It’s funny how life works. I’ve been a certified Jivamukti Yoga Teacher for four years, and having done the apprenticeship at the Jivamukti Studio in London and then teaching there for several years, I was fully immersed in the culture and method. Despite enjoying other types of yoga, I had limited time to practice elsewhere. I was dedicated and devoted to the Jivamukti method, and to the studio where I worked.
When I stopped working at the studio in September, despite the heartbreak of no longer seeing beloved beings on a regular basis, a new, larger, exciting world of yoga opened up for me in London. I found myself traveling further afield for classes when I had the time, and strengthening my self-practice. I began to reread the ancient texts in a new and different light, exploring new ways of approaching old postures, and shifting my perspective about teaching and practicing yoga. As a result I find myself more fulfilled and my practice and teaching have improved. It isn’t that I no longer honour the Jivamukti method (I am evermore the devoted practitioner and teacher), but I feel creatively inspired and at ease with myself in a way that I haven’t felt in the past. There is a freedom in honouring my authenticity without a sense of being judged, and that freedom enables me to embody the yoga instead of trying to embody my teachers and a specific method of teaching.
A new studio is opening in the spring in Marylebone, London called Indaba Yoga. Indaba means ‘gathering place’ in Zulu. The studio will be a place of cooperation and collaboration for many different methods of yoga, all ultimately leading to the same goal of Yoga – Union of the small, ego driven self and the conscious Self; and the union of the conscious Self in All Beings. I’m delighted and honoured to be chosen to teach there among a faculty of diverse, talented teachers. We will gather together from different walks of life to share, contemplate and create an enriching, ripe environment so that all may bring authenticity of self from the mat into daily life; so that all may experience freedom and wellness of being. Stay Tuned…