1/30/25 Live Session Recording - Module 1 (Part 2)

Hi 🙂 sadly I missed the l live session due to work being heavy (emotionally so) with all the new immigration regulations in place and its been a bit tricky to balance my time! Not an excuse, just a reality but I always enjoy going through the recordings being able to pause and process or rewatch an interesting thought. In this one I have been thinking about the Niyamas all week- it really stuck with me especially as a social worker where we often neglect our own self care in regards to others. I liked the idea of self study and when Jen said "being a student of you" - I feel like as I mature I continue to surprise myself. I was a very chaotic and unregulated teenager but feel like I have cleansed my system (intentionally and not) subconsciously with the Niyamas. Maybe it is part of growing up! 

When we went over the opposite Kleshas I had a strange idea to compare these ideas to nature- nature can be regulated and beautiful and smart and balanced but nature can also be cruel and selective and harmful. In my head it is easy to have passion for nature and interesting to compare the two. Just a thought 🙂 Wishing everyone a lovely week! 

: I posted this in the other post and will try to remove it if I can: I also wanted to share this picture. My incarcerated friend sent this to me and I reminds me of the wholeness we all share with our world and beyond. 

Live Session Recording Module 1 (Part 2) 

This was definitely such a wonderful live and I know there only going to get better because with each lesson my understanding is growing and so is my long list of unknowings too. My working hours conflict with the zoom lives but, I am thankful for the recordings and watching the breakout session reactions. Especially  Tesha’s. Her enthusiasm just made me so happy and I felt truly connected. I took some notes from the breakout session that connected and caught my curiosity. Andy- Prison Policy Initiative, I am not sure what this entails but, being an information sponge I will try and find out more. The 36 versions of yoga, showing up for ourselves even though it may not be what others would want from us. Julia- Recognizing our space and being there in that there is, Darnell- Honoring yourself and the way you show up differently. Mindfulness and accepting all of what yoga is for each of us based on our perspective and to question out thoughts without guilt or shame. Alejandro- Showing up in the body you are in and proudly embracing the truth of your yoga and purity. Be there and show up the best you can. The yoga misconceptions with others regarding religion. Joey- The roots of yoga and how it is distorted from its true meaning, self-knowledge. Nyla- The formalities that others try to give to yoga. Letting others embrace their practice by removing expectations for each other and let them live to their own way of live without entitlements. Frank- Witnessing others experiences. Being present with ourselves and those we serve. Zach- Accessibility of the language and how it could cause misunderstanding and confusion. Being mindful of where others are showing up and where they came from and showing up top where they are going. Be patient because we are all learning. Stanley- I appreciate how he gave an introduction about everyone in his group and how we need to be able to help ourselves before we can help others. Astrid- Decompression and self-care. As for myself I am showing up in this shared space by being consistent and listening with intention to everyone. 

As I learn more about the 8 limbs of yoga, the yamas, Astey- Non-Stealing in particular. This would had been something I normally would have over looked because I physically wouldn’t take from someone. But, that isn’t the full meaning, At the time I didn’t have the awareness to understand this but, now knowing I see where there have been so many times I either discouraged myself or others in my past. Times I never gave myself the opportunity to create opportunities and up and till now I may have needed that little push to have someone tell me I was “right” for this YTT but, I am not stealing this opportunity away from myself. With the Yamas and the Niyamas I can begin to have faith in my ability and connectedness with others. As a “law of attraction” person I am going to practice contentment and experiment what it might feel like on me. 

Designing a culture of control, This left me with the question, Are we really “free”? The limitations are the ones we impose on ourselves but, the small things like brands of laundry soap and the cars we drive. Do we chose them because we want that or do we chose that because it accessible and we are designed to take what we are given? This is a self-study topic for me because I always felt I was a non-conformist and I wanted to be original as I could be. 

Very interesting zoom and it really moved my perceptions in various ways. Thank you 

Hi all, 

I am definitely having fear of missing out right now, I watched the recording and so want to be present, I am hoping that once my group cycle ends I will have Thursday free to participate live, AND so incredibly grateful to have the flexibility to watch the recording and still participate, thank you PYP for accommodating more folks in this way. 

Thank you to all the folks who contributed, and especially to those who are experiencing more of the overt racism and discrimination that is happening due to this shift in political leaders. I have felt it in different ways and I know that my whiteness right now is very much a privilege. I have felt really protective over my husband who is a Latino and the spaces that we both walk into in our lives together and how he may feel more uncomfortable right now just existing in his skin. 

Going off this idea, I know that my background, the things that I have experienced in my life growing up in the environment that I did with the different traumas I survived has shaped who I am, my ability to take perspectives, my belief that we sometimes act in ways that are coming from hurt, and that there is a possibility of healing and growth for everyone. I know that this belief informs the work I do, even when I am up against systems that want to convince me otherwise. 

niyamas and yamas-I feel connected to these ideas due to my background in Buddhism, I started attending a Zen Center back in 2009 and since then I have kept Buddhism values/practices in my life and I have found the sangha a really important place for me to come back to, anchor myself in, in both good times and unstable times. In Buddhism, we have the precepts, which speak to mostly the same ideas, a code to live by, asking practitioners to live in a way that doesn't cause harm, non-stealing, no lying, no use of sexuality for harm, non-killing. I have the precepts posted on my fridge as a way to look at them daily, and in the last I have started to focus on one each month, and it's a good and difficult practice. I am humbled by the parts of me that are driven in part by greed/anger/delusion and I have found it valuable to be real with myself about these parts so that I can work on them. 

Attachment is another concept in Buddhism that I have been working with over the years, part of the four noble truths that there is suffering in the world and suffering usually stems from our attachment to impermanent things and even our preferences of what we "like vs don't like". I have seen that in my own life and I really started to notice it with food, and I think it's because I came from a home where money was always tight, processed food was the thing we could afford, and this sense of scarcity. As an adult I noticed how irritated I would get when I didn't have access to the food that I wanted that I felt would bring me comfort or that I liked. It's been tough to work with because of all of the layers of body image/food but valuable exploration for myself. 

Jen thanks for going through all the tech stuff and really excited about the guest lectures, I most likely will have to watch later due to work and I am excited by so many of the topics that you shared! 

Namaste my fellow PYP Yoga Colleagues!

OMG, WOW!  This was an INCREDIBLE recording....I laughed, I cried, I was stunned and I was moved!  Who needs movies or reality TV?  This is LIFE!  Thank you all so much for your bravery, courage, candidness and wellness to share your stores and your Truth!  Darnell, Makaya, Binisha, Rachael and, and , and...just WOW!  I feel like your stories are all illuminating the definition of the Healing-Centered approach that we studied over the last week.  Stanley - I too have smoked quite a bit during my yoga practices....it's a journey, adventure and oh the deep stretches that I have found....but, in the last year, I have found myself not smoking and finding even deeper places to explore to my total surprise.  Thank you for bring it up because I do not think I would have brought it up on my own....appreciate the safe space for that.

I am really appreciating the movement part of the class.  I do my own yoga practice at home but the movement during the class is like an extra bonus.  THANK YOU! 

Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, Smadhi - Just writing them down to continue to integrate them into my body, mind and spirit.  I've heard of all these during my years of yoga but, in the context of trauma/healing informed and centered practice they take on a much deeper meaning for me.  Jen - the "silly" images actually help me to remember the wordings...thank you for the smiles and the resource!

So it was incredibly synchronistic for me that the Mindful Opportunity was Water.....I had a minor, but still impactful to my normal daily activities, medical procedure last Friday and my care instructions were to drink lots of water, spend time in the tub soaking and to drink more water.  I did spend time thinking about the gift of water and its restorative power with ingesting or simply being surrounded by it, especially the warm water.  Extending my Gratitude for this natural resource and all of it's benefits here.

Thanks everyone for this communal experience!  Jeffrey  

Hi all, I am finally catching up and wanted to write my reflection. I loved this class because I am truly a history nerd. So i loved learning about how all the kleshas impact us and our world globally. It was also so interesting learning about the 8 limbs since the physical asana is really the only one talked about. 

This has me thinking on a personal level how I can incorporate non-stealing and ahimsa in my life. The way Jen posed the statement, " how many times have you stolen opportunities from yourself?" that really resonated with me. 

In regards to ahimsa, my daughter is 13 months now and it's becoming harder and hard to deny the atrocities committed against children in this world. The gravity of these violences devestate my heart on a profound level. It's so dumb but I was provided an advertisement for a hug the calf event close to my home town and I thought omg this calf should be with it's mother. It's so ridiculous but now I wonder if eating meat is committing violence? I was vegan once before and due to mental health reasons I had to incorporate meat into my life. 

What are everyone's thoughts about ahimsa? Of course for me it's imperative that contemplate these questions without adding shame to the recipe. Which is much easier said then done. 

On a different note, I am beginning to feel a sense of yearning. That I am not immersed in the full experience of the class since I can't attend the lives and the live sessions of the guest speakers. My work schedule is so regimented that I can't sneak away. However, my gratitude for this experience is paramount.