The Journey of Yoga

Yoga can be much more than a fun way to get a great body

In this article, Cathy Rogers, from Your Yoga Space, describes the unfolding of her own yoga journey and the style of yoga she has developed which reflects this journey, and helps others along their own.

When I started yoga at 17 it was purely to improve my ill health and get fit. It worked like a charm. At 18 I went to England for a gap year, got the usual Heathrow injection and returned 10 kilograms heavier. Again I turned to yoga, this time for weight-loss and I was back to size 32 in no time. I believed yoga to be the best form of exercise out there. I was doing yoga at the local gym and most of the teachers taught purely physical classes with a ‘namaste’ here and an ‘Om’ there. I began to think this was the extent of the spiritual practices yoga offered. In truth I also felt safe in the familiar boundaries of a physical yoga practice. I had been nervous of learning more about the spirituality involved in yoga. I feared I may have to adopt a new religion or that it may lead to some sort of ‘cult’ membership! But then I reached a cross roads in my life: my dream career path lost its appeal and I yearned for something to reignite my passion for life, to help me rework my faltering views on life’s purpose. So in short, I became adventurous.

My gym contract ran out and I began looking for something more – something that could challenge me and push the boundaries of my experience. I found a yoga studio at the end of my street and decided to attend a class. It grabbed me! These classes demonstrated that yoga was more than a physical practice; it was broad, holistic, and uplifting. Best of all, it wasn’t religious or cult-like! I began meeting like-minded people who embraced life and not cars, clothes brands and credit cards. I felt like I had come home after years of meaningless travel. Enjoying this new world I had found, I signed up for yoga teacher training and haven’t looked back.

Yoga is so much more than a healthy body, flat tummy, tight bum and cool postures for showing-off at parties. It can be a lifestyle that provides the practitioner with coping mechanisms for our demanding world. So I have vowed to ensure that the yoga classes I teach will be holistic: incorporating exercises for the body, mind and soul. I teach Hatha and Vinyasa classes with minimal ‘spiritual-talk’ for those whose minds and hearts are beginning to open to new yogic experiences. However, I have developed Journey yoga for those ready to experience more. I believe the body and mind are intimately intertwined and should be exercised together. Thus, in Journey yoga the body and mind are exercised along side one another to further enhance holistic health. Although, Journey yoga is a physical practice it has more emphasis on yogic philosophy, meditation and the mind than most yoga classes out there. I have combined my background in psychology with the yoga philosophies of old, to exercise the mind.

While completing yoga postures and breathing exercises, participants are encouraged to incorporate philosophies into their practice and lives through ‘thought projects’. These mental exercises take many forms to encourage inner reflection. They are based on a monthly theme such as Santosha (contentment), Ishvara Pranidhana (self-surrender), Compassion and so on. So too are the yoga postures, thus, the physical and mental practice work side-by-side towards the same goal.

In addition to the class, participants are provided with journal exercises that can be completed in their own time and in the comfort of their homes. The journal exercises are designed to extend the exploration of the theme, particularly regarding its relevance to their lives. Journal writing becomes especially powerful when our thoughts are written down. They gain clarity as their real perspective emerges. Journal writing is a great way to strengthen the work done in the class.

In Journey Yoga every attempt is made to present theory in an accessible, relevant way. I also try to deliver the material in a way that encourages individual interpretation. And so, the true nature of yoga is honoured as an accepting, loving practice and not a dogma.

The great part about teaching these classes is that I too am taken further on my yoga journey by researching topics and challenging myself to ‘practice what I preach’. I feel blessed during each class because I have a chance to share the many joys of yoga with my students, while they explore their unique yogic paths.

By Cathy Rogers

Try Journey Yoga classes at Your Yoga Space studios in Randburg and Sandton. www.youryogaspace.co.za

The word that is “yoga”…

Yoga is a constant source of inspiration to so many of us. Many know this truth: yoga
fundamentally changes us. With time, yoga tattoos itself on the inside and we begin to awaken more and more naturally to this “union” that is “yoga” and all that it brings.

There are many ways to practise yoga, many ways to find yoga, many ways to understand yoga – in the end, it’s all yoga – and yoga should be celebrated! Complete Yoga is exactly about celebrating all that is beautiful in life and in yoga. With man’s tendency towards making judgements, creating “isms” and labels for things,
the word “yoga” itself becomes a good word to reflect back on as it reminds us of truth, togetherness, unity, connection and our oneness with all life.

One of the first teachings of yoga is that life is difficult and, once we have accepted these hardships and our personal and collective challenges along the way, we are free to be joyful in the knowledge that the world is always exactly as it should be. This is the “celebration” of yoga – the growing awareness and trust in universal principles that ultimately sets us free.

Therefore, with the intention of celebrating the many divine aspects of life and holistic living, the Complete Yoga team got to cooking up an issue that celebrates and expresses the sacred spirit of yoga. More than anything though, it’s the warmth and sincerity of the proudly growing yoga community that allows us to do what we do.

Through inspiring, encouraging, enlightening and hopefully also, just relaxing you, the message of yoga, as is subliminally written in this issue too, is that you should revel in the wonders and many mysteries of life.
Hopefully you’ll emerge brightened from the experience, and experience is what we yogis hold dear.

There are too many fabulous reads in this issue for me to highlight just one (or even just a few), so let’s rather trade – we share with you and you share with us what this wonderful word “yoga” means to you.

As we grow in consciousness, let our yoga become that shining beacon of light, as we fill the world with our collective radiance. This is the spirit and celebration of yoga – the union, the joining together, the weaving of a collective tapestry that we call yoga and indeed life.

Hari Om Tat Sat,
Angela

If every moment is a new beginning, then every day is a new world…

That’s certainly how it feels in this unpredictable world of rapid change. For lack of a better phrase, it’s actually quite wondrous watching present events unfold. Global financial crisis, war and terror, political reform, democratic subterfuge, ecological and environmental degradation and restoration, the chasms between rich and poor… And, while some say it’s always been this way, to me the world feels different, changed.

World events have caused a shift in global consciousness and a return to many of the values that have been lost in its succession. You can always tell what’s in mass consciousness by what’s “trendy” and “cool”. “Holistic living” and “spiritual wellbeing” are the new catchphrases of a generation seeking to find a more meaningful existence, a manner of living that’s in tune with a global consciousness that’s yearning for real change in the way we live our lives and experience our worlds. Much of what is needed however, can be found in the simple truths and profound teachings of ancient times by men and women who understood and sought to delve into the nature of reality and the “beingness” of mankind.

Yoga is a way back to the truth. Yoga offers us the secrets and tools necessary for living a soulful, conscious and connected life. The realm of yoga is all-encompassing and it’s teachings find application in many and all areas of life. It’s an opening to a new beginning, a new world of discovery, a journey with a vast stretch from the ends of the universe back into the centre of the soul and out again. As Kavi Yogiraj Mani Finger, the founder of the Yoga Teachers Fellowhsip and Complete Yoga magazine used to say, “it’s difficult to describe the experience of yoga, like sugar, you have to taste it for yourself.”

I hope in these pages you can find something to inspire you to engage with yourselves and the world in a deeper, more meaningful way and, it is with deep gratitude to the many people who have travelled this path before me that I present this new full-colour, expanded format Complete Yoga magazine. Without the contributions of the people who have breathed life and soul into this magazine over the years, this would not have been possible.

They say that yoga finds you, and my wish is that Complete Yoga will continue to find a home in the hearts and minds of all yogis for a long time to come. Looking forward to growing in yoga together!

Hari Om Tat Sat,

Angela