first quarter moon this bank holiday weekend, so I know I’m a quarter of the way through practicing the root chakra routine. This moonth, I am working on Bird of Paradise. Strictly speaking, Bird of Paradise could be taught in a sacral focussed class because it demands flexibility in the hip flexors. It also calls on a lot of core strength, associated with the third chakra. But when taught in the root class, the focus in Bird of Paradise is on the grounding leg, and encourages the student to ground down into the earth, to “lift up”. Lift up means both physically, where other parts of the body reach for the sky, and spiritually, to raise the spirit from the heart centre.

It is hard to find a purely root focussed peak pose. I am still wondering if I am missing a more fitting peak pose than Bird of Paradise for the root chakra class. That’s said, its imagery of th tropical flower is a beautiful, delicate, unusual shape that reminds me that my yoga practice is more than just physical exercise; it is about positively engaging the natural world and enjoying the essence of life carried through the yoga poses.

I am enjoying the easy warm up that accompanies this routine. The root chakra, as approached in the sun salutaitons and warrior sequence, are not the most popular yoga moves, but they are important because they tackle our relationship with the earth, as wel as our most intimate relationship with ourselves. Our feet connect us to the earth day in day out and it is easy to forget about them and the work they do for us. Working on the root chakra is all about creating a stable base from which to go out into the world. My motto for this first root chakra based class, is ‘know thyself’. But it is not always easy to confront the self, and I know that these moves can feel sluggish, or even stir up latent anger and fear. So I’m keeping the warm up easy with some pawanmuktasana and a foot massag: the aim isas we enter the space of the root chakra, the student is grounded and secure. In a root chakra class, by enagaging with the lower half of the body, our feet and our l egs, we can sometimes sense what is bugging us, or even scaring us, away from that sense of lightness that we seek on and off the yoga mat. The shadow emotion associated with the root chakra is fear. If we find our connection to the earth is unstable, it is likely that we are going through a difficult time, or someone near us is going through something that is having an effect on us.

I have learned more by watching my own mind move, possibly than any other yoga practice. Yoga asana is a moving meditation, it is said to prepare the body for a seated mediation practice, but it also cultivates awareness in movement. I am experimenting with practicing the same routines each year, because the aim is to watch the self move and think. Abhyasa means practice, and also repetition; it through repetition of our practice that magic is revealed. It isn’t always about being wowed by getting into a peak posture, although I do enjoy that as well. By working on the chakras sequentially, I can build on the knowledge gained at each chakra. Root chakra work always combines knowing the self, with making time to appreciate and care for the earth.

Grounding down is a process whereby we use our feet and legs to enhance our connection to the earth. This connection changes depending on what is going on in our lives. The root chakra relates to family, work and home, the core things that we need to feel secure in life. When we can’t achieve perfection in these areas, it canbe helpful to cultivate acceptance of what is. It is rare to feel that everything is going perfectly, but a certain amount of acceptance can lead us to feel balanced enough to go out into the world. If we cannot accept things as they are, it could be a signal that we need to take action.

The environmental damage caused by our material consumption of goods affects how we feel about life on earth. Many people are immune to the earth’s suffering. Personally, I find my yoga practice shows up shortcomings in my immediate surroundings, or circumstances. By connecting with beautiful creatures and plants in my yoga routines, as well as harnessing the moon’s power, I hope to create a method that awakens the practitioner to the pain of the earth. It is only be feeling the tragic loss of habitats, the suffering of animals, the displacement of humans thanks to climate change freak weather, and so on, that we will reach critical mass. By becoming vegan, or flexitarian, we are doing what the earth needs us to do to protect it. On a very subtle level that makes us more at home on planet earth, and we should feel it when we practice.

When I work on the root chakra I am learning to read my own position, but I hope in time that I will one day read the earth. Taking time to care for the earth is a central tenet of yoga practice, it is karma yoga, or yoga in action. The earth has a soothing vibration, it inspires awe in so many ways, which nourishes the human spirit. In a very physical way we connect to the earth through our legs and feet, and it is especially relevant that we when work on this connection to earth that we consider what we are doing to protect and love our home, the earth.

Practice What You Teach

After practicing and teaching (on and off) Jivamukti for over 8 years, I decided in 2020 to develop my own method that was slightly more accessible for the students I was teaching. I experimented with one approach and then another, until in the last year I have taken it to a whole new level, bringing my students with me. Let me tell you about my journey with Saraswati Flow ‘through the chakras’

Today, I’ve just completed 14 lessons designed to work systematically from the root chakra up to the crown chakra changing every new moon from Spring 2022 through to Summer 2023.

Previously, I have worked onmy chakras in workshops, DVDs and reiki, but I wanted to experiment with the idea of working on each chakra individually over the long term, like a whole year with a month for each. Most yoga lessons focus on one chakra area, or one body part, but how many teachers focus on the whole seven for the whole year?

I started with a routine that focussed on the root chakra. Then I moved on to root-sacral. I am having issues with what to call the inbetween areas but have found myself counting, one, one-two, two, two three, three, three-four, etc etc.

Why not focus on just seven areas?

I first designed a routine with a double chakra focus as part of my training with the British Wheel. I wanted something that would get me into King Pigeon pose in an hour. I noticed that by working around the illio sacral and psoas muscles, I was actually working between the first and second chakras. When I was asked to write another routine, I decided that I would challenge myself to write a 6 – 7 routine focussing on the ajna and crown chakras. I realised that we are always combining these two areas instead of affording them their own separate class. But I also noted that treating them together created itsown kind of vibe. I came across the term ‘dual awareness’ in David Treleaven’s book Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness. It is a psychology term that means learning to watch the various parts of the mind. I began to appreciate that when we practice with an awareness around two chakras areas, we are cultivating an ability to watch more than one thing at once. So as I moved into King Pigeon I was confronting issues of stability in my home and sense of self (first chakra), as well as cultivating a sense of openness with which to face Others in my life (second chakra). I began to wonder, perhaps it is the complexitity of these peak poses that is so appealing.

When I combined the chakras and practiced each routine in sequence, I noticed that the prana moved moved more quickly up my sushumna into my heart space. Linking one routine to the next over the space of a year resulted in a very thorough practice. It is extremely methodical requiring dedication and consitent practice, but it works. By practising on each chakra individually and each chakra with the next, you effectively work on each chakra three times a year. That’s three moons each! I ended up working on sacral chakra and solar chakra with the added bonus that my heart was opening too, it was quite spontaneous. I wanted the classes to be challenging, while being slightly less demanding than Jivamukti, a method I had practiced for nearly a decade. So what I have dubbed Saraswati Flow is meant to be more accessible to the average yoga student, and I can slim each class down into a beginners format as well, so I will always be able to practice what I teach regardless of the level of student I am teaching.

What’s important in a yoga practice, and what I aimed to avoid, is that you don’t pick and choose your favourite or least favourite areas to work on, every area is given an equal amount of time and attention. I realised as I approached the end of the year that I had never spent so long on the higher chakras and I really had to research quite a bit to find the right peak poses. Of course every routine gives each and every chakra a work out so they can be practiced individually and if you wanted to treat an area then they design should be well rounded enough to do that. But I had a lot of fun exploring the higher chakra in so much detail; the fifth, sixth and seventh chakras all demanded a new level of design that focussed on the upper half of the body including the head and neck. I opened up my shoulders in a way that I never have before in quite such a short space of time. I even designed a seventh chakra routine with 9 different headstands incorporated into it!!

It’s easy to see the chakras as quite distinct from each other, but when you combine them it invites you to consider the themes together, and what happens when you combine the elements, as we do all the time unconsciously? Where do we see earth meeting water on planet earth? The depths of the ocean, the bottom of a riverbed? Earth can be the source of life, but without water it can be as lifeless as a desert. Fire of the ego and air of the heart space are quite a natural combination too, but when we consider them in a yogic context we think about directing the air of the heart space, of infusing it with unconditional love, and imagining how this then informs the ego, fuelling the fire for elightened activism. When you become aware of these things, as shifts in our elemental makeup, you can work to ground, to find stability, to find the kind of earth that will hold the water in a safe space away from the fire, or whatever it is that you think you need. The idea of yoga is that it gently soothes each of the areas bringing the body into balance, building strength in all areas.

In the design of the 14 moons I wanted to experiene the jungle, to travel around the world to nature’s most beautiful places. I begin with bird of paradise and end up with tiptoe fish travelling past turtle, dolphin and scorpion, amongst others. While yoga is about connecting with the self, it is also about escaping the mundane, and journeying into the mystical. A good soundtrack helps with that.

I plan on practicing the set of 14 routines again over the next 14 moons taking me to midsummer 2024. Abhyasa means to practice in Sanskrit, and it can also mean repetition. I practiced the Jivamuti Spiritual Warrior sequence solidly for about 2 years and found that my body resposnded well to the fundamental moves that it contains. The hour long routines that I have designed as part of Saraswati Flow are quite similar to the Spiritual Warrior, but they contain a peak pose and a unique warm up tailored to the chakra focus. I like the predictability that repetition brings, I am able to monitor my progress more easily and feel where I am each day bringing me into a closer relationship with myself.

I finish with a pranayama and chant, chosen to suit whichever of the 14 chakra foci I am working on, meaning I enjoy a rich class experience every time I practice. There is even a short meditation thrown in, so a full class of yoga takes about 75 minutes.

Without wanting to disparage any of my previous yoga teachers, I guess I could say that until now, in chakra terms, I was jumping around. I studied so much yoga history, and the ancient texts with different teachers, that to order it by chakra and reflect on the sutras with the echoes of this early tantric knowledge was quite an experience. There isn’t a lot about the chakras in the earliest yoga texts, it is mostly limited to references the seven levels of heaven, but my own experiences have been enough to convince me that a physical exploration of the seven chakras could inspire a fulfilling internal journey. I am curious how it will feel to work on grounding, heart opening and meditating at different times of the year, in light of the astrological calendar. But as we are not limited to sun sign astrology I think it will work. Given that teachers are supposed to practice what they teach, I wanted to share more about what I am practicing, so students can join in with more awareness. The monthly newsletter describes each of the pranayama practices, includes a recording of the chant and describes the peak posture. So if you are interested to join me, and to deepen your own practice on this journey, please sign up to the newsletter.

Healing Ourselves to Heal the Planet

Unless you prefer to believe in the lost city of Atlantis, the world won’t one day end in a sublime implosion killing us all, instantly. Thanks to climate change, it is declining gradually, with areas here and there succumbing to floods, drought, storms, heatwaves, disease and starvation. In many areas there is a slow almost imperceptible rise in land temperature, that many do not notice, and how many will notice until its too late? How often do we only believe what we want to believe? (‘Is Climate Change Real Anyway?’) Sadly, that ugly, messy ending is already upon us, with scientists predicting 2 degrees of warming with no sign of it stopping, and no reduction in emissions, of any kind, in any country.

How do we communicate the need for decisive action to our leaders on a scale only seen in the COVID crisis where spending reached £350bn in just two years? Spending on climate change by UK government was only £4.4bn in 2021. How do we tell all the people with money and power that we need to change our ways and redirect the majorit of dividends into green infrastructure and retraining? How do millions of cash poor people come to acept that even cheap produce must be consumed in moderation? Supply lines and behaviour patterns, economic forecasts and profit margins, apathy and classism, all need to change if we are to beat the 2 degrees of warming. It’s about being honest about the climate, and believing that we can change our ways in time.

It was Plato, who said, leaders are only as good as their people

It was Plato, who said, leaders are only as good as their people. When I first heard this, I was dumbfounded. What could I do that would make our leaders any better? I’m not corrupt, am I? Do I steal? Do I lie? How do I become aware of my ‘self’ sufficiently to see my own shortcomings? How do I confront the lies and deceits I act out against my fellow humans, and the greediness I inherit or adopt?… Through mindfulness and brutal honesty we can come to realise what we are doing, and only then change it. It follows that greed, lies, manipulation (including sexual manipulation) between us as individuals leads to lying, cheating governments and leaders. It takes courage to admit it.

Few of us start a yoga practice out of our need to make the world a better place. No, we want to make ourselves better. So sure let’s be nicer to each other, in the hope that altrusim breeds altruism. But what if it’s more important than just being nicer. What if the very fabric of society feeds on our individual actions? Through meditation, yoga helps us to see ourselves, and our reactions to the energy moving through us, and it makes time for reflection on the relationships we have with the people that we meet. The yogic texts dictate that we must observe certain things and restrain ourselves to achieve a state of yoga, and it follows that what is good for us is good for our planet, is good for our leaders. Deepak Chopra commented at the Shift Network Healing summit last week, “the yamas and niyamas are keys for healing”.

As laid out in the central yogic text, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the yamas and niyamas, the restrains and observances are as follows; the yamas: ahimsa – non-harming, asteya – non-stealing, satya-truthfulness, aparigraha-non-hoarding or non-greed, brahmacharya-sexual responsibility; and the niyamas: sauca-cleanliness, santosha-contentment, tapas-suffering, or sacrifice, svadhyaya-self study, and Iswara pranidhana-surrender to a higher power. These are the ten tenets of yoga, and each one deserves an in depth analysis of its own, but the ones I think are especially useful with influencing qualities of leadership in a time of environmental crisis are satya-truthfulness, aparigraha-non hoarding and santosha – contentment,.

Does it sound boring?! Lying is fun, isn’t it? Never so much hilarity when telling fibs, and most of us grow up doing it. In fact lying is such a treasured gift that some children prevent their peers from lying to ensure their own lying capacity! I remember one girl at primary school, she still couldn’t lie aged 30. Telling white lies is one thing, but with so much lying in our culture, it means we cannot see when corporations are lying to us about the safety of their products and their effect on the environment.

Plastics have littered the earth far and wide causing irrevocable damage from icebergs to the placentas of unborn children

Plastics have littered the earth far and wide causing irrevocable damage from icebergs to the placentas of unborn children, microplastic is everywhere, and the damaging products just keep rolling off the shelves. But we don’t believe the facts, because we are saturated in untruths. We need to work on cultivating satya, truthfulness, in our own lives in order to tell when we’re being lied to, and so others around us know when they can trust what they hear.

How much stuff do we really need? How do we challenge our greed, our parigraha, and our impatience to consume yet more and more? Our inner world of blood thirsty calls, death threats and shame bound panics propel us to buy more and more things, investing our identity in belongings rather than experiences, or emotional wellbeing, trapped in a material game of oneupmanship. Can we cultivate creativity, wisdom and kindness where there was once fear and hatred? If we need to fight greed in our leadership, we must be less greedy. Veganism is a great way to be less greedy, because you literally sacrifice your own deep desire for meat and leather, in order to save a life, or many lives. Another way would be to start an organic farm, saving the local wildlife, waterways and soil from pesticides and other chemicals to grow your own food, and also make organic food for your fellow humans, helping to protect their health too.

What if we consciously cultivate contentment, and move away from highs derived from damaging or polluting goods? The buy nothing economy doesn’t have to mean do nothing; can we be wise about how we spend our time and money, can we have fun and find contentment without burning lots of energy? If we’re going to change supply lines and behaviour patterns, economic forecasts and profit margins, apathy and classism, do we need to challenge the fatalistic voice that says ‘no, its impossible, we’re all going to die’? Do we need to learn to feel content in the face of the gargantuan task of redesigning our consumption patterns, instead of ignoring the work that needs to be done?

Do we fear goodness? Do we believe that the road to hell is paved with good intentions? Religious wars are often touted as evidence of this philosophy, but is it not more that when people cling to something outside of themselves for comfort or a sense of identity, it becomes divisive, and we reject the Other for fear of losing our sense of self? Environmentalism sometimes seems fanatical, but I think there is only one aim: to preserve and protect the environment. When it comes to “saving” the planet, it is more about practically living on the earth for generations to come, and preserving its green and pleasant lands for us to enjoy, its almost hedonistic in its ambitions. Is the polarity between good and evil perfectly balanced like a utopic yin yang, a manifestation of earthly harmony, dependable and certain, yet doomed to mediocrity? Or is there room to take significant positive, practical steps towards a self sustaining equilibrium that recognises earth and the atmosphere as a necessary asset to be invested in, without fearing a devilish backlash?

It seems that greed coupled with a population explosion has lead to fierce destruction of the planet and its creatures, and now we need to motivate our leaders, of all political partie to put it right without compromising our material pleasures. There is a kind of unconscious contentment in fatalistic attitudes that is dangerous. How do we manage the latent evil in assuming our own powerlessness? How do we unravel our “human destiny” to create the space we need to protect the planet from the effects of our inevitable desires? Can we be content to change the products that we buy, the frequency that we drive, the holidays that we take, the number of children that we have, the resources that we consume, the money that we make, the people that we use?

Noticing these patterns in ourselves, telling the truth, laughing at our foibles, cherishing the joy of being alive on a beautiful planet, this is what yoga healing can bring. Yoga doesn’t have to be a way of life, but it can offer clues to what can be done to help the earth by healing ourselves.

Shiva: Revisiting the Myth of Death and Rebirth

Shiva is one of India’s most famous gods. Part of the Hindu trinity of Brahma, the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva the destroyer, Shiva is god of death and rebirth. Shiva is the ruler of the third eye centre and meditation, associated with the crescent moon and sun, ‘ha’ and ‘tha’, he symbolises a union of polarities, and this significance tells the story of yoga. Shiva’s role in the trinity reminds us that after death there is a process of reincarnation, which can also mean that as some things fall away, others may thrive. This is what we notice in life; as one door closes, another opens.

Digging deeper into the Hindu idea of reincarnation, and the belief in death and rebirth, we are told in the Bhagavad Gita (4.9) and Yoga Sutras (1.12-13) that yogis aim to transcend the cycle of death and rebirth. So yogis aim to liberate their spirit of karmic bonds, meaning they have no desire to live out another human, or any other earthly life. Through meditation we become aware of karmic ties, called samskaras, and when we reach enlightenment it is is said these karmic ties are dissolved. It is easy to say ‘want what you have, rather than what you don’t have’, but when you experiene the process of being liberated in meditation you don’t need to reason with yourself, it arises naturally.

The book, Autobiography of a Yogi, refers to otherworldly realms, out in the universe, where various forms of liberated beings reside. It is hard to know if these should be accepted as fantasy, or believed to true. The stories of astral planes seem to be told as true visions of an enlightened being, but none of these esoteric details feature in the 2014 film about Yogananda’s life ‘Awake’. I, personally, love the idea of being free to travel around the universe as a spirit. Imagine residing on a faraway galaxy, for lifetimes, back again on earth for a short time, in a body, or as a stone, or a cloud. Hindu philosophy offers a story that imagines life before life, as well as life after death, and even life beyond the known universe. In contemplating the immortal soul, we can feel a visceral spaciousness, because we are not tied to this life only, and the successes or failures that come with it. It is a concept that is tackled by all the religions in one way or another, although I think Hinduism was first to write it down in the Sanskrit Vedas some three thousand years ago.

The very need for this kind of philosophising that reaches the mind beyond its human bodily existence points to the human experience as aware of, and struggling with, its own suffering. We watch ourselves getting drawn into material battles when peace and happiness can be found within us. As Buddha said ‘All is suffering’, and the solution he put forward it non-attachment. It is said that through renunciation of material things we feel liberated, and where we were once bound, we experience freedom. In the process of detachment then, do we connect with Shiva, do we call for, or allow the death of certain ideas and attachments? I think both the Hindus and Buddhists would argue we are re-born in those moments of relinquishment.

Non attachment offers some insight into the symbolism of Shiva, but is the widely challenged Hindu philosophy of reincarnation potentially, energetically, true? In reincarnation, after death, the soul moves from one body into another, remaining on planet earth. The idea of transcendence is that after prolonged meditation, the yogi becomes enlightened, one day they take mahasamadhi and die peacefully. It is said that their soul will not then reincarnate on earth, and instead will take a seat in the higher realms of the universe, situated in consciousness and bliss, close to infinity itself, beyond the imagination.

Toying with this ancient idea, of breaking the cycle of death and rebirth, it occurred to me that if our soul merges into the eternal light in mahasamadhi, would it one day re-emerge and take life on planet earth again, almost by accident in the expanse of infinitude? After eight years of thinking about it, I wonder if I am scared by the idea of never coming back. Perhaps the is why Yogananda draws attention to different layers within the universe, to make enlightenment more attainable. The theory is that the old soul literally has no further desire for life imprinted on it, which is how it dissolved into pure light. My resistance to the idea of enlightenment could be fear of failing to achieve it. The idea of never coming back, of being saturated in eternity is fascinating; such a level of enlightenment is a huge gift in this day and age, and this is the goal of yoga.