I often get questioned, sometimes challenged about the question of self-care, self-nurturing and the development of self-awareness, concerned that they are utterly selfish.
 
Aside from the committed hedonists and those driven by a belief that only the fittest survive, most people see putting the care of others first, as virtuous, admirable and the mark of a good human being. Most adhere to the belief that ensuring your own care and well-being is something that should come after the needs of others are satisfied, and that anything that develops self-awareness is by its very nature self-centred, and thus assumed to be exclusive of others.
 
But there’s a challenge to this belief taking place in the practice of yoga. 

Esoteric Yoga – The Yoga of Stillness, has revealed something quite remarkable that I’ve not felt nor witnessed before in my previous 20 years+ experience of other forms of yoga.

Earlier this year I attended a Level One Esoteric Yoga Course. For the duration of the course we had the opportunity to partner with other participants, to practice giving and receiving a yoga session. Over the course of the days I could feel how the modality allowed me to deepen my relationship with my body and with the quality of stillness, which is the core value that this modality nurtures. This was a different experience from being a client at other esoteric healing sessions, where I had often experienced deep stillness.

One of the great joys of Esoteric Yoga is that it is such a wonderful support for developing an honest relationship with the body that then supports one to have a more honest relationship with everyday life.
 
The various themes that are available to be explored in an Esoteric Yoga class are endless and equally there to be explored in life’s everyday activities. Developing an acceptance in life is one such theme that supports the body to surrender more as opposed to pushing through life carrying tension, burdens, exhaustion or pain in general. It may at first seem that acceptance of ourselves and how things are in life would be simple, however given the opportunity to look deeper, one can find that there is much to uncover and feel.

Stillness is our natural state of being

And yet do we really know what stillness is?
Have we really felt what an amazing gift it is to be imbued with the quality of stillness?

We could easily think that stillness means not moving or making any noise, like sitting quietly in a chair or hiding behind a tree. However, stillness means something more than lack of movement, being calm, quiet or relaxed. It is a movement of energy that lives within all of us and holds the divine qualities of the universe.

I have had many phases in my life and one that stands out was my spiritual phase. It was at a time in my life when it felt like I was missing something and I started looking for ways to ‘find myself’. I now know that I was searching from my head, rather from within myself, where the true answers can be found.

My introduction to Esoteric Yoga began in 2010 at the age of 40, when I attended for the first time a Universal Medicine Retreat at Lennox Head, NSW. Having practiced yoga in different forms sporadically over the previous 22 years, I thought I knew what to expect but what I experienced in no way compares. There were no awkward postures or uncomfortable sitting positions, there was no chanting and no intricate breathing techniques. At no time did an instructor stand over me to correct my posture because the movements were so simple and so ordinary and I actually soon realised that it wasn't about postures at all.