"Silence becomes cowardice when occasion demands speaking out the whole truth and acting accordingly." - Gandhi

Silence and listening are important keys in the work with Satya & Santosha.  So many voices that we’ve too long suppressed and ignored are coming to the forefront of global conversation and upsetting what’s been the dominant/dominating narrative.  There’s a lot we need to hear.  There’s a lot we need to digest.  There’s a lot we need to reframe in our understanding of the truth.  It takes time and dedication in quiet reflection before we can know how to respond thoughtfully and appropriately.   Let's honor this process and allow ourselves the time and space we need, and let's recognize when we are ready to speak out the whole truth and act accordingly.  

Yoga & anti-racism SERIES, PART 3 OF 8

The Yamas and Niyamas direct and focus our actions to achieve freedom and happiness for all, to reach ultimate union, or enlightenment.  They are often described as guideposts, numbered in order reflecting Pantanjali's elucidation in the Yoga Sutras.  However, we might consider the Yamas and Niyamas more as trail-marking cairns comprised of stacked stones.  We might imagine that the stones have tumbled, and that we may rearrange them more stably in such a way to better illuminate our path and lend to more coherence.  Let's consider a cairn with Satya & Santosha at its base, and place Brahmacharya & Svadhyaya second.  We stack Aparigraha & Tapas third at the midpoint, followed by Asteya & Saucha.  We cap the cairn with Ahimsa & Ishwara Pranidhana at the pinnacle.  Arranged in this way, we're clearly directed toward social activism and anti-racism; it's the only way forward with applied practice. 

Satya

As a white American woman late to the anti-racism discussion, my first step in this journey is to educate myself, to listen to those who live the realities of racist oppression, and to pursue the full truth of our history and current state of affairs.  I invoke the Yama Satya, propagation of comprehensive truth, and the Niyama Santosha, multiple truth reconciliation.   

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Satya is often translated as non-lying, or truthfulness, with the implication that as long as we are honest and impeccable with our word, we are practicing this virtue.  Satya entails so much more than this limited interpretation.  Satya means non-falsehood, non-distortion, non-ignorance.  We must allow for multiple truths; we cannot ignore or deny the truth of others.  

In Sanskrit, Sat indicates the ultimate eternal truth, with the suffix ya indicating doing or accomplishing.  Satya requires active investigation in seeking the whole and complete truth.  We must be willing to question the dominant cultural narrative; we must be willing to hear and digest multiple perspectives and to exercise our own discernment.  We must analyze the validity of our usual information sources and evaluate entrained biases, inaccurate assumptions, hidden interests, and covert agendas.  We must identify which voices have been silenced, unduly discredited, or eclipsed.  We must consider alternate views and sort facts from opinion.  We must amplify the voices that long have been oppressed, and bolster the stories of those vulnerable to violence in speaking their truth.  We must encourage courageous free-thought and nourish fresh perspectives; we cannot feed the fear of dissent.  We must piece together a more complete picture.  Satya means to dedicate practice to cultivating our understanding.  Satya means to propagate a more consummate, collaborative, and comprehensive truth.   

SANTOSHA

​Santosha, derived from Sanskrit Sam, complete, altogether, entire, and Tosha, acceptance, or being comfortable, means to make peace with, or to reconcile multiple truths.  Santosha asks us to develop our capacity to hold comfortably the varied elements that comprise the complete truth, and to accept dichotomous or paradoxical realities.  This is a practice of mental flexibility, that we may stretch ourselves beyond one limited view and exercise ‘both/and’ competency, allowing for seeming opposites both to be simultaneously true.  We must build our faculty for uncertainty and contradiction.

​Santosha invites us to be present with all that is, to face what we’d rather not see.  We must sift, sort, and structure the multiple aspects of truth to create space in our minds and foster a sense of clarity and ease so that we are not overwhelmed or burdened by the enormity of true reality.  Santosha is often translated as contentment, and this is an important element.  We must not be frustrated or deterred when the multiple components do not readily align or make sense within our active framework.  We must be content to keep with the practice, to build space to accommodate our own blind spots and allow for gaps in our understanding.  Practice with Santosha requires calm receptivity, persistence in reflection, and a willingness to rearrange concepts, rule out false paradigm schemes, imagine ideas inverted, follow corollary patterns, and redefine our sense of truth, reality, and identity.

Practicing Satya & Santosha with Anti-Racism

As I continue with this first step of listening, educating myself, and investigating the full truth of our history and current reality, I’d like to share a few resources that I’m finding helpful as a white American woman new to the anti-racism movement:

• An easy step to take is to follow Marie Beecham (@MarieBeech) on Facebook or Instagram for clear bite-size information and actionable steps.
• If you’re ready for more than this, I highly recommend listening to the Hope & Hard Pills podcast and tuning in to Andre Henry’s Facebook videos to expand our perception and hear diverse perspectives.
• When you’re ready for an extensive overview of how racism has been embedded in the American criminal justice system for the entirety of American history, Michelle Alexander’s New York Times Bestseller The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, 10th Anniversary Edition paints a clear comprehensive picture.

Thank you for engaging with the anti-racism discussion and exploring with me how yoga calls us to activism for social justice. In my next post I continue with this practice and explore Karma Yoga & The Paradox of All-One, invoking the Yama Brahmacharya and the Niyama Svadhyaya.

Namaste ~ Teagan

 This Yoga & Anti-Racism Series streams forth in personal practice in response to Michelle Johnson's call to radicalize yoga to create a just world, as I've detailed in Part 1.  Many words around Satya and Santosha reverberate themes from Sarah Varcas' framework interpreting the astrological signature we are experiencing in these times.  Thank you Michelle Johnson and Sarah Varcas for your guidance and your invitation to come into better alignment. 

 Yoga & Anti-Racism Series, PART 2 OF 8

Normally I don’t share such personal musings in such a public way--and never at such length.  However, last week listening to Michelle Johnson’s book Skill in Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World, I received a key that unlocked the gateway marking the threshold to contemplative practice.  I’ve been approaching this path for some time, but now the door has swung open, and the force of what lies beyond is beckoning me emphatically with its gravitational pull.  

Last week I extended an invitation to our community to join me in contemplating How Yoga and Social Justice Intersect, and the first step requires an honest reflection on where we’ve been and where we are, so that we can identify our true potential and limits, and enter into this practice with great care.  I urge you to read or download Skill in Action and follow the guided practices to begin shining light on your own history and evolution, and I hope others in this community will take time for this practice, that we may build together a supportive sangha for active exploration.

What follows in this post are my own thoughts on my own recent experiences, the dark night before the bright dawn, appreciating the birth of a new day.  As I mentioned, this post is lengthy and personal, but it’s the necessary foundation upon which I will be building my contemplative practice; it’s the context for upcoming posts as I begin to explore Social Justice & The Purpose of Yoga, Karma Yoga & the Paradox of All-One, Dharma, Divisiveness & Sustaining Activism, Appropriation & Holding Space, Surrender to Activism, and The Yamas & Niyamas Activism Model in practice with Anti-Racism.  I hope that sharing my own experiences may somehow help someone, even in a small way.  In practice, in presenting our stories with clear intention imbued with an earnest sense of purpose, we liberate our sentiments to fulfill their highest potential, and we free ourselves from what has been occupying our attention and drawing from our energies, creating space within for something new.  Thank you for reading. 

​Namaste ~ Teagan

At the end of September 2019, moving into October, the heart of our rainy season here in Costa Rica, the season when things slow way down, the time that businesses take reprieve closing their doors for a week, a month, a breath, a pause in the absence of the usual tourism upon which they rely, with empty streets and cloudy skies, intermittent showers and sudden downpours, the idea of a week away from teaching brought a profound sense of relief, and we planned to close the yoga studio for a week for ‘Rainy Season Break’ to rest, play catch-up, and recuperate.  

My friend and colleague Veronique offered to guide me through a Peak States Therapy session, and I thought--yes, perfect, that’s exactly what I need--a good healing session to recharge as I kick off this week, so I’ll be energized to make the most of this time and attack the slew of tasks that have been accumulating on the back burner.  At that time Veronique was fairly new to Peak States Therapy, and she was eager to get more experience under her belt.  I had never heard of the technique and had no idea what was in store for me, but I trusted Veronique and greatly appreciated the bodywork sessions we often exchanged.    

The two-hour session was the most subtle form of healing therapy I have ever experienced.  It was like a very slow and gentle conversation as Veronique asked me to imagine a series of life scenarios, identifying the person and emotion that ever so faintly peaked into my consciousness in relation to the memory or experience, and she instructed me to hold a couple pressure points on my hands.  It felt as though nothing was happening at all, just quiet listening and imagination.  When I went home my impression was that while it was a peaceful and pleasant experience, I wasn’t sure it had much value.  I definitely hadn’t felt the distinct reset and realignment I so often receive in her Neuro-Cutaneos Technique bodywork treatments, noticing clear shifts in my body throughout the sessions, and a significant improvement in my state by the time she finishes her work.  The Peak States Therapy was different.  I left thinking that maybe this work is too subtle for me, or maybe she just needed more practice.  I would soon realize that I couldn’t have been further from the mark.  

In the “week off” that followed it was as though all the most condensed and potent emotions buried in the deepest trenches of my being, rose up and poured out of me.   I had never known myself to be capable of expressing such fiery anger, such fierce rage, such devastating grief, and in such rapid cycling succession.  My body was purging too.  My cycle began two days ahead of its normal schedule and extended two days beyond, essentially doubled in length, and physically manifesting the same qualities as my emotions--the purifying expulsion of the most stagnant, foul parts of myself.  

Needless to say, it was not the week I had planned; by the time I was to get back to teaching I hadn’t completed any of the work I had hoped to put behind me.   Throughout the month of October, I struggled to get back to normal.  I was feeling burnt out.  My yoga teaching and practice felt hollow, like I was going through the motions, vacant of any sense of the spiritual, purpose, or meaning.  It was a difficult month.  October marked the ten-year anniversary of my younger brother’s suicide, and adding to that, I had made the commitment to create and lead a Breast Health Self-Care Workshop and Healing Circle in support of the local Breast Cancer Awareness group’s events. Buried emotions were still surfacing, albeit more gently now, as I reflected on those in my life who have been affected by cancer.  The month presented new and unexpected logistical challenges as well, between navigating the new corporate legal requirements implemented at the time, and in losing a valued member of our Yoga teaching triad who was called home to be with family after her grandmother’s passing.  To-do lists grew longer, and complex emotions entangled.  I tried to keep positive and push through, to have fun with the Halloween festivities, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something really needed to change.  

The weekend following Halloween, at the portal of Day of the Dead when they say the veils are thin, I set aside a large block of time for ritual to delve deep into meditation.  It was the reboot I desperately needed.  Profound visions poured through imparting prophetic images, scattered puzzle-piece clips of information, and the most uplifting sense of energizing inspiration.  I saw myself pregnant, and also our Mother Earth pregnant, the sensation of innermost stillness, the depths of gestation, a visceral sense of the void in interlude between caterpillar and butterfly, impossible to express in its expanse and fullness.  I was flooded with a mix of open-ended ideas and possibilities paired with fortified inner-knowings and convictions.

I knew I needed to engage with contemplative practice, and I knew I needed respite from asana, yoga’s physical practice.  I announced that I would be canceling my regular asana classes for the month of November in favor of a weekly satsang to explore the principles and philosophies of yoga, and to address and engage with what was real and present in our community.  I knew I needed an opportunity for realignment before we’d be back in full swing for the launch of our high season in December, and given that our community is at its smallest in November as even our most committed students who live here year-round venture away to visit family at Thanksgiving, there couldn’t have been a better time to reset.  

In the first satsang we explored the value and the challenges of self-guided practice, the dynamics of moving on the mat without the cues of an instructor, in solitude away from the momentum that arises in group practice, where our coordinated flows foster a sustaining current akin to geese flying in pattern.  I couldn’t have guessed how pertinent this discussion would prove five months down the line in the face of Covid-19’s global lockdowns.  Home practice or no practice.  

In one satsang our group gave full attention to one member who was in the process of fulfilling his Yoga teacher training and was looking for experience leading class, and for constructive feedback.  He guided us through a mini class, and afterward we discussed what worked well, what was unique to his voice and style, and aspects he might consider exploring further.  Another satsang turned out to be a one-on-one meeting with a local environmental activist doing important work in the community, and we brainstormed and thought through plans for the upcoming year.  We couldn’t have known how many of those plans would prove moot for now in the face of lockdowns and new norms of operating.  Hit.  And miss.  

For myself the satsang that stands out was the conversation centered around the five Yamas and five Niyamas, two of the eight limbs in Yoga philosophy.  I’d first learned these concepts a decade earlier in my Yoga teacher training, and had since encountered them on several occasions in workshops and classes, and in reading articles online or in magazines.  They always felt elusive; I never held them all clearly in my mind, and much less in my heart, except for a few that I had come to grasp and internalize through lessons and practice with Kundalini.  Before the satsang I read up; I did not feel at all prepared to teach these concepts, but was comfortable enough at least to open up and guide a discussion.  It was an important conversation.  Although at the time I didn’t come away with any breakthroughs in understanding, I recognize that I was planting seeds in very fertile ground.  

My call to reset and my distinct realignment in priorities marked a clear divergence from my then business partner.  The pivot catalyzed our recognizing that it was time to part ways.  While I had imagined that the extra time cleared in November’s schedule from canceling regular classes would be applied to bolstering our business and getting ahead of the game for a prosperous high season to come, instead I needed to dedicate that time to the difficult and involved task of unraveling the partnership as delicately as possible to preserve its fruits and keep integrity intact as much as may be allowed under the stress of the separation.  

Emotions were high, feelings were hurt, and all variables seemed up in the air.  We passed through a prolonged period of shifts and changes, waiting for pieces to fall into place, but each new development brought more elements into the equation.  I wrestled to reconcile my intuitive compass and the puzzle pieces from my vision with reasonable rationale and judgment.  

The rational part of me felt energized and keen for new developments.  I was excited to launch for the first time in December a complete Pranayama class equipped with a lens linking Pranayama and free diving in our SCUBA-centric community.  Plus logically, it made sense to  keep the studio open through the high season, until the end of March, meeting the needs of the community and harvesting the fruits of our labors.  However, my intuitive heart was telling me it was time to close shop, to bring the machine to full stop.  I wanted to clear the canvas and apply all my energies to visioning the future.  I wanted to start preparing for a family and building our home and the new yoga space.  

When I had entered the business partnership a year and half prior, the yoga studio had already been operating for more than a year, so I hit the ground running, learning as I went.  Even though things for the most part went well and we made steady progress, the absence of a clear vision, purpose, and mission statement lurked in the back of my awareness.  It seemed we could never make focusing on this foundation a priority as there were always the day-to-day tasks with which to keep up, and some other event or project requiring our attention.  I was determined for December to dedicate the time to get clear and put the vision, purpose, and mission for Coco Yoga and Wellness in writing.  Blessed as I am with a father who sends me pages and pages of articles suggesting how one might approach this task and achieve great results, I felt well-equipped for the work.  What I didn’t realize then was that it was never a question of making it a priority to set aside the hours or weekend and apply myself to the goal--my real resistance was the unidentified inner-knowing that I wasn’t ready with clarity and conviction.  

Ultimately, with December bringing the blessing of the foretold pregnancy despite our family planning, my intuitive heart grew stronger and the voice of my body wisdom grew louder.  I needed rest.  I needed stillness.  I spent January wrapping up the loose ends to close the yoga studio and fulfill responsibilities to clear the way to retreat.   By February I started powering down, and with March’s global shutdown, I fully cocooned.  I was ready to allow my entire sense of self and personal history to dissolve, for my elemental parts to rearrange, reorganize, and recreate into something new.  Full stop.  Pure creative energy.  Wu Wei, non-doing.  Pure imagination.  While others complained of boredom, nothing to do, I wouldn’t engage with my lengthy to-do list; I couldn’t be called to motivation.  Only inspiration.  I did only what I was moved to do.  No expectation.  I made myself the seed, planted deeply in the earth.  

Now the seed coat is cracked.  A small sprout is shooting forth, slow but determined, looking for the light.  

yoga & antiracism series, PART 1 OF 8

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​It’s time to announce that I will close the Plaza Nino Coco Yoga & Wellness space at the end of this month. 

I am so grateful to have been invited to partner in running the space over the past year and a half, and I am so grateful for the warm welcome I received returning to the local yoga community.   It has been an incredibly enjoyable and fulfilling experience, and I learned so much in this time as I stepped into more responsibilities in holding and managing this space.  

Yet however much love, thought, time, and effort I put into this space, Miranda was the real heart of it; the vision belonged to her, and I can only imagine her tremendous efforts and dedication in creating the space and running it on her own before my return to Coco. 

By November, however, I began to feel called to begin focusing on my own dream—the land nearby sitting empty waiting to host the beautiful yoga shala I envision.  This shift in my energies and priorities marked an inevitable fork in the road; and I sense that my decision to close after March this year played a part in Miranda’s decision to end our partnership in November. 

While I agreed to take over the rental contract in December and keep the space open through the summer season; I did so with the understanding that both Miranda, Metzi, and myself were committed to teaching through the end of March this year.   However, by the end of December Miranda’s plans had changed, and last week with complications in the Monkey Trail commute getting worse, Metzi decided that it’s become too difficult to keep up.   

If I still were able to count on myself for the season, I’d definitely make it work as I had planned, but at New Year’s Eve my husband and I had news, which although gave us more cause for celebration, also made us put away the champagne.  In these early weeks of pregnancy I’ve needed considerable rest, have had much less mental and physical energy to put toward work, and have acknowledged my recent ankle injury a clear sign to step away from teaching.

While a big part of me would love to fulfill the commitment I made both to our incredible instructors and to our amazing students, to keep operating the space through the end of March, I must make the difficult decision to honor first my commitment to myself.   This is a precious time in which I need to care for myself and draw my energies inward in conscious creation.  Having previously experienced the pain and difficulty of miscarriage, I don’t take anything for granted and will do everything I can to support a healthy pregnancy.   

I have spent much time in contemplating this decision to close early, and it has weighed on me these weeks, but ultimately my intuition has given clear direction and by now I know to follow always the heart’s call.  I am so grateful to Marcos and Vanessa who will step in to fulfill the January yoga schedule; they have such bright light and tremendous wisdom to share. They both plan to continue teaching classes beyond January and will be available for private sessions as well; more information about their public classes beyond January will be announced as it is determined.  

For those who will have remaining classes on passes that extend into February, you will have the option to apply these to Marcos and Vanessa’s classes, apply these to classes at the new yoga studio in Hacienda Blu in Playa Panama, or to receive a refund for unused classes.   Please plan accordingly in purchasing new passes through the rest of January; for those accustomed to purchasing the more economic pass options, pass extensions will be available to buy additional passes at your usual class rate.   

Veronique and I will continue to be available for healing treatments and may be contacted through Coco Yoga or individually to set up appointments, and Angel can be reached through her Soul Sisters group. 

To those who have already offered your support and encouragement in making this decision, I truly appreciate your kind words and care.  Thank you to all for your understanding.  While this marks the close to one incredible chapter, the story is but beginning, and I look forward to the day that I will open again the doors to Coco Yoga and Wellness in a space created with love to foster healthy and vibrant community around Yoga,  Arts, and Healing.  

​

GUIDED MEDITATION, FRIDAYS 8:15 - 9:15 AM, December 2019

SOUL SISTERS CIRCLE, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11TH, 7:15 - 9:00 PM

Today in Satsang I asked students whether they practice yoga at home.  What does your own self-guided practice look like? What challenges get in the way?  I asked myself, if students aren’t practicing on their own, am I succeeding as an instructor?  Give a fish/teach to fish...is it important that students develop a hearty home practice? 

What’s the first obvious challenge to a home practice?  Our consensus today: dogs.  If you’re in Downward-Facing Dog, dogs want to play.  Even if you’re shut away in your room, you’ll soon be drawn out but their little noses bopping up against the door.  Dogs are the first challenge to home practice.  And if it’s not dogs, maybe it’s kids, maybe it’s the ringing phone, maybe it’s one of a million other things that calls for your attention, pulling you away from your mat.  

But after that, after all the outside distractions, what’s the next challenge with home practice?  Our consensus today: discipline.  What is discipline? Is it a word with a check box next to it, and we can mark off either we have it or we don’t?  Is it an attitude?  When I think about discipline, I think about taking time to define a mental framework and have specific strategies in mind.  

For example, if you want to form a new habit like making your bed each morning, the idea of discipline might comprise a firm decision of absolute follow-through.  It’s all or nothing. You make the decision that you will form this new habit. You commit. Then every morning first thing upon waking, you make your bed. You make your bed no matter how tired or lazy you feel, no matter how late you are and rushed to get out the door, no matter if your only plan for the day is to go for a stroll, have a bite, and then get right back in bed.  This form of discipline equates success with strict consistency, getting it done no matter what.  It’s extremely potent; it can be highly effective.  

Sometimes this discipline framework may be applied to making shifts around diet.  If our motivation is clear and pressing enough, like in the case of confronting a severe health issue, then this all-or-nothing approach to revolutionize our diet may be just the ticket.   However, if we’re not quite so intensely compelled to make the shifts, maybe we have only a general sense that we could make some changes to improve our health or minimize our environmental impact, then the all-or-nothing approach could be a setup for failure.  If you stray too far or too often from your initial decision, all or nothing may easily default to the latter; when it’s all or nothing, nothing is the choice of least resistance. In this sort of situation, we might be more successful setting up for ourselves a specific proportional rule.  For instance, as long as we follow our new diet guidelines 80% of the time, then we are being disciplined enough to make lasting change.  

So how about when it comes to developing a home practice?  Whether you commit, all or nothing, to a firm decision that each day upon waking you will be on your yoga mat without fail, or whether you’re less strict and decide that as long as you’re fitting practice into your schedule once or twice a week you’re good, either of these strategies can build discipline to show up on our mats with consistency.  Getting to the mat is at least half the battle, but then how do we stay disciplined once we’re there?  

What do we do when we start to practice and inevitably the time comes, the thought arises, we’d rather be doing something else?  We’d rather be back in bed, or we’d rather be getting ahead of tasks for the day, or whatever is calling to us, maybe we just don’t feel up to it.  Inevitably there will be times when we want to call it quits, when we won’t feel compelled to move through a complete practice. What do you do at these times?  All or nothing, you’re finishing practice no matter what? Do you reflect on how consistent you’ve been and weigh out whether you’re meeting your proportional target?  When we’re in our practice it’s not going to serve us to have to stop and weigh choices every time we are feeling challenged, so what can we do?

For myself, whether I’m flowing through Ashtanga practice, or whether I’m sitting down for meditation in stillness, I use the three-strike rule.  I begin my practice, and the first time I feel like I want to stop, that’s what tells me the practice has begun. Everything before the first time I want to call it quits was the warm-up, and now I know that I’m in my practice and I keep with it.   It’s interesting to notice when the first strike happens--it may be when I’m just getting going, it may be when I’m already most of the way through. On an amazing day, that first strike may not come at all. So I continue. If again the thought arises, “I’d really rather stop.”  That’s strike two--that’s what tells me that I’m in the heart of my practice. I take note, because right here is where my work is. This is it. My awareness intensifies, I realign my form, and I keep going. Sometimes there’s a strike two, sometimes there’s not; it can be telling to track the patterns.  Most of the time I will complete my practice with two strikes or less, but sometimes there’s a strike three, when again I think, “I’m really not feeling this today.”  Three strikes and I’m out. When for a third time I feel like it’s not in me today, that’s my cue to listen. That’s when I know today I’m better served taking rest.  

It’s important to know when to call it quits.  It’s important to know when we are better served taking a rest.   Our practice needs to serve us, and it’s important we develop awareness around our limits.  For me the three strike rule has proven invaluable in practice and beyond. It can be applied with interpersonal relationships.  How do we know when there’s value working things through, when moving through the challenge serves our growth and development? How do we know when it’s time to part ways?  It can be applied to our goals, like working toward a degree or certification. How do we know when we’re facing common hurdles and the difficulty is an important part of the training process?  How do we know when it’s time to accept that this path may not be for us, and our true dharma is waiting as soon as we’re ready to let this one go? And if we do hit three strikes, does that mean the practice is not for me?  Or does that mean, not today, but you can be sure I’ll be back again tomorrow to give it another shot? It’s not an easy process, and three strikes may be an oversimplification, but then, maybe it holds true. What do you think?  I’d love to hear your input.  ~ Teagan

May this practice serve our highest health and wellbeing.  May we be of service to all beings.  Namaste. ​