Thank you for taking the time to engage with the recording of our April 9th live session.
You’re invited to share anything that resonated with you—a reflection, question, or moment that stood out as you moved through the recording.
This week, we explored Tapas (discipline) and Svadhyaya (self-study), and worked together to begin creating an introductory sequence for a new group of participants.
If it’s helpful to have a prompt, you might consider:
- How did the discussion of Tapas and Svadhyaya land for you? What do discipline and self-study look like in your own practice right now?
- As you consider building an introductory sequence, what feels most important to include when welcoming a new group to yoga? What considerations come up around language, pacing, and accessibility?
- What questions or curiosities do you have about facilitating a first-time experience for participants who may be new, skeptical, or uncertain?
As always, brief reflections, open questions, or evolving thoughts are all welcome.
Grateful to continue learning alongside you.
I had to attend a training at work and missed the live session last Thursday but watched the recording today. It was very inspiring to hear so many stories of how yoga has been working to create positive change our lives. The Tapas discussion was especially interesting because, like some of you shared, I also have ADHD and was diagnosed in my mid-thirties. The idea of discipline is something that has caused stress and anxiety for so long because my brain does not work in a neurotypical way. I always wondered why I started so many things or went down so many different paths and got very excited about learning a new skill, all to get bored and move on to something else. This has been a pattern that has shaped my entire life. I've tried to be "disciplined" and consistent with writing a set amount each day or with exercise and moving my body a pre-set amount that I determined was important in order to maintain the idea of consistency. Often, being consistent and living with ADHD looks like a paradox: Some days I get more accomplished than I do in weeks and I feel vastly inspired, focused, and hyper in-tune with accomplishing and discipline of motion. Some days it's a huge stretch to even open my computer. Because of the fluctuation of energy and focus, I often have a hard time committing to things - social, personal, and work-related. Our Tapas discussion offers a new way of looking at and thinking of the term 'discipline.' It is enough to acknowledge that my focus and energy will shift each day. It is okay to make goals and not meet them in a regimented way. I will never have the organizational skills that require same-ness in energy levels and focus, and I am okay with that. I think it was Emma that said she is working on "radical self acceptance." This is a beautiful way to begin the discipline of growth and acceptance. Discovering who we are each day is in itself a discipline. To try to change the patterns and waves of energy flowing within me would be to a harm to my soul. ADHD can be great, and it can be terrible, but the process of discovery and the open-mindedness to learning more about myself and how I can serve others with providing acceptance of myself first is something I am excited to be disciplined to embrace.
I decided to have a panic attack around 5 PM last week during class so I hopped off early 😊 So while I missed the group discussion it was helpful to hear someone elses persepctive of not feeling comfortable entering a carceral facility directly but that the opportunity for supporting individuals in a community center is a way to help build a bridge for individuals who participated in a prison facility but may not be able to access further on the outside. While I've always imagined myself taking this training literally and facilitating inside a facility, I understand that once I try it the reality may be it could be too much for me. I like the idea of being able to offer this kind of programming to an underserved population in other settings that may or may not be more of a fit for me personally.
Hi! Ironically, last week I was going through waves of self-discipline and was burning myself out by doing so. I've always compared my self-discipline to others without putting into consideration the adjustments I may need (thanks to adhd and other fun mental health things). I loved hearing how others have been making that distinction and moving towards self-compassion, this makes me so hopeful, see you all tomorrow! Best, Cele
I really appreciated the recording this week, even though I missed being part of the live call. Discipline and self-study have been looking more like grace, self-compassion and patience as I am dealing with the unknown of the state of my health. I'm not going to lie, it's scary. As I struggle to understand and accept my current reality of growing limited capacity with both movement and even breath sometimes, I’ve been coming back to the question of what sustainable self-care looks like for me in this moment. Not today, not tomorrow, but in the present moment. To be honest, this has always been a difficult one for me, to be present with my mind and my body. It's always been easier for me to look forward to something different, better, new, interesting, etc. It's almost like a 'false hope' I would cling to when the 'present moment' was unpleasant, or I was suffering in some way. It must've been a coping mechanism I developed growing up to mitigate for the difficult circumstances I found myself in. What I'm surrendering to now is that there is no guarantee of any 'future' anything. All I have is this very moment and for this moment, I am filled with gratitude for the lack of pain my body isn't in tonight. I'm tapping into a kind of self-forgiveness and self-compassion that I'm not sure I've ever allowed myself to receive. Usually, I'm too busy with self-blame, self-abandonment, fear, and attachment. Tonight, I'm considering what serves me and what does not, what can I let go of that is harmful and how can I connect more to myself, being fully present with the pain and the passion of living a full life at the same time.
I wasn't able to attend live, so I'm participating via this forum post. I really appreciated the section at the end where we were given a straightforward sequencing with fleshed out details. My teacher actually invited me to help her teach yoga in prison, her being an experienced teacher (with no trauma-informed training) and me having almost completed this course seems like it will work, so I really appreciated a concrete guide as to how to structure the classes including the introductions, information about yoga, and building a rapport with participants.
I think that the introductory portion is really important, as there may be many people who have little to know background knowledge about yoga, breathwork, etc. Sharing some information about the purpose of yoga, touching on pranayama and the breathe can help spark some interest and increase people's comfort level when they are first approaching yoga, ditto for an some basic information on the nervous system. Techniques to foster emotional and physical awareness seem to be woven throughout the sequencing, with lots of opportunities for teachers to model -and students to practice - getting in touch with their feelings, motivations, and desires and developing a sense of full embodiment and choice that many mainstream yoga classes do not explicitly prioritise. I also think that setting up that dialectic of activation or rest (on-off) and providing opportunities for people to make decisions based what they want or need in a given moment is really important.
The discussion around discipline especially resonated with me because I also have ADHD, and for a long time I’ve measured myself against a version of consistency that was never actually built for the way my mind works. I used to think discipline meant doing the same thing every day in the same way, and if my energy, focus, or capacity shifted, I saw that as failure.
What’s landing for me now is the idea that self-study asks for honesty before structure. Some days discipline looks like movement, breath, and full presence. Other days it looks like noticing resistance, honoring limited capacity, and staying in relationship with myself instead of forcing sameness. That feels much more sustainable and compassionate. As I think about building an introductory sequence for people who may be new, uncertain, or even skeptical, what feels most important is creating safety through choice, clear pacing, and language that helps people trust their own bodies. I really appreciate the emphasis on giving participants agency from the beginning, especially around activation and rest, so the experience feels invitational rather than prescriptive.
I always think of that picture that shows all the different animals being asked to climb a tree. We all have different strengths, limits, and ways of being. I think it’s so important to honor that we are all different but acknowledge that we can still connect through those differences if we choose to remain open and accepting.
Another great session to watch. I am thinking a lot about the introductory sequence and a new group - I do think language is important, however, I do tend to overthink things and so I am trying to come in to practicing for it being true to myself and reaching for natural language that I would also use on a daily basis. I do tend to have a louder voice than most facilitators I've seen so I think pitch and tone is more on my mind as I come in to presenting as well.
I think if we are working with people that are uncertain it's a great step to keep encouraging to try something new, but also settle if they are uncomfortable. As I tend to work more with youth, a positive challenge can be an okay step to take with them as well to see if that helps encourage (I know that isn't an approach with everyone, but a possibility especially if you have some rapport built.) Also using the other participants to encourage or share might help ease a participant in to the setting if they are uncomfortable!
I've always struggled with self discipline, whether that's staying on track as I attempt to work from home, or sticking to a diet or workout routine. It's definitely something I want to work on and develop. As a kid, my parents didn't discipline me very much they kind of let me do what I wanted. Granted, I was a pretty well behaved kid up until high school, but I wonder if part of my struggle as an adult to stay consistent with things and self discipline is a result of not having that structure as a kid. Self study, I feel like I'm constantly doing. I've done a lot of that over the past few years and will continue to, because that's how I grow. When I'm triggered, it's an opportunity to get curious about the "why". I've had to recognize and apologize a few times this year for being triggered in situations that might not have warranted such a reaction. The difference today is that I know what it is, maybe not as it's happening all the time but usually afterwards and I can own it and apologize and try to approach things better next time. In terms of what I feel is important to address in a new group, I really enjoy the idea of speaking briefly on the nervous system and why yoga can be helpful in regulation. That information alone was helpful to me in recognizing when I might need to move my body or find moments of stillness. Also inviting exploration, curiosity and moving how it's comfortable.
I really appreciate everyone’s unique reflections on exploring how tapas has shown up in their lives in past and present. It’s such an interesting and important tool that can support our journeys and health in being able to understand these perspectives of realizing sustainability in life. I loved Jen’s quote “How can our self study be a total understanding of who we are, what we need , and how we function ...we don’t always have a pathway for that ...modern medicine, modern family, don’t always encourage deep discussion into all our parts that don’t have guilt or shame attached..and why do we do that to ourselves as a society?” Deeply resonant.
These teachings reminded me of a favorite passage that helped me realize a healthier relationship with discipline — from the book Living Your Yoga: Finding the Spiritual in Everyday Life by Judith Hanson Lasater—“ In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali discusses discipline in book 1, verse 12: abhyasa-vairagyabhyam tan-nirodhah, or “The restriction of these fluctuations is achieved through practice and dispassion.” This means that yoga, or that state in which fluctuations (or agitations) of the mind are resolved, can be achieved by practice (or discipline) and detachment... Practice, then, is discipline in action. This is different from task-oriented behavior. Discipline is truly expressed by my intention to stay present in each moment. Whether I am driving my children to school, standing in the grocery line, paying bills, interacting with coworkers, finishing a task on time, or practicing yoga in a formal way, if I do it with an intimacy with each moment, then I am truly disciplined. Without that intimacy, I am merely performing a series of mechanical actions. Several years ago, I met a woman who told me that she had begun to meditate for five minutes every morning. My initial reaction was judgmental. What a joke! I thought. How could five minutes make any difference? In truth, she had a realistic and balanced attitude about her life and her practice. She had declared her intention, and she lived her commitment to meditate every day. She interpreted discipline as doing what was possible with consistency. I had interpreted discipline as quantity. I realized that I thought two hours of yoga practice indicated a disciplined life, whereas five minutes did not. In time, I came to realize her wisdom: Do what you can and do it fully. Patanjali describes this as abhyasa, which comes from the Sanskrit roots abhi and as, and means “to apply oneself.” From this viewpoint, all of life is practice. Practice is not about what you get, it is about what you give. Whether you are driven or resistant, the medicine is the same: do what is truly possible with unwavering commitment to giving yourself to the moment. Without this intention, practice becomes another task to be completed, and it loses its ability to transform. And transformation, or freedom, is the reason for all discipline.”
Applying what we are talking about in our conversation with utilizing self-study in our discipline, it ties in to this passage in that it allows us to be present and more mindful of our discipline by tuning in to our bodies so we are able to access the truth of the moment, creating that sustainability; it is an ongoing balance.
As I consider building an introductory sequence, the elements that feel most important to include when welcoming a new group to yoga is creating permission for autonomy in the practice from the start, by verbally giving guidance that will allow participants to feel that freedom and power to do so: introducing the knowledge and tools of the nervous system, breathwork, and noticing feeling sensations in the body, and inviting ways to create the space for exploration of these practices. By focusing on these elements, I can see how this can help to create a supportive foundation for the inner understanding of the practice to expand upon. In terms of pacing, I appreciate that by keeping the introductory practice more simplified with less information to begin, it is helpful to allow pacing to be slower and more focused on these foundational tools to allow participants to have more time to feel and experiment with the sensations, and learn through their experience. I think this is a good way to create sustainability in the practice for the participants as well, by easing in to the practice slowly.
Thank you for another great recording! I really loved the reframe of discipline and asking myself the question, What if self-discipline meant sustainable self-care? This is a radical concept for me as I often struggle to maintain a self-care practice and through reflection I believe the root of that is because I do not think I am “deserving” of the time, the space, the effort so I do not make it a priority or “discipline.” Thank you for all of the amazing self-study suggestions! I believe you mentioned you are sharing the PDF of the slide that was a Trauma Informed Sequence, can you let me know where I can find that? Thank you!
I am really grateful for this recording and discussion, and for the conversation about Tapas in particular. I've long had a hard time with underlying beliefs of rest as indulgent or selfish, so this conversation helped me reframe rest (or other boundaries, actions that help you be sustainable) as discipline. I had an instructor say a few weeks ago during a vinyasa class, when they cued a flow for the 8th or so time during a high-energy class, "sometimes deciding not to take the hardest version of your flow or meeting yourself down on the mat is the most disciplined move for you." In the moment it was hard for me, my ego, to take that rest, even though it was what my body needed, because if felt "undisciplined" or "wrong," but the practice of checking in with my body and realizing it was asking for a rest in that moment, that really was Tapas, not the sweatier, harder flow or doing what the instructor cued just because they cued it. This idea came up for me again over the past couple weeks when my partner and cat both had to have surgery, somewhat unexpectedly. They are both recovering well, but a lot of the caretaking fell on me as temporarily the most able-bodied person in our household. We are lucky to have a support system of wonderful chosen family, yet I really struggled to ask for help when i need it. It feels shameful, when I know it's the best thing to do not just for me but for the people I care for. Even when I know it's best, it can feel very uncomfortable for me. In the spirit of Svadhyaya, I have started asking myself, with curiosity and nonjudgement: What am I so afraid of or attached to when I struggle to have the discipline to say no to what isn't serving me, to ask for help, or to show up in a sustainable way? While I know I won't change these lifelong habits right away, I find it useful to slow down and look at what's getting in the way of these patterns I have a hard time shaking.
Loved this on self-discipline. I have been in a rut with it lately in most aspects of my life and I can feel it. I am sad, have little energy and just blah about most things. I decided this week was going to be the week I made a change and started getting back on track. I went to my first Spin class last night and it was such a great experience. The owner was welcoming, the vibe was cool, incense was burning and a guy was there painting a picture he later called "Monday therapy"while we were spinning. Positive quotes and affirmations were going across the tv and the music was upbeat. I am so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone an went. I had the best nights sleep and am ready to get motivation back! I think I found my new "Monday therapy"!