Yoga with Edwin

https://substack.com//note/p-209167345?r=5ksevn&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web

https://edwinyoga.substack.com/p/gentle-forward-extension

Happy July 4th Weekend Everyone!✨

As we acknowledge the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence this weekend, there is naturally a lot of talk all around us about freedom and opportunity. As human beings, why are we all so attracted to freedom and opportunity? According to Yoga, it’s because freedom is who we really are. We are searching, yearning and longing for what we already have and already are. This is the great paradox that Yoga is asking us to see.

All of us, to one degree or another have the great blessing of being outwardly free.
The question then becomes, do we feel inwardly free?

In those moments when we don’t feel inwardly free and at peace, isn’t it because of what we are identified with and attached to in that moment? When we are identified with and attached to the thought and feeling, “I can’t do this”, or “I am not good enough” or “I am not worthy of that”, we feel very stuck and unfree. Limiting thoughts and feelings like “it will never happen”, or “change will never come”, lock us into feeling imprisoned and held back.

Yoga teaches us to let go of these false identities and attachments.

It starts with the Yoga postures we practice. Do I feel free in this posture? Do I feel relaxed and open or tight and closed? How is my breath? The breath is always the give away. Ideally, we are looking to feel a little bit of savasana in all of our postures. In Iyengar Yoga, If we don’t feel free in a particular posture there is always a way to modify it so that more freedom and peace can be felt. Each posture is a situation or puzzle that we are trying to work out and solve. From there, we move out into our lives and treat each situation we face in our lives in a similar way.
Each morning before I practice, I take a moment to acknowledge that who I really am
is filled with gratitude, unafraid of change, infinitely compassionate, fully at peace and forever FREE!

As always, I invite you to practice. I invite to see who you really are and to experiece the freedom that is your true and authentic nature.

I hope to see you soon for practice. ✨

I am starting to put some of the sequences we do up on Substack. Enjoy...

Special Classes!

Enjoy a free class and support your fellow student Sydney!

Free Community Online Class
with Sydney who is training to become an Iyengar Yoga Certified Teacher

Monday’s at 11am
Sign up here: yogathat.com


"When wise action comes, you no longer feel the effort as effort – you feel the effort as joy.” BKS Iyengar

This is what I see out my balcony door when I am teaching our online classes.

yogathat.com

Happy hips create a happy mindset.

Enjoy....

Gentle Hip Opening Practice Happy hips equal happy mind

Desert Wisdom Musings (@edwinthat) When You Are Caught ~ Contemplate the Contrary. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali we are encouraged to become aware of when we are caught up and stuck in our old “mind stuff”. This is already a huge first step, just to be able to see and say to ourselves, wow, “I am really caught up and stuck ri...