Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Welcome, welcome.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm excited that we have office hours at a different time today.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and i'm grateful that those of you who are here can make it, and also for those who are not here. If you're watching that we play, you are welcome as well.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and so let's just take a moment and welcome ourselves to the Space minds body's hearts.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and we'll take some time to reconnect to natural rhythms.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So to do that I invite you to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): release anything that's been
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): holding on, or that's like. Got a grasp on you. So you might want to like, shake, or find some way to release, maybe stamping your you know floor, maybe banging your hands on your your table. Anything that helps you just let go.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe making some noise.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we'll start by practicing
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with it. What brings you to grounding? What brings you to presence? We'll take a deep breath in and exhale
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): for those joining? We're grounding ourselves in the space, releasing anything that gets in the way of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): your highest self or feeling presence. and we'll begin with connecting to the earth so deep breath in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and deep breath out
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): 3 breath in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and out.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): feeling all the support and all the places that you are held.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the power of earth within you and all around you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then we'll move to your fluid nature.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so moving, or feeling the fluidity of water of liquid. And so you might be moving in ways that are yoga shapes, or just fluid movements. Maybe circles, maybe spirals with your head or neck or torso.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): nice
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): spirals or circles in your wrist. arms, your legs.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a generosity of spirit to your movements. maybe feeling into this fluidity
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as if you're like an ocean, or I like our streaming, our river.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): harmonizing and acknowledging the fluid nature within you, just like you are grounded like the earth. You can flow like the waters.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I will move from earth, water to fire. So there's any movements or
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): gestures that feel fiery for you. Once again I feel like like shaking kind of like the movement, quick movement of the fire, like maybe erratic, or jumping or moving in different directions, little bit of shaking for others. Maybe the fire is more like a nurture. It's more like a hug, you know. It just depends on what you're wanting in this moment more like a warm candle or a campfire that you're sitting around.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe singing some, some feeling tended, feeling your heart tended
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): could be rubbing your hands, creating warmth.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): placing your hands over your eyes over your heart.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): However, you would like to embody connecting to fire
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the generosity of this element. the energy that is given to us through light, through life.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): feeling, gratitude for the element of fire within us and all around us
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the fire of inspiration of the has. When the connection gets made, or your synapses fire.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): light, warmth.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then letting fire go, and moving to the next element of air.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): For this element I invite you to open up your arms, Open up your test if you'd like you can do. A gentle back bends, maybe putting your hands behind you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I've seen your face up towards the sky.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm feeling the movement of air
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as it comes in and flows out your lungs from your belly.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and also you can stay right there breathing like that, or maybe even on your exhale curling over, caring, For your
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): part, your lungs and hill opening wide. or
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): something about the element of air, if you want like a bigger motion, might be like fluid movements through air.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So your choice how you would like to move there with this element or something else.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I find myself
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): opening and closing my arms
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): at the hearts.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with the breath.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): connecting to the element of air, to its movement.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to the way that it is on air that sound carries
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): into the error
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): all around us that makes life possible as well as that here within you that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): fuels, your life, force.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): fuels, your breath, and what you have to share with the world
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): thinking and harmonizing the element of air within you and all around you. And then finally coming to space.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And for this I invite you to take your hands and stretch them out up and above you, and let your hands flow around you, taking up space, filling up space with your legs, maybe out or down towards the Earth
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): arms.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and you can continue moving, or you can hold in a shape filling the space. And this could also be relaxing
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): on your on the earth, maybe stretching from side to side options for
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you right now. How your Selma, your mind's body spirit, wants to fill
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the space and your space.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Okay, but in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and deep breath out.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): harmonizing with the elements of space.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): makes all life possible.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): You and all around you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then releasing the element of space as you
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): harmonize with it, or water
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): higher here and space. and knowing that we are all these elements. But you also are so much more than each or any one of these elements, or the combination of all these elements together.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): consciousness, existence, essence beyond time, space, form shape
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): from the perspective. I feel the philosophy
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we both are, and are not all of these component elements that make us up
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): full rest for just a minute in the quietude of that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): infinite nature, and I this out with my voice.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): See.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): rest in silence, and if your mind finds itself full of other things just gently bringing it back to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a big S. So.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): see you breath out
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): doing. You can connect to each of these elements and harmonize them within yourself
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): any time you would like, and to the witness consciousness.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): little self to the Great Self.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): just to bring your attention there.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and 2 moments of connection and bliss.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): You're ready and contently release
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): that practice, maybe moving a little bit.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and as you move, checking in with
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): where you're at right now, how is your yoga practice
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yoga
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): teaching? If you teach practice, if you practice embodiment, living of yoga going.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): how is this showing up for you? And if there's any questions or inquiries, or wondering what those follow up.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I must stretch
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and come into the space that you're in looking around, taking a form and color shape. you know, noticing the different lights with the different time of day that we're gathering.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Maybe if there is a different energy, and then we'll come together.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and t
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): thank you for practicing.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm. And i'd love to hear if you want to drop in the chat 2 words of how you are, and then any anything that's on your mind and heart. Yeah, thank you. So any transcript. So into that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and any questions around
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yoga practice teaching
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): embodiment. We did not get any questions in our questions, for
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): which is kind of cool, because I feel like we can just chat.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So the space is open.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and folks who are off camera. If you want to come on, you're welcome to you're welcome to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): say off camera
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): would love to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to hear from folks we have time and space for it all.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hi, Elizabeth!
Elizabeth: Hi!
Elizabeth: So I first I just want to say I love how each of these yam this is kind of met me where I where I am, through the months that we've been doing this, so I just think that is just been so beautiful.
Elizabeth: but so my question. So I i'm on the I started with you back in August, so i'm on the It's very probably i'm not gonna say it right.
Elizabeth: How you donna
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): with you if you want.
Elizabeth: Yes, please.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's
Elizabeth: Ishbara, honey, Donna. Okay, that's the one the one I struggle with the most. So so here's my question that I would love to hear your thoughts or other people's thoughts.
Elizabeth: So the past few years I feel like I have shed some of the images of divine that have not served me anymore.
Elizabeth: and have come to a place of beginning to see the divine and everything which is really lovely.
Elizabeth: And also I kind of miss having a particular shape of the divine, particularly when it comes to devotion to like. center me and draw me in. I miss having
Elizabeth: kind of a particular shape of it.
Elizabeth: and I it just makes, I think this practice of devotion
Elizabeth: more complicated. I think, when I don't
Elizabeth: have, like, I'm: okay, not having an image, and I also kind of miss not having an image, if that makes sense. So i'd love to hear your thoughts on that.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Elizabeth. I love this question. I also love it, because everyone can have their own answer.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I would say for me.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it's often
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): nature like I experience the divine through nature and through the light. The aboriginal folks, indigenous folks in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): New Zealand, I believe, call the light that shines on to say plants or flowers beer to you, and they see that as a manifestation of the divine.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I see light around people and things like. Sometimes I'll just be looking at someone, and i'll see why I I guess other people might have seen an aura, but it's not particular colors. It's usually just a kind of glow or white light.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so I see that light as the divine showing through everything. And so for me, it's that that I picture in different forms.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then also
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I like connecting to different deities
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): at different times, like so allowing myself to connect to sake and age for a particular thing, or lux me for a particular thing, knowing that you know, and and I fully understand it. For many people, including family members.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): these
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): depictions of the divine are real beings. For me. They are more like energies or
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): qualities made in form that I can understand.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then the other way that I connect with it is that, like I remember having this felt experience of a meditation where I could feel the world turning
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in the greater universe. And it was like one of those it's one of those big experiences. And so it's almost like this sense of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like fire and ice and movement and stillness all at once. And so I more connect through an image less of an image, I mean, and more of a felt sense.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): So for me it's just those different ways and kind of allowing whatever needs or wants to be
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to come through.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and I love to take some time for other folks who want to to
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to express their ways of connection.
Elizabeth: Thank you. Those are helpful.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Oh, good! I'm glad
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: I really love this. I wouldn't call it a question more like an expression that you shared with us today.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: I don't really have an answer, but just kind of like my thoughts is like it is so sweet. It's like you are seeing.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: You know, your just definition of divine is like you're seeing it
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: everywhere like I'm hearing like maybe You' in a a stranger. Maybe you see it in a plant, or maybe you see it in like the tea that you might drink.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: And so I think that's so beautiful. And then I also hear a part of you saying that? Oh, you miss, maybe like for you. There was an image or a that you or a person. I'm not sure what you are.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: Definition was. and I can kind of resonate, because in I practice.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: and from a Hindu background. And so we have many, even though there's one form, there's many goddesses and many gods in many forms, and many names, and
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: all of the things that i'm like. Oh, I like this. No, I like that. Oh, I like this.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: but like. I think, for me, there's like an attachment to like an image that it's like it's easier to speak to something. So for me, like. I have a particular image of like. I have
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: a main image, if that makes sense, and then I I feel similar where I see God in many ways of lights and energies and people, and small moments, maybe laughter, joy.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: But I think for me, having something structured, feel safe.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: so like I can understand missing a form, because maybe it's easier to communicate. I don't know if that's what you were trying to share, but that's what I heard.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: I have something that i'll offer.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: So I I was raised in Catholicism.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: but I studied
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: classical Indian dance, and that was, you know, mostly about Hindu Davies.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: and in Catholicism, you know it was very much.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: you know. No statues, you know, really trying to move away from the idea of something that is outside of the self.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: and
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: and then I sort of I'm. Just spiritual, and not like religious.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: But what was really cool for me was being able to experience these things in lots of different ways, and what i'd like to offer is that, you know, in addition to
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: having an image of a god goddess.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: one can also embody the god or the goddess in various ways or experience. For instance, you know a flower that may be associated with a god, and smelling that.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: or wearing the colors of you know, spirit. And another thing that your question brought up for me that I never thought about before
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: is this idea that
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: you know spirit or God itself. It's something that we think of as.
or at least I think, of as sort of
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: perfect and complete, and there's no need for
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: changing it or shifting, because it's just all things
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: beyond even my comprehension. But
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: the human experience is also a type of design experience in its mutability.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: and how much life is about Constant change.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: So just a couple of things said
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: came up for me. Thank you for offering that.
Constina: Oh, wow! I have to jump in. This. This is so amazing. I was just having a conversation with a friend of mine yesterday about the idea of
Constina: shedding the I the
Constina: God of our upbringing.
Constina: So the attachment to what an idea of relationship look like from our childhood and or our family of origin, and being able to turn around and say, Wait a minute
Constina: as you grow in your spirituality, and you see things in a different way, and you mature in a different way. You start to realize that it's not just one way. It's many different ways.
Constina: you know. I love the I see.
Constina: I see higher power or the divine, and nature
Constina: all the time I see it in humans.
Constina: I sit. I saw it in a in a B that was trapped in my house recently, and I was just like. At first I thought it was a fly, and I was gonna swat it, and then I was just like, Wait your B. I was like, I gotta save you and it I was just like, oh.
and I was just like I don't know what's gonna happen to this be, but I hope he goes and prosper, and makes a lot of honey. I don't know, but I see the divine and many different ways, and
Constina: so shedding this notion that we have to have a certain way that we worship a certain image that we worship a certain
Constina: i'm just beginning to let that go
Constina: and just graduate, as we say, or, you know, evolve into a self with a capital as a as, and I have mentioning as opposed to this as like little team, blue, as you know, you just sitting there in a church, or whatever you just re regurgitating things that you
Constina: where it's hot and told to do. And then, as you grow older and you realize that wait a minute. It's much deeper than that. It's not just surface. It's in everything.
Constina: So I just wanted to share that. So thank you for bringing up this topic.
Kahli Alspaugh: I might have one thing to add.
Kahli Alspaugh: I'm my name's Culli. I use them pronouns. Can you all hear me? Okay, Cool.
Kahli Alspaugh: I have had the strangest day, the strangest few months. I even
Kahli Alspaugh: just want to add on top of like seeing the divine how sometimes we're redirected by the divine, and sometimes it's not really seen, but more like felt.
Kahli Alspaugh: and I've been trying to use like numerology to guide me. But I've also just noticed when there's been like blockages, and
Kahli Alspaugh: I guess I don't really know what type of visual to put to it other than the sense feeling. But I guess maybe that's my substitution for the visual. Whenever I can't come to that, I just like, Well, what do I feel in my gut, and this also relates a lot to
Kahli Alspaugh: I'm. Estranged from my family, and I I struggle with that feeling of
Kahli Alspaugh: missing that guidance, and recently had the wonderful
Kahli Alspaugh: thought process, I guess, explained to me of the
Kahli Alspaugh: divine and the ancestors being the same thing. And so you
Kahli Alspaugh: actually do have access. And and that was really lovely for me, and it's a very different, You know way of going about what you're speaking on. So thanks for letting me add my 2 cents, and
Kahli Alspaugh: i'm gonna have to step out to try to get housing solidified. But I love and appreciate all of you. So thank you.
Constina: I do have a question. It's a I'm. Christina. By the way, I
Constina: I love this topic and
Constina: part of me when i'm teaching, I introduce elements of it within the practice, because I want to continue to honor
Constina: the the legacy in the history of Yoga as it stands.
Constina: and I I guess my question is, how do we. as teachers and practitioners.
Constina: introduce that to a broader audience
Constina: without coming across as preaching or invasion of someone else's thought process.
Constina: So it's a fine balance, and I haven't quite found it yet. So we'd love to hear
Constina: everyone's thoughts on that and what they've done. Maybe
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: I have no answers again just that I share like
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: I love this topic and certain words, but I know these words can also be triggering for other folks with different experiences, and so
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: I do agree with you. It's a balance, and, like I don't know what that balance is, because sometimes, like, I think I hold back too much, because i'm not sharing the way I want to share.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: But then also I get afraid that I don't want a upset.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: I think, like I don't know I grew up here in the Us. In California, and I feel like
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: you're supposed to separate like it's engraved in my brain that you're supposed to separate God. Spirituality, and like school work, whatever I don't know why, but that's for me. But
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: for those who practice Hinduism it's also very engraved in your culture. So it's. It's very like conflicting for me personally. And recently I've been teaching meditations at work.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: not teaching meditations, offering meditations for coworkers.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: And there's a part of me that wants to share kind of tiptoe
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: around it.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: and I've done it. I I kind of done it. I've gotten some good feedback, but i'm like scared. So again no answers, but just sharing where i'm at as well.
Constina: I can car. I agree.
Constina: I can share with you what I've I've done.
Constina: and maybe that will spark
Constina: some other suggestions or ideas. I've
Constina: I would take a topic whether it's a yamar Niyama and I would apply it to
Constina: an everyday life experience that I have.
Constina: and
Constina: then I would share it with people to say that Yes, this is a practice
Constina: of movements. But there is also other elements within the practice.
Constina: and one of them is
Constina: tying it to things that we can do to be good stewards in this world, because we get shepherds to be good people, one would say, and and then I would sort of sneak it in
Constina: It's like a side door, and so it's not really like. Oh, this is a religion of some sort or a practice that you have to take. It's like
Constina: these are principles and guidelines that i'm embodying. I'm trying to embody every day, and I want to share it with the world
Constina: because it's so helpful and so many different ways, not just in a yoga studio or a meditation room.
Constina: Okay.
Constina: you're driving. There's many different ways to apply the the principles and practices there.
Constina: It's not just a you know. 60 min, 45 min. It's it's for me. It's a lifelong journey.
Constina: and I try to embody that with everyone that I I practice with.
Constina: But I still don't know if that's the right way.
Constina: or there's a different way. Or, yeah, I just want different perspectives. You know, on how to engage people in
Constina: this wonderful world of
Constina: It's just yoga in general.
Autumn: Hi! Sorry I'm like 100% sitting in the dark. My name's autumn. I'm so she her hers. You can barely see me, so I do something similar. I take like
Autumn: what we're doing with like what we're studying, and then I try to incorporate it into my work. I'm. I'm a fitness instructor primarily. So I
Autumn: I try to like, incorporate it into the way that i'm teaching. And then, whenever i'm doing something for work because I work so much.
Autumn: It sort of
Autumn: translates into my more everyday life, like my outside of work, life, experience, and i'm much more mindful with the way that I teach my like classes than when I'm just, you know, walking around tired, relaxed, doing, you know whatever.
Autumn: And I find that that really
Autumn: that particular method for me really works well, because I do try to be really like open and accepting in my classes, and I do try to help
Autumn: or to you. Make. Have my classes be sort of Yoga informed, even though they're not actually yoga classes.
Autumn: and it does come across sometimes, because then I have people asking me like, oh, do you practice yoga like?
Autumn: What is this like? I like how you know it's very like open level. But and then I notice it start to shift just into my everyday life, like if someone's screaming at me, or if you know, something goes wrong like I bought a bike rack, and it was missing a bunch of parts, and they were like so apologetic and so concerned, and I was like it's fine. It's a minor inconvenience.
Autumn: But it it was actually quite funny. But there it's just. I find that just finding one aspect of your life where you can really
Autumn: integrate it, and something that maybe you're already more mindful about. Helps to just kind of like. Have that casually seep into the rest of
Autumn: everything else. That's all I have to say.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: I have a thought that i'm not. I'm having trouble formulating it. So i'll try.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: So I like to sort of bring in
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: little pieces of stories.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: especially when i'm You know when we're when we're in an Austin, you know.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: and i'm, you know, instead of just talking about where you might feel it in your body, and might talk about like in Hannah Manasana.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: Talk a little bit about, you know.
and you know something that
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: makes me not worry too much about
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: who's who's caused different religions, or, you know, to lead systems
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: in the class is is that parables are pretty universal. You know everybody has parables. We all have stories. It's, you know, one of those
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: big ways that our cultures and traditions get passed down. and so I feel like you know, bringing sort of
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: a mix of stories, and where it's you know where it makes sense. You know where it's applicable to what's going on, but and for me with the focus more on the stories of you know where
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: the country set this originated from. But you know, if something comes up from my Catholic upbringing that's going to go into it, too, or even like the parable of the solar. And to see, you know more
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: current.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: You know, Parable, you know. I feel like where there is a place for a story.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: I'm gonna do it. You know stories are, you know, so important for us as human beings, and they teach so much, and they can teach so much in just a little just the sort of the correct of what the story was about.
Hmm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I love all of this, and I love this
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like. Where in life can we sit around having these conversations like? I'm feeling it right now? We like treating
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): the kind of philosophy and spiritual aspect of Yoga in a way the way we do with trauma, informed Asana. So keeping it very student centered, keeping, there being a lot of choice and options.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And so i'll say things like, you know. This is a universal principle. It's found in, you know, the but also in many other, you know, spiritual or or you know, cultural philosophies, and I might use where it's like, you know God or the divine of your own understanding.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): right like I'll invite people to find their way in. And then what you're I mean, and you all know what I do with stories right like I try to make them
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): accessible through connecting to. I actually have a formula happy to share, which is like it's a story or a phrase, or a quote right? That's the through line. And then that reminds me of something about my life.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then a reflection like Does it remind you of something that's happened or happening for you, and then a teaching point, maybe a misunderstanding or an understanding or a key essential thing, and then the significance.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): can happen over the flow like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Jamie, you're sharing. It can really be like. And then, as you know, it could be one shape that all those things happen.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): maybe a couple of shapes, because I I teach pretty slowly like it's like 5 to 10 breaths, you know it's not like inhale excel. I couldn't do it that quickly if it was in a but more when we're just settled.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I I think that it deepens. People's experience of Asana
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to hear the stories, and to hear like, hear us take them through.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and then also in meditation. And then Shavasana as well. It's like a really
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and really for me. It's like a opportunity to bring in the spiritual. sometimes without even calling it that I might call it ethics or values, or you know, way to deepen your practice and bring it into your life depending on the context.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And then I try to read my audience. And if someone like I've had people come up to me at the end and say like this felt uncomfortable for me because of my beliefs. And so i'll say, you know, just take what works for you, and and leave the rest, you know, because I think back to like the first principle of a he says
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it's not about proselytizing. It's not, it's like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I truly believe Yoga is not here as a dogma. It's not here to tell people what to believe or what to do. It's more like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to translate as a kind of universal ethics that helps us be better people in our own lives. And then with one more way.
Constina: Thank you, Susanna, that was helpful.
Constina: Actually, everybody's extremely helpful
Constina: calculating it in my brain right now.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yes, i'm wondering like.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): How do you
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): connect Yoga philosophy? And Asana like this conversation is making me think of that like What are the ways that you bridge those?
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Because I do think, like another wave in, or
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): exploring that question that you asked is like. How do we bring people in who maybe come in the door to move their bodies. but give them
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): nourishment for their souls and their spirits and their hearts. And so how do you make that that bridge like? I think there's so many ways that we can.
Constina: I agree. I have a I'm. I'm really big on the grounding just connecting with
Constina: Mother Earth like when you're in like a
Constina: a standing position, or or any asma actually that you're using your feet, and your head is to the sky. It's. I'm like connect with Mother Earth. Connect with Father Sky.
Constina: you know, feel the error around you, and without actually going into any of the details of the
Constina: the language of you know the ethics that that is within Yoga. I I try to embody the
Constina: the spirit behind it, so that
Constina: people can connect with it. However, they want to connect with it.
Constina: and it brings
Constina: it. It brings me, even when I hear myself say it, it grounds me
Constina: to where i'm at in this very moment. And it reminds me that there's a broader universe when my head is lifted up to the sky.
Constina: So that's one of the ways that I try to bring a bit of
Constina: the ethics or elements of Yoga into
Constina: into the Us.
Constina: not just queuing for movement and breath, but just also connecting with
Constina: with things around us.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: I also like to share that I have loved.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: I think in ytt 200, Susannah.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: that that same statement take what serve you, leave the rest. and I really love that statement. and
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: I think it's interesting. As everyone was speaking, I was like if someone. if I went to a class and a teacher said something that didn't resonate with me, I mean, depending on the level.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: I would be okay. With that I would take what I
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: wanted and leave the rest. But I know everyone is different. and so like. I think
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: I don't know how to deal with like, I guess negative feedback in that sense, like
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: because I've had. I've said something in a couple of people agreed, and then I then, like a couple of seconds later someone would say something the opposite, and I was like, oh, my God! I just offended someone, and like like I didn't mean to offend this person, because I didn't have this experience, and I didn't.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: I think, to say such inclusive language or such. You know something.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: And so I don't know
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: what the point of this was. That self critic comes up a lot for me.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: and
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: kind of like, how can we? It's impossible to do non harm right? But how can we do the least harm? And so, I wonder? This is like more like me just brainstorming out loud. But it's like
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: asking like, Are you comfortable with these words? Or I might use some words that you may be comfortable with.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: So I know sometimes people say trigger warning. But I don't. Is that really supported like, I guess i'm just trying to hearing like. I guess I want to hear your guys thoughts on like what is
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: what is appropriate in a class setting, or maybe even for me, like a professional setting, and I get really nervous in a professional setting.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: Because. yeah, it's a in my brain. It's like we have to separate those 2. I don't know if that makes sense. But thank you for listening. Everyone.
Carly Joelle: Hi! My name is Carly. She her
Carly Joelle: just a quick brainstorm with what you were just speaking about. I I know that it sounds like at work. Maybe you don't have like an advertised class description, but maybe you could create one and say
Carly Joelle: it's my intention to incorporate some education about the roots of Yoga, and i'll be discussing philosophy and using language i'm happy to talk to you about, or something that way. It's like out there.
Carly Joelle: and then you can just step into it.
Constina: I love that. I'm gonna i'm gonna echo that. And also say, even for those who don't read the description
Constina: at the beginning. You can totally just say, you know, just just to let you know this class is inclusive, and it's open to all. And then everything that Carly had mentioned like that's.
Constina: and it takes like 1015 s. You know it Doesn't Take a lot of time, and then people are.
Constina: I think they would appreciate it, because then I sort of like, oh. this is what i'm getting myself into. Okay, alright. let's see where this goes. So I like that. Thanks, Carly.
Carly Joelle: On my little cards I have. Yoga is an art of living.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yeah, I love this. I love that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): when you describe something
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in a inclusive way. It also gives you a foundation and gives your participants context. I'm thinking of in a professional setting. I think people like to know they like to learn, and I also think you can use secular words, you know and and say.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know in this context you'll make your own description about it, but it's like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): we're exploring yoga, which is a practice, you know, mind, body, spirit, whatever right, like the different things we'll incorporate you. The philosophy.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's an inclusive class. and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I invite you to take what works for you, you know, like you can have all of it there. I don't love the term trigger warning, either because, like I share, I don't like I I feel, but I sometimes will use the word activated like if you notice yourself activated, or you've noticed.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Can you hear, my kiddo? This is like a little energy back there. But
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah, where it's like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): like activated, or if you I also will refer to like bodily sensations like your heart beating faster, you know, since, like changes in body temperature, notice those things, they're giving you information, because
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I think
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know. In a way yoga has become this. Fill in the blank for all of the tools and skills that we didn't get in regular schooling, you know, even in like college, or unless you've been in therapy for years and years and years with a really great therapist. It's like most of us. Don't
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): actually even know that when our heart is beating really fast we might be feeling anxious, you know, or that we're feeling hot and cold, that maybe it's a sign that something in the environment isn't what we like, you know. And so it's almost like you you through those things you're you're getting to share skills with your colleagues.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): And I think and I think it's okay.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): you know, to to use secular language, like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): when there's nothing that says you have to use particular to like even terms like is for our, you know, and and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): literally potentially says, I can't remember which tutor it is. I'll have to find it, but, like use, whatever tool like it gives us a list of 15 things like meditate on own
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): use. The Yamas in Yemen do all these things, maybe more than 15. It's like 30, and then it's like, or use whatever practice works for you like You literally says that.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and it's so inclusive. And so, in a way, it's like here like there's no there's no dog, Mac.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): There's just what brings your mind to union? What brings your heart to union what serves.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): See if I can find the the slope, because that one is like, oh, okay, like you're not devaluing yoga by connecting it to the context that you're in.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I only say that here, right given all the work that we all have been doing so, I wouldn't just go and say that public. They also wanna name that because I think there's a lot of folks who do misuse. Okay. But the truth is.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): it's meant to be really accessible.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I'm gonna see if I can sign up to. Okay.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I know it's in Book 2.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: No, we don't have much time left. but I wanted to quickly share. What's coming up for me is like
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: the hesitancy behind. The language is like. I feel like it's a lot of internalized patriarchy or internalized capitalism, or I don't know what we're to use.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: So, even though i'm Hindu or I grew up with this, it still doesn't feel like it's mine to share.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: And even though I've taken the like, I still have to take the classes and the certification and the
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: you know, even though I personally grew up with it.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: It's interesting that I'm still seeking that permission and validation to to share that.
Radha Dalal @radiancewithrads: and that just came for me. So I wanted to share that with all of you.
Constina: It's already in you. We're just waiting to hear it.
Constina: We're gonna
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: I'll just share that. I actually really love to say the Sanskrit words, and for being a sort of my own personal protest
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: when I say it, you know what I mean. I like to say it. I like to define it.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: you know, and if I can remember, i'll talk about where it came from, you know, like what the root words are.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: because you know
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: it's. It's just my push back against
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: the machine.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): I love this, and I hope that this conversation is supportive to you and and others in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): yeah, like
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): claiming that connection that is yours and sharing in the way that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Yoga speaks through you. You know it is unique.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and it is. It is colonial. It is pretty charcoal. The things that make us feel like we don't belong. We can't speak up, and I do think it's for me. It's still a lot of
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): i'm unhappy all the time that internalize kind of colonial mindset of like. Oh, it has to be palatable. It has to be a certain way.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): letting it flow.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): It's tricky, too, I do think like when it's your workplace I always struggle teaching
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): at when I was a teacher at the schools that I also taught like English and history at it was easy. It's easier for me when I just pop in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as a yoga teacher, or even as a consistent with teacher, and that's what I was hired for. So acknowledging that, too, that sometimes, like sharing your your passion and your practice
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): in a place of work, those layers.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): and also like, let it be fun for you. It' be a practice of resistance. I love that
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): anything else before we close. What a beautiful
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): time this was I love. How doing this at a different time, in a different space like opened up
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): a different energy.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): Hmm. So much gratitude for each of you, and so i'd love to invite you to just connects back to yourself.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to the elements, to that which is beyond divine.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): as you call it. See it feel it.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): since it's
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): to you
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): That's you ready. We'll close with the sound of you bed in
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): full exhale.
who
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): thank you. Thank you.
Susanna Barkataki (she/her): If you like you can view it, Share what you're taking away or talking to, and i'll see you soon.
Constina: Thank you, everyone. Thank you, Susanna, you're the best.
Constina: Have a great one.
Autumn: Good night, everyone.
Constina: Good night!
Good night. Thank you.
Jamie (she/her) @tharavadayoga: Good night, Thank you. This is.