Zephyr Yoga Inspiration

In this Practice Zephyr helps you identify the mental afflictions that cause our suffering as we pass through this life. Zephyr challenges you to confront your own suffering and observe your reaction(s) to it. This is a practice that creates heat (Tapas) and helps you to become aware of the mental heat of concentration. Be guided by your own wisdom to experience "Yoga" and move beyond these afflictions.

Yoga and meditation are not methods of anaesthetising your experience in life, rather yoga and meditation techniques are tools of managing those experiences. The anger, the anxiety and grief of the life experience are all real just as the joy, curiosity and happiness are real. However. they are also passing waves that do not define who you are. This practice explores who you are behind these emotions and focuses on discovering the essence of you.

Yoga and meditation are not methods of anaesthetising your experience in life, rather yoga and meditation techniques are tools of managing those experiences. The anger, the anxiety and grief of the life experience are all real just as the joy, curiosity and happiness are real. However. they are also passing waves that do not define who you are. This practice explores who you are behind these emotions and focuses on discovering the essence of you.

Yoga and meditation are not methods of anaesthetising your experience in life, rather yoga and meditation techniques are tools of managing those experiences. The anger, the anxiety and grief of the life experience are all real just as the joy, curiosity and happiness are real. However. they are also passing waves that do not define who you are. This practice explores who you are behind these emotions and focuses on discovering the essence of you.

The final meditation to conclude our workshop will help nurture the message of our practice to follow the illumination of your heart, your inner- teacher. This message will resonate and carry on with you through darkness or periods of instability. Come back to this meditation anytime you need to connect with your inner-teacher and to experience the strength, wisdom and compassion that is you.

A bit of 'awakened sleep' will offer a chance to rest and take in all the benefits of the physical practice (Part 2). The 61 point practice will have us working with our resentment and learning how to manage the opposite feelings and emotions that arise. The final stage to the practice is a forgiveness intention opening us to isvara pranidhana and letting go of that resentment that holds us in negative attachment. As we surrender and trust, grace arises leading us towards peace, contentment and serenity. 

‘What asana is for the body, pranayama is for the mind’ to achieve the ‘state’ of yoga we practice yoga directing our attention to the shaping of the breath while refining the relationship between the body and mind. This practice will focus on breath retention, suspension and progression in order to purify and create clarity in our ability to occupy our embodiment while enduring negative thoughts and emotions that may come up. Calm and ease brought into existence during dis-ease can be an incredible life hack. Come back to this practice anytime the world is feeling a bit overwhelming and centre yourself within the wisdom of your inner-teacher.  This practice will apply Kriya Yoga (Tapas, Sva dhyaya and isvara pranidhana) as we move, connecting to the strong feelings, thoughts and reactions that may have come up during the work focused on addressing our resentment. 

It's a new year and everyone is feeling a bit of motivation for manifesting a new start. Zephyr's message in this podcast is a focus on encouraging us all to look at our past and recognise our experience and how it has become helpful or has hindered our evolution and our ability to move forward. A meditation to set the tone for a four-part lecture and practice that will welcome you into a new year of self reflection and purification. The brief meditation at the start of this podcast is a great way to prepare yourself to plant seeds of purpose and help reduce seeds of suffering that have been planted through your own experiences throughout your life. The clarity to our path forward is often blurred by experience and our reactions to life are just that, reactions. Use this meditation anytime you want to comeback to these themes and practices of self-reflection and moving through life with purpose. Whenever you find yourself reacting rather than responding to life's obstacles, come back to this practice and

Creating a bit of heat in our practice this week requires a balance that can be brought with a smile. Sounds simple enough, but being present in the moment often requires that we find a bit of dis-comfort and at the same time find, define and nurture our intention for our practice. In this Slow-Flow session Zephyr will remind you how being on the mat can be a practice in "being here now" which is a lesson we can all take graciously and use off the mat in our everyday lives. Engaging with those around us, our family, friends or our colleagues and our children is not always the easiest to maintain a meaningful presence. This practice will help with life's discomforts and give you the tools to be more present and allow you to give and receive a more meaningful and present interaction with life and those you engage with (including yourself!). A focused breath, a gentle downward gaze and a slight Buddha smile is all it takes.

As a Yogi, we are all working to to find stillness. It is in fact the definition of Yoga (contrary to the popular belief of many of my contortionist colleagues). The whole reason the modern day Yogi movement is such a popular and well populated movement is because when we get the message, when we (sometimes just for a fleeting second) lose ourselves and enter the presence of the moment it tends to feel really, really good and we look for it again. When we find the presence, we can navigate the rest of our day and take the lessons from that experience with us.  The hard part, however, is getting to the presence. In this podcast Zephyr lets us all in on a little secret to help bring a bit more presence to our practice. She describes how skillful movement whilst being present is not rushed and is certainly not anticipating the next pose. 108 Sun Salutations can bring discipline, but rarely does it bring presence. It takes a Buddha smile and an intention on letting go of what you stepped on to the mat with. Only

The Practice for the three part series (Preamble, Practice and Meditation) on creating Love and Kindness within your practice. Zeph continues on the subject of cultivating the Love and Kindness for ourselves with this series entitled Pray it Away which includes the Meditation, Practice and here, the Preamble. The series, used together, urges the Yogi to see ones practice as a garden of sorts in which you can plant, cultivate and nurture a bit of loving kindness and connect with the desire to be happy and to decrease the suffering. By cultivating Love and Kindness for ourselves but at the same time acknowledging the suffering and embracing it as a teacher, it can release you from the downward spiral of suffering and dis-ease. As a teacher it creates choices that can draw you closer to spirit or, push you farther away. That is where Yoga and Meditation become really powerful. At that point, having the courage to Pray it Away (the suffering) and breathe these mantras in (cultivating the Love and Kindness) and c

Zeph continues on the subject of cultivating the Love and Kindness for ourselves with this series entitled Pray it Away which includes the Meditation, Practice and here, the Preamble. The series, used together, urges the Yogi to see ones practice as a garden of sorts in which you can plant, cultivate and nurture a bit of loving kindness and connect with the desire to be happy and to decrease the suffering. By cultivating Love and Kindness for ourselves but at the same time acknowledging the suffering and embracing it as a teacher, it can release you from the downward spiral of suffering and dis-ease. As a teacher it creates choices that can draw you closer to spirit or, push you farther away. That is where Yoga and Meditation become really powerful. At that point, having the courage to Pray it Away (the suffering) and breathe these mantras in (cultivating the Love and Kindness) and choosing the path back to balance and relief from the dis-ease, wherever it may have come from. Embracing the suffering, underst

In this Podcast Zephyr analyses the roots of anger and resentment showing us that often, our attachment to reinforcing aversion, creates that anger and in effect creates a suffering for ourselves. Its a tricky little cycle that is hard to break-free from and usually causes that not-so-calm, not-so-cool and not-so-collected self to show up when things get a bit heated. Zeph shows us that by meditating and giving a moment of pause, we give our anger a moment to be heard. By pausing and focusing on the anger that may dwell inside, you can explore where that anger comes from and why it created the reaction it did. Zephyr shares a personal story as an example and offers a practice that will allow you to tap into anger and question it, acknowledge it and release it. Use this meditation anytime you recognise a bit of heat or downright fury towards someone or something. Take the time to acknowledge it, explore it, give it a moment and you might just be surprised your reaction the next time you are faced with it.

Ready for a transformative Mantra? Need some Inspiration? Some focus? Some healing? Need something Powerful to take with you on your journey today?  How about a bit of Mantra in your life. Locked Mantras and unlocked Mantras, who knew the search for enlightenment could be so elusive? In reality, Mantras are simply chants that give us Yogis focus and intention during our practice. As I like to say, it is a good way to pepper ones practice with a bit of meaning and intention, thus giving some conscious intention to your physical practice, muscles, breath and all. If one can "think good thoughts" whilst engaged in a physical activity, it might just create "good" energy to your whole being. A connection to the physical realm, the subtle realm and the higher consciousness of realms (earth, aether and cosmos) with a focus on harnessing the Prana and experiencing Moksha; That is what the Gayatri Mantra promotes. To be fair, all of this should be your motivation and intention during your morning coffee, however, so

Zephyr creates a bit of heat in this practice to show you how a different approach and the use of a belt to create resistance can have a different effect on the whole practice itself. Creating balance and vitality the abduction practice is a great way to introduce the Yogi to Pranic Alchemy. Creating space by working against the restriction of a belt and then later on in the practice letting the belt go and observing the new perspective of being free from the resistance. Strength and vitality are gained and through a focus on your intention this is a practice you will want to do over and over to stoke that Pranic Alchemy. This one might burn a bit, but just remember to breathe and use your "happy dog tail" and it will become one of your favourite practices from here on out. You will need a belt for this Practice.

Changing the way we view things and striving for more positive experiences in our lives sometimes requires a different physical perspective. Some yogis use headstands, some simply smile as they practice, a different physical perspective and approach can take many forms. In this brief story and introduction to the concept of Abduction, Zephyr talks about how just seeing the world through a more playful and curious lens can bring a very new point of view and can bring those positive experiences. The practice will focus on forward and back bends and through Abduction Zephyr will help give you a solid and safe foundation and posture to find that new physical perspective. This Preamble is an in-depth look at the bio-mechanics of Yoga and how to ensure your body works safely and with strength. With Abduction you will be able to see how different postures can work different muscles and create a posture drawing away from the midline thus creating energy, heat and strong support for the spine. That support and ascens

I have had a lot of students recently request more meditations be posted so I have made a concerted effort to do so. It seems as if we Yogis are understanding that the phenomenon of Yoga in our western world is merely a precursor and a preparation for meditation and as we begin to get past the physical we understand the mental and spiritual benefits of our practice. My meditation classes each week are full and I am so encouraged by all of you seekers. One of the great meditations I have come across is that by Doctor Joe Dispenza entitled Changing Beliefs and Perceptions. Its a remarkable re-wiring of the brain and a study in where our attitudes and beliefs come from. A blend of Quantum Physics, Neurology and the Science of Meditation, it is one of the most accessible ways of looking at habitual patterns and relationships and then opening yourself to the limitless possibilities of change.

By popular demand, Zephyr shares one of her acclaimed Savasanas. Widely voted as the best Asana of a Yoga Practice, Savasana can now be enjoyed with Zephyr's soothing and comforting voice to guide you to the ultimate levels of calm any time of the day. Enjoy this Savasana after your own Yoga Practice or just to slow down at any point of the day when a bit of rejuvenation is needed.