People Of Yoga Films

Mark Darby has been a name I've been connected to since I began Ashtanga back in 2002. I remember back then seeing his name on ashtanga.com as a senior teacher to study with, and ever since, he has been one of the names I have wanted to meet. So, getting a chance to do a People Of Yoga portrait while in Goa with him was too good an opportunity to miss. Mark is such a great storyteller, with the ability to capture moments and stories in a visceral way. He has lived a devoted, rich, and passionate life. This conversation takes us on that journey, sharing many of the lessons he has learned along the way.

The post Mark Darby on Living a Life of Devotion & Ashtanga Yoga appeared first on Stillpoint Yoga.

By Scott Arnott

We warmly welcome SYL practitioner, Scott Arnott, to the SYL blog. Scott has been part of Stillpoint Yoga London now for three and a half years. 

“I’m a grumpy Scotsman, an ex Investment Manager who now runs a commercial Landscape business. Going into the Mysore room was daunting. After all, I’m not twenty five anymore. Surely everyone will notice the greying bloke sweating profusely and not knowing what he’s doing. 

Well, maybe they did, but I didn’t care! Although, on the first day, when Scott said something and everyone stood at the front of their mats, then started chanting in Sanskrit, I did think: What am I doing here…? He wants me to do what?

Well, if I’m here I might as well see where the rabbit hole goes…”

My yoga practice started because of a house fire….

In 2014 we’d had a fire at our cottage, so we rented a house in another village whilst the repairs and some renovations were undertaken. Over the Christmas period a friend came to stay who I knew practiced yoga. After some urging he agreed to show me some of the ‘moves’ in the sitting room of the rented house. After about five minutes he said, in disgust, ‘I knew it, you’ve done it before’. He then refused to show me any more but my interest was piqued.

As the rebuild progressed so did the stress of supervising the building site, running a business, fighting the Insurance Company and not really looking after myself. An offer for six yoga classes for the price of one caught my eye, so off I trotted to class. I was one of two men in a room full of women (the other man was the teacher!). Undeterred, I saw it as another form of exercise which would complement the others I undertook. I had always been flexible after all, just ask our Christmas house guest, and the stretching was good.

Deepening practice

I duly went to the six classes. Each had a different teacher, and at the end of the package they offered another group of classes at a discounted rate. Gradually, my once-weekly yoga class developed into four classes a week. It was really stress busting, and I began to get annoyed if I had missed one. This carried on for almost four years, but I started to get a bit bored with some classes – it was just someone throwing shapes at the front and lots of people trying to follow as far as I could tell. There certainly wasn’t any focus on breath and movement.

‘Oh well, I’ve only got another couple of passes then I can quit this and find something else…’

Then, when I was really beginning to lose interest, a new teacher showed up to cover one of the classes. She declared she would be doing an Ashtanga sequence which is about breath and Bandha. What was all this counting about? It was unlike anything I had experienced before.

“What on earth is Bandha?  What is she talking about…this is really challenging”

Needless to say, I was hooked.

The Rabbit Hole

After two more classes with this teacher I decided to find out if there was an Ashtanga class closer to home. Stillpoint Yoga London and Scott Johnson came up. I sent a message, writing that I had done some yoga, didn’t know anything about this Mysore thing, and I wasn’t sure if I needed to do a beginners class or not. In January 2017 Scott and I had a one-to-one session. I still remember leaving feeling like I had found something special.

>More than three years on from this first brush with Ashtanga, I’m still exploring the rabbit hole I jumped down on that day. What began as a useful stretching session has become an integral part of my life and daily routine.

Challenges along the way

Sitting quietly has been one of the most challenging practices of all. My ability to ignore that which didn’t resonate with my outlook had been a significant part of my previous success as an investment manager, after all. Single minded and determined were adjectives that appeared on nearly every performance review. As assets. If I’m being honest, dealing with people and their “feelings” really was never my thing.  Sure I have friends who know there is another side which is open, supportive, naughty and gregarious, but that was my secret!  It was just easier that way.  Maintaining a distance can be comforting.

But, gradually, I have noticed. Noticed the biases which drive me. The need to be open to other perspectives. To learn. I am a much calmer and kinder person to be around. More aware of life around me. It’s all a work in progress.

Moments

Some moments that stand out for me are:

• My first Stillpoint Spring Gathering, being in a room full of people all breathing and moving.
• My 11 hour snow blizzard journey with Scott for a weekend retreat with the lovely Helen McCabe in Studland cemented our friendship.
• A longer retreat to Eco Yoga in Scotland led to a Holiday with my partner in Goa practicing daily with Scott and Kia Naddermier.
• Belonging to a community with a common language, regardless of where you are in the world.
• Being encouraged to deepen the exploration and being supported by my new family of Yogis.
• Starting the Amāyu trainings and opening a new world of Study and Exploration.
• Spending February this year, encouraged by Scott, undertaking teacher training with Simon Borg-Olivier of Yoga Synergy exploring movement in a room of people from around the world.

‘Who’d have thought I’d be now sharing the practice with others. I’m a willing Student…’

And I always will be a Student. So, pre Covid-19 distancing, turning up at Stillpoint Yoga London each morning with Scott and I giving each other a hug and having a quick gossip has become one of the most important things in my life. It takes a lot for this still often grumpy Scotsman to acknowledge that, but the truth will win out in the end!

Oh, and I love the chanting.

The post Falling Down The Yoga Rabbit Hole appeared first on Stillpoint Yoga.

‘Ashtanga yoga has always felt like home to me.’

Not always a happy home – sometimes broken, fighting, fraught. But at other times solace, peace, safety. It’s a home that I have sometimes run from, and sometimes hidden within.

What Ashtanga has taught me is that this place, this feeling of home – this Still Point – it doesn’t come from the magic of being on a rubber mat, of repeating certain postures, of chanting special words, of being taught by wise and loving teachers.

It comes from inside. From being.

I don’t do yoga. I am yoga.

Realisations

This realisation is recent. I have practiced for a long time – several years. But not with the courage and discipline of many Ashtangis; my practice style is more like a flighty bird, coming to rest on the mat for a few weeks at a time, struggling, sweating, loving, fighting, hurting, exposing, healing. And then I fly away again, retreating to hide in the safety of not looking inwards, not sensing what it is to be.

I’ve always seen this as a failure: after all, if I’m not moving swiftly through Primary, Intermediate, hell maybe even Third Series, aren’t I flunking Ashtanga?

No. I don’t see it that way now.

I see it like this: the asana series, the pranayama, the chants, the meditations…these are all keys to the same doorway. And it leads to a pathway full of sunshine and shadows, flowers and thorns, stumbling blocks and beautiful vistas. It leads to being here now.

To be in the moment. To sense. To feel. Not to change, not to always feel good. To feel whatever is really here. Sometimes it’s love, compassion, contentment. Sometimes that’s sadness, rage, anger. It’s all real, and my task is just to be whatever I am at this precise second.

When I see yoga in this manner, I realise that it doesn’t begin when I step on the mat, and end when I roll it up. If I haven’t even unrolled my mat today, or yesterday, or for the last month – I can still be practicing yoga in any moment.

Finding freedom

This approach is such a relief. I can take away the grasping attachment to a physical practice, to winning, to attainment. I can leave behind my achievements, my failures, my ego, my goal-orientated perfectionism. It doesn’t matter whether I’ve done three Surya Namaskara A, or the whole of Primary Series, or one mindful breath while brushing my teeth.

And these tendrils of self-compassion, of freedom, allow me to start accepting myself as a soft easeful creature, not always a fighting warrior. I am allowed to breathe in and out, slowly and calmly. I am allowed to feel angry, to feel scared and small. I am allowed to feel mighty, determined and strong. Because however I feel, I have a home inside myself, a sanctuary that is the dropping into being here.

A meditation of self care

My practice is no longer a series. It’s a continuous, breathing meditation. I can dip in at any time – the door can be unlocked by many different keys.

It’s a work in progress, a thousand moments each day of drifting away from this awareness and pulling myself back to it. Sometimes I go for hours without allowing myself to sense my body, my mind, my now. But each time I gently reach out through the spinning tangle of my mind and simplify into the present moment, I’m honing this practice. Every return to the sense of being is both a practice of meditation, and of self-care: an opportunity to forgive myself for being imperfect and to remind myself that I’m worthy of this nurturing practice.

Practicing in moments

So this is what an Ashtanga practice means to me. I can choose to sense, to feel, to be, now. I can do this on the mat, in comfortable poses, in challenging poses. I can do it in a supermarket queue. I can do it in a moment of peace while walking in nature. I can do it in a moment of true discomfort, suffering, fear. I can do it when I feel resistance, when I shy away from what is here because it’s uncomfortable. I can do it when it feels as easy as slipping into a warm bath. I can do it always, any time. 

And so can you. 

The post Practicing Yoga in Every Moment appeared first on Stillpoint Yoga.

By Scott Johnson

The world is changing 

It can be hard to feel inspired. The news can constantly concern us. The political world, the climate, our online profiles being used against us… The world we find ourselves in 2019 seems fraught, tense, and it can seem so hard to find anything to hold onto. Anything that keeps us grounded.

The Buddha told us that the truth of life is suffering. It’s testing us now for sure. 

Yet, he also showed us a way out…

So we continue

We continue because we can perhaps see that in every moment the opposite is also true. There are countless, unknowable acts of human kindness happening. People going about their day in ways that unconsciously help others. Yes, there is so much noise. But also under that noise we all have the capacity for goodness. Humans are drawn to interact with each other in an altruistic way. A recent study showed that altruism may even be hardwired. So, with the current state of the world, is it possible that we can connect to the things we cannot see?

For me, this is so important. To know there is so much good beyond the confines of what I know gives me hope. Gives me inspiration. You see, I believe in people and the potential goodness within them. In my role I have to. As a yoga practitioner, teacher and educator, practice and life keeps me on my toes. I aim to be open to inspiration all the time, wherever it comes from. 

Creating space

So, I believe that there is an innate goodness in all of us. It inspires me to think that within us there is the possibility to see the way we can create the world, so that we can create space for others to be inspired. The more I do this work of sharing yoga and contemplative practices, the more I see people who are trying to work out their place in the greater scheme of their lives. To find what they are truly here to contribute. 

As I’ve attested to many times before in previous articles, I see contemplative practices such as yoga and mindfulness as a key to us understanding how we can relate to our lives. How we can move in the world…

We are all creative. We all have a spark in us that allows us to make a difference in our lives. We can be inspired to do better. Be better. 

Finding our breath

To inspire is also to breathe. Inspiration also translates as the in-breath, the natural process that is the flow of our lives. The breathing process. Can we see that as we really fall in to the nature of the breath, the in-breath, we create the conditions in which inspiration actually occurs?

Inspiration is as unique to us as the breath itself. It’s why we are all so unique, so different from each other. Our pursuit as humans is to own that uniqueness, to share ourselves with others who are connected to us by the inspiration that is the collective breath we inhale together. 

The creative process is unique to us all. For example, these words didn’t exist a moment ago, now they do. Each word I have inspired… 

Waking up to life

For me, to be inspired is to find the part of yourself that connects to your life and how it interacts with nature. Whether wonder, awe or something small that offers a break in a pattern, there is a way for us to interrupt our viewpoints and to see that we can be more, do more, wake up more to this life.

So it’s important that we find the way to inspiration. As a teacher at SYL I watch so many people each morning inspire themselves into the day. To turn up each morning, to place a yoga mat in a room in London before 8am, shows that people are up for ways to inspire themselves. It’s a privilege to be invited into people’s lives. Yet, beyond the room or the mat, what else is there? What else can we harness to propel us to live a more inspired life? Below are some ideas, some ways to perhaps find your own moments of inspiration. 

I’d love to hear from you if you have any others to add. 

5 ways to find moments of inspiration

1. Wake up well. Wake up!

We all know that sleep is so important. There have been many studies showing that great sleep is important for us to be healthy and alive. Yet, how we wake is so important too. 

Take a moment before you get up to fully breathe into the day. Take a full breath, an inspiration, and feel it land in your body before rising. Notice how your feet meet the floor as you sit on your bed. Take this time to check in to how you feel as you’re waking up. What the ripple of your sleep pattern is and how it is landing you into the day. 

Then move with as much awareness as you can into the process of getting ready for the day. Perhaps have a proper, formal sit. One that prepares you for what is to come. 

2. Remind yourself why you began your journey to inspire. What inspires you? Be kind to yourself by being yourself

Part of the reason we practise yoga is to remember what it feels like to be alive. To be the ground from which inspiration can form. There are so many layers to our awareness, so many things that hide us from the way we can see our lives. There are many levels of personal intimacy we have perhaps connected to over the years we have been alive that we have forgotten. Remember them. 

When we remember the things that have truly made us come alive, that have stopped us in our tracks, we connect to that part of us that is creative. That relates to the world of sensation. These can be moments of creativity, music or connecting with nature. They are unique to us. For example, a piece of music can still bring me to tears, 25 years after it was released. I love that. I want to share it because it feels deeply personal, yet inspiring. I love being moved by things…

3. Read or study books, blogs and podcasts that inspire you to act ethically and serve others. Think about how you can be that for someone else

When we give time to personal study with the things that help us to come alive, we become alive to ourselves and others. Learning to be inspired is about continually finding the things that inspire us. Content created by others is there for us to fall into. We all have a favourite book, piece of music, film. All are nature. They’ve come from an idea into form, just like this article. 

Studying wisdom is intrinsic to inspiration. The ancient texts of yoga and meditation really help us to see how we can notice the layers of perception in our lives. But more so, there are modern outlets that we can relate to as well. Books and articles that share stories we connect to. Podcasts and interviews that really help us to be inspired by those who have moved before us. Follow links to places that you are guided.

4. Return to nature, turn off gadgets – Remember you are nature

It’s easy to forget. But you are nature. And in nature you thrive… Go for a walk, swim in the sea, lie on the ground and look at the sky. Be bored and be okay with it. Sit quietly and realise your human-ness. Laugh with friends. Play with an animal. Be a child with a child. Stare at someone you love without having to say anything. Get up early and feel the coolness of dawn. Allow the rain to drench you once in a while without caring. Walk on the grass with bare feet. Turn your phone off sometimes. 

5. Find others like you, be challenged by those who aren’t – See change, be different. Be change, see difference

To find others like us is to find people who help us to evolve. I mean this is what friendships are, right? What we’ve been doing since we were small and connecting to like-minded people who interest us. But, over the years in my role as a yoga teacher, I’ve  seen thousands of people come through our morning class at Stillpoint and all of them are connected. Even though they don’t know each other. They’re connected by an idea that we’ve created. Personal practice helps you. They’re connected in the way they turn up and are finding something out about themselves. 

This is really important, because it doesn’t matter who you are. You are met and connected to others who are on the same path as you. And this is really important because then we’re able to hold those same connections when we meet those who challenge us, with our views and the way we live. Because it’s really important we are challenged. We are challenged on our views, our perspectives and the ways we live. This helps us to grow too. 

Going full circle, this is where we find ourselves. We find ourselves in a world of beauty and tension. Can we meet that? We have to… And to do so with a sense of balance and perspective to listen and create change together. 

The post How do you inspire others? appeared first on Stillpoint Yoga.