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| The view from my Yoga mat, on an exceptional day |
Satnam was a word I heard often this past month. As my group of fellow yoga teachers in training met each day for 30 days for morning sadhana (i.e. disciplined learning and spiritual practice) we used both the word Satnam and its base sounds, it's 'seed syllables': sa - ta - na - ma over and over again in our meditation and mantra practices. Singing, chanting out loud, chanting silently, matching movement to sound, breathing the words; Satnam became an important word (and sound) for me.
The meaning of it was introduced to us all on day two of our course. Sat means truth, name or identity, and Nam is the self. Broken down further into its seed syllables:
sa-truth
ta-life/infinity
na-death/transformation
ma-birth/renewal.
The sacred resonance of the mantra Satnam encourages us to ask the question, who am I? What is my truth?
It feels nourishing to move deeper into exploring the answer to this question. The more I do so, the more the answer seems to be an acknowledgement of what I am not: I am not my mind, not my body, as I can actively be the witness to both of these things, feeling in yoga and mediation that I am outside looking in on my mind body. And so if I am not those things, what am I left with? Maybe I'm left with spirit. I am spirit, so are you. And call it what you wish: pure awareness, consciousness, shakti, goddess, divinity, God. I am those things. So are you. We all are. And there is no beginning or end. I, we, all. Spirit.
Okay, I realize I just got pretty new-agey esoteric on you, but it is really the language that resonates with me as I continue on this learning journey.
It's been a big month of just that for me - learning.
I write to you from my little yellow tent on Phil and Susannah's land, their permaculture paradise, teeming with tropical and temperate edibles, gorgeous splashes of colour to fill vases on our devotional altars, and our salads and dinner table with bright flowers of all sorts. The land they are stewarding is situated in Barrio San Jose, about a 20 minute walk to the town of Vilcabamba, in southern Ecuador. I first came here last February, for an amazing permaculture course (you can read about it here), and felt intuitively like it was time for me to return; this time for an in depth exploration of my yoga practice.
I learned about body anatomy, alignment principles, conscious touch. I developed a much stronger sense of personal body awareness. I learned about Ayurveda, the ancient Indian science of life. I studied the origins of yoga, learned yoga philosophy, yoga ethics too. We practiced pranayama techniques, yoga Nidra, Kundalini, restorative, Hatha, Bhakti, Astanga yoga types. We've had lessons on sacred trinity awareness, sound and music as spiritual and healing practices, and we have sung so much. I've gotten to play in the garden, go on beautiful runs and hikes in this southern mountainous area with a seriously perfect climate. It's been rich. I am lucky.
I wonder how I will take all that I've learned to my future weeks, months and years. I anticipated my Asana practice would deepen over this month, and it has. But so has my ability to process emotion healthfully, how to understand my patterns, both bad and good. Poco a poco. Little by little. An exploration of Ayurveda has given me vocabulary to describe some of these patterns (for those of you in the know, I'm vata pitta, explains some of me!) And how will I share what I have learned with others? Perhaps on the mat. I do feel inspired to teach Asana in a studio or some other setting. But I wonder in what other ways I can apply these lessons that at this moment seem partially intangible. The integration continues...
And I have not been disconnected from the future in this effort of bringing my mind to the present. I'm about to launch into another transitional time in my life. Interestingly, I am facing my 29th year of life, a believed auspicious time in the cosmos when everyone's "Saturn Returns" it's known to astrologers as a potentially tumultuous and transformative time in one's life. I've also been reflecting for a few months now, that I'm ready to settle in somewhere for a little while, and let some baby rootlets sprout. I've set my intention towards Victoria, BC. And a couple job application have come and gone, without success. So it feels like an even greater leap of faith to journey westward, without much to encourage a feeling of groundedness. I've never moved to a place for the sake of moving there. Instead, school or a job has always dictated where I'd land. This is different. An active choice to location.
So 2016 will begin the next chapter of this juicy journey of life.
But not before one last surprise journey!
I'm leaving the Ecuadorian safe space of Phil and Suzannah's for Peru tomorrow, I'll go all the way down to Lima, and after a birthday spent on the beach and perhaps a bit of time with the most giant mountains in the Andean chain, I'll adventure to Guatemala for two weeks. I'll be facilitating a short winter break program with Operation Groundswell, where we'll learn and volunteer with a defensive re-forestation initiative, experience a sustainable agriculture co-op, hike into the highlands of Guatemala for a new years at some hotsprings, and play in the waters of Lago Atitlan. Should be a flury of work to get prepared, but it feels like a great way to spend the holiday time. I'll return to Canada near the end of the first week of January, and begin my transition westward.
And so, see you in 2016 Canada!
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| The beautiful flower and fruit mandala alter we created for our yoga teacher training ceremony |
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| My yoga teacher training class and teacher! |
