I knew deep inside that I was the only one beating up myself. I was the only person holding myself down. Once I became aware of the mantra “analysis causes paralysis”, I then put myself through an exercise of closing my eyes, taking a deep breath, and jumping in. Thoughts are like chatter, sometimes, it […]
The following account shares the journey one Axis Yoga Teacher Training student takes to find an authentic personal Yoga practice. With the many paths and practices of Yoga, it takes some self-exploration and experimentation to find what feels right to each individual. This student was able to embrace Yoga in a way that fit current […]
I started doing yoga five years ago with the sole motivation of getting physically fit. I soon started to know and appreciate the subtle mind-clarifying benefits, and the importance of the breath in the practice, which can be applied to many situations throughout my day. My practice stagnated for years when I found myself unable […]
Almost immediately it became clear that my original goal was not going to come to fruition. The experiment happened to fall on a time when I had a terrible cold that lasted two weeks, making it impossible to breathe normally through my nose let alone do pranayama. Furthermore, it came at a time when the […]
This inauthenticity was perhaps the root of my aversion to mantra. I always felt strange chanting word I couldn’t even understand except that I knew they were praising deities I didn’t even believe in. Not only that, but it is sung in such a monotone drone which, as a musician, sounds like nails on a […]
I do wish I had worked more with pranayama for this experiment, because I still don’t seem to get much out of the practices we do in class, and I haven’t done enough outside of class to really feel experientially what it can do for you. Reflecting on why I couldn’t seem to make time […]
This Axis Yoga Teacher Training student found that less is more when it came to making lifestyle changes. Even if the changes are meant to improve overall health, they can have the opposite effect if taken on too aggressively. From this account, we can see the benefits of taking things slowly with a large dose […]
For this project, I wanted to experiment with my daily routine and how I could make it more ayurvedic. I already had some semblance of a routine, but wasn’t sticking to it very well, and found that I didn’t have enough time in the mornings for the things I wanted to be doing (e.g. asana […]
The thought of waking up at 6 am every morning was a little daunting. But it was also exciting, because the earlier start meant I would have time for lots of other things, too. In true form, I got a little overzealous and decided to try also incorporating some other aspects of the ayurvedic daily […]
I hadn’t thought before about all these interconnections between the different pieces of my daily life. There is a delicate balance to it all, and making one change can tip the scales and require us to make a host of other changes in order to restore that balance. I believe that I can change my […]