7/10/25 Live Session Recording

This idea that our practice of yoga personally and as facilitators can only be achieved with patience, trust, and commitment (Book 1) is something I have been lingering on throughout today's session. While I think people can perhaps identify these traits in close relationships, it is a much taller order to live out these principles in one's work and a broader world that constantly feels like it meets good intentions/hearts with obstacle and betrayal. On this note, I can't seem to get past the yamas this week. I actually found myself pausing on the (idealistic) world map you included of healing in a global community and feeling a mixture of disbelief and deep grief, that the world I have inherited and will probably leave behind despite all of my best efforts (or niyamas ha) feels as far from these principles as could be. Despite all of the pessimism of the previous sentences, I refuse to believe this is a practice that will only promote individual balance or health/vitality. Hearing the reflections of my colleagues after the breakout rooms, concurrently wrestling with the "redemption of yoga" in a deeply fractured, colonized, and traumatized world, gives me hope that there is a whole cohort of future facilitators who will resist the temptation to make this practice yet another individualized/self-care philosophy for the capitalist wellness industry. I feel extremely inspired by the ways some of you are already contemplating how to reconcile postures, movements, and self-awareness with not only an other-awareness but a consideration for global justice and belonging. Thanks for facilitating all this Jen and I hope you are feeling better from the previous week! 

Thankful for the video. I enjoyed learning and "being" with the group for this time. Yoga is so much more than I ever imagined.  I think there is a space in the universe for the excersise part of yoga. I do think the white washed version is hurtful and should not be labeled yoga if it is to continue in the current path.

Learning more about the 8 limbs opens my curiosity to learn more. I both understand and feel completely lost at the same time. Samadhi is the aspect that feels most inspirational to me currently. I long to feel bliss, to feel a oneness with the universe.  I hope by practicing the 7 limbs I can attain the 8th. I do love how each step of my yoga practice can be done at my own pace. Im not striving to perfect meditation, to perfect a pose, to perfect no harm...im Learning to view the world different and step at my own pace in a way that brings me closer to those goals...but not perfection. 

I want to bring welcoming vibes to my community. I wrote down so many quotes from the session. One thing Jen said that will stay with me is about safe space. Im big on creating a safe space for those around me. But today I've realized I cant understand how me just being in that space might be triggering to an individual. I can be a safe person for all but aim to create a welcoming space so that others can still feel their feels in the space. I know for me people have tried to convince me I am safe and just their overall demanding that I feel safe made me very uncomfortable in my body and that space. So creating welcoming spaces with understanding that my plans may be well intended but when in the moment be okay to pivot and give what the room needs in that moment.

I love this journey and hope I can learn how to create more welcoming spaces not just when offering Yoga to others but in every space I enter.

I've been thinking a lot about the 8 limbs of yoga lately, especially the practice of ahimsa. 

While away at a healing retreat for women this weekend, it was interesting to see the various ways that self-harm, and harm to others, continues to show up even in conscious community. One example that really popped up for me while watching the recap was a conversation one of the facilitators had when encouraging us to think about what was happening within each of us when we saw some of the young (8-10ish year old) girls embracing nudity within the safety of the retreat, and how it is society that sexualizes young bodies and we should be pushing against the shame. While the sentiment of what was being said was beautiful, I struggled with the concept given my background though held space for what was being said, but struggled even more with a follow up comment made regarding how those who sexualize women and girls should be put through a woodchipper. 😐

Acknowledging harm being done on many levels is so important, as is being reflective of the way we decide to show up and protect others and not perpetrate further harm, violence, and anger onto others. Part of ahimsa, in my opinion, is being aware of our trauma, biases and sticky spots, and seeking to find healing both for ourselves and for others.

I really, really loved and appreciated this week's video and I'm sad I wasn't able to attend live and interact with folks. Really looking forward to this week. Watching the video, I found myself pausing multiple times either to take notes or simply reflect on how the content was sitting with me. The best word I can find to reflect on the content is that it was so deeply affirming ?

Since meeting extreme grief this last November (and a million iterations of it since), I've found survival by “being” and “unbeing” in ways that have brought me closer to myself, community, and land - which really are all the same thing. This revelation and true understanding of the flow between new ways of thinking, speaking, and acting in order to heal, I believe, has helped save my life and certainly what has kept me up on two feet to graduate from my master's program this spring. I share this because I have never heard of the 8 limbs of yoga and on my own, in the deepest darkest depths of my life, I naturally gravitated toward many, if not all of the limbs of yoga without even knowing it. I didn’t know that all along I was practicing different limbs of the same tree, and I now know that trauma-informed yoga can act as a gentle guide or familiar friend as we find our way back to ourselves and back outward - connected to ourselves and all things for perhaps the first time in our lives. Understanding now that there is science and spirit and scripture that supports my own deep journey of crumbling and rebuilding feels like alignment and affirmation that eases my heart and has me dreaming about ways to share everything I’ve learned that has helped me feel peace amid storms.

Without the understanding of the 8 limbs of yoga, I've been practicing (these last 6 months more than ever) the Yamas, Niyamas, Asanas, Pranayamas, Pratyaharas, Dharanas, Dhyanas, Samadhis all on my own (in ways that fit my body/joy/lived experience) out of a desire to live. I’ve been sitting in all the ways these limbs can be felt, practiced, reflected on, taught, and shared and all the ways they’re showing up (and not) in my own life. There are admittedly so many gaps and misunderstandings in my own practice but my body has been on the right track. I'm so glad I finally trusted it to know.

I’m so looking forward to reading, learning, and practicing more - but mostly to be in community with everyone this week!!

<3

Thanks for the video. I was able to attend part of the meeting live and had hoped to make it back, but my meeting ran long.

I've been thinking a lot about the yamas and the niyamas. Particularly, ahimsa and satya. I was once told by the leader of another YTT training that there is no room for social activism in yoga spaces. That was before I really knew about the 8-limb path and thought that yoga was really just about asana. But still, the comment really bothered me, and I no longer engage with that person. I came to yoga to heal my own trauma, both personally as a survivor of SA but also professionally (vicarious trauma from working with other survivors). Yoga is all about social activism - speaking truth to power (satya) to reduce harm (ahimsa) in the world. 

I have also been extremely disappointed in teachers wo, in the midst of multiple genocides across the globe and the death of democracy here in the US, won't even acknowledge the elephant in the room. I'm grateful to be able to share this space with like-minded friends. Thank you all 💜

I'm in the groove now as I finish watching the recording of Session 3. The question that jumps out is, 'What is your understanding of trauma'?  An event or subjective experience where a normal reaction meets and abnormal situation. I've had a few of those in the South African army and British Police. Vicarious trauma presents in the counselling space every day. How can yoga help? The philosophy guides, and the breath and postures and spaces in between for meditation reclaim the body and the mind.

There's reference to a question in the chat box, about connection to the Planet and nature. I hug trees. Google the science, it will blow your socks off. 

I study the Kleshas, and incorporate a correlation with the Yamas and Niyamas. These are simple and beautiful philosophies that don't just provide a foundation for a good life, but present the walls and a roof as well. 

I complete the ACE test and my score is 5/6.

In the recording at 13:21, '...and take the time to hear one another, to listen to what their experience may be, and to listen, for the sake of learning, of deepening your own understanding and perspective where someone else may have been coming from...' This sounds and feels very much like working on yourself so you can be in a position to help others work on themselves. A lot like not being a yoga teacher, but a yoga 'facilitator'. Its all very humbling stuff and calms everything down. This course is fabulous. Jen is a vagal nerve stimulator! Jen, if you're reading this, I would be fascinated to know if when you're talking it's scripted or off the cuff, because it's amazing. There is real value in stopping, playing and rewinding the recording. There is a luxury and privilege in this and I wonder if it suits me better than a live attendance, because I need the time to really squeeze the juice.

Change - yes, love that. I embrace it and chase it, and I know it serves me.

'The state of mind of someone is beyond the scope of observation of another'. Great quote.

'Share tools, not expectations'.

Book 4 verse 4:25, '...being free from desire' feels like non-attachment, the Klesha Raga, and flows through each of the Yamas and Niyamas, if I look hard enough and bless them with a generous and creative interpretation. Oh - hello, Isvara Pranidhana!

This PYP 200hr YTT course again shows me how it is the perfect example of the embodiment and encompassing of the Yoga Sutra's and invites me to engage to heal, and pay that forward. That makes me feel very happy indeed, and super grateful. Like James said, all I have to do is seek inspiration from the divine, step back, and get out of the way. Cool! 

I joined the session on 7/10/25 but was a bit late so wanted to participate here as well. 

As a yogi novice, many of these principles were quite new to me as I've participated in so few classes that are really anchored in the principles and the "why" of the practice of yoga. I appreciated the historical perspective offered that will now anchor how I approach and introduce the practice to the populations I serve. 

During one of our breakout sessions, we talked about the tension that exists between the journey to embodying these principles in our own lives while continuing to hold space for grace for other people's journey and timing without judgement. This came up specifically in the context of the yoga spaces we frequent now that may not be as intentional and trauma-focused. I'm excited to continue working through this important balance. 

This was a lovely session! I really enjoyed watching it and wish I could have been there in real time. 

I am continuing to reflect on distinguishing between yoga and asana as someone who first found yoga as a primarily physical practice. I find movement and physical activity to be healing for me, but I often feel so uncomfortable at the capitalist realm in which it operates in the US and unsure of how to reconcile that with my values - expensive classes and gym memberships, workout clothes, and studios that breed competition and cliquiness more so than community. Something I've always loved about attending a fitness class is the ability it grants me to "turn my brain off" or "quiet the mind," but in my yoga practice, as Jen said, it is not a quieting of the mind but rather a calming of the chaos that exists within us, which we can achieve only through patience, commitment, and trust.  Especially as the turmoil and violence in the world grows, I've turned my yoga practice increasingly inward, trying to focus more on embodying yogic principles in my life, but I similarly often feel that anger destabilizes that. But at the same time, I do find that anger productive and empowering. 

Looking forward to future sessions!

In our discussion on the 8 limbs of yoga, what stood out to me first was the conversation about nature and healing. It was a powerful reminder that we are not separate from nature. We are part of it. Yet, as humanity, we are also actively destroying it. This contradiction felt really eye-opening for me. I was especially struck by the conversation about people who are incarcerated and how little or no access they have to nature in many settings. This disconnection can add to the trauma of their experience, and it made me think deeply about how vital nature is for our healing and well-being.

When it comes to the eight limbs of yoga, I realized that I’ve primarily focused on asana and pranayama, since that is what most yoga studios emphasize. However, I feel especially drawn to dharana and dhyana. I recently had a conversation with a friend about my inability to focus and my tendency to feel unproductive unless I’m juggling a hundred things at once. She told me that I’ve been embracing “toxic productivity,” and that really resonated with me. It made me realize how much power there is in slowing down and cultivating focus and stillness, both of which feel deeply needed in today’s world.

Another aspect that stood out to me in this session was the focus on nervous system regulation. This feels especially important in carceral settings, where individuals may be dealing with heightened stress and trauma. The idea of empowering people to make choices that feel right for them, and creating a space that is both mentally and physically accessible, really aligns with what yoga is at its core: a practice of connection and compassion. Thank you for such a great session. I am learning so much from each of you!

Greetings everyone,

I am writing from bed, taking rest after a knee injury. In sustaining my injury, I am being reminded about the power that my body's movement has on my sense of peace and wellbeing. I am especially reminded of its effects on my mental wellbeing.

I feel so grateful to be connected to this community, in that we are being invited to meditate and reflect on aspects of human being and knowing while grappling with systemic and structural concerns of what it means to be one with one's physical surroundings, what it means to be and do well, and what it means to yoga both on and off the mat. I have been having conversations with my body recently, discovering new ways that my body is abled, and I am thinking of those who live with chronic or acute disabilities within yoga communities. I also think about my body's ability to work, to produce labor for a machine that thrives on me, an individual, and on us, as a people, working our bodies and minds for endless profit. From this live session, I am thinking about one of the first motivations I had for embarking on this journey with the Prison Yoga Project, with yoga in general, and with working within healing-centered visions for us all. I am reminded of yoga as a tool to tune into the body and its infinite and diverse intelligences, with lessons that cannot be sold nor bought. 

As a new professional within the social work field, there is a joke that goes around about being a social worker in this deeply flawed world plagued by suffering of all kinds -- the joke basically suggests that as social workers, we will never be out of a job -- pretty marketable that way, right? Though this conversation brings me to the service of social work. In bringing self focus to the forefront, in being a student first of my own body and its own intelligences, I am deeply touched by the living and breathing teaching of non-harm, first towards the self so that I may truly digest it, feel what it does for my body and my life, the people who I commit daily to do life with, and the people who I may not know and are still part of my human community. 

Non-harm as a guiding force is something I am holding onto closely today. Only once I learn may I be able to resource it to and with whom I hope to serve.

Thank you for reading! 

I'm thankful for learning that we can only have influence over our own stuff for ever and ever and no matter how hard we try we can't change another person's perspective. It was powerful to hear that we can share knowledge bring our voice in to share but we do not have power over another person.  

I like to think of myself as articulate. However, I have a very deep desire to remain silent when talking about the 8 limbs of yoga. It seems so beyond my level of comprehension that I get nervous even exploring it. I will say some of it is even activating. I don’t like rules and have usually steered clear of organized religion as a rule. I like the idea of meeting at a table with a bunch of deities at a brunch table—a little Buddha, a little Jesus, some Mary, maybe Kali.

But that’s the extent of where I ruminate. When I break this down the way Jen does, in more mindful and practical ways, it seems doable. The word purity bugs me; it seems so inhumane. I am a slovenly pile of meat, with carnal thoughts and a penchant for hedonism, and that pesky consumption of self (usually based on fear). So I don’t think I can ever be pure—whatever that means. Plus, the patriarchy has me all riddled up with the concept of purity.

It’s also crazy to me that women weren’t allowed to practice yoga.

I got clean in Narcotics Anonymous. In one of our pieces of literature, there is a quote that says, “If it’s not practical, it’s not spiritual.” I like that—it’s calming.

I am not saying that the 8 limbs aren’t important, or ideals that are worth striving for. It’s just my inner rebel that wants to run away from anything that is good for me.

But when I see how we can use these to help facilitate other beings, how the concept of heal yourself, heal the worldpermeates beyond the confines of my skin, I understand it a bit better. We use these values to help ourselves and others heal—not to punish. My whole life I have been punished, whether by men or myself.

And I don’t want to weaponize these glorious principles into a weapon.

There are many quotable gems in this session. I so wish I could partake in life with all of you.

“Yoga is a practice.”
“Revolution begins in the body.”

Also, on the topic of commodified yoga—I go back and forth with my experience with it. I came to yoga solely for the asana, and in it I found teachers who would speak some nice dharmas, and I would have these grand revelations with their words juxtaposed with the music of choice. But as time went on, I couldn’t figure out how whitewashed, matching-sets, palo-santo-burning studios would help me on my personal journey. And I couldn’t see the same kind of yoga that Angela Davis said was part of the resistance. It seemed like it was aiding and abetting the very structure I wanted to burn down.

Tbh, it was a very interesting question—to think, could I handle the person who causes so much harm in the world and offer them the same practical tools I would anyone else? For myself, I thought about my abusers and, of course, the violent man that is president of the USA. Could I help facilitate a class and offer them tools to find their inner regulation? I am not sure, but I suppose that is the path.

At this point, I think many capitalistic yoga studios are a part of the violence the USA sees and is experiencing. We have the entire wellness movement that literally commodifies everything and turns healing into a waging war against your very own body. It’s nuts—so much so that there is a whole bunch of people who don’t believe in science! But I digress.

Can’t wait for the many conversations we will have. 🙂

Hello, I am sorry for the late response. Catching up on sessions, as my job responsibilities are picking up. I would say the Yamas feel the most relevant right now. The point that we as practitioners not only offer and are integral parts of collective support but the fact that we deserve it as well, really stood out to me. When serving vulnerable communities, it is important to acknowledge the bravery, trust and humility that people show up with, whether it's a student, a client, a mentee etc. Being a part of collect support is a privilege and requires integrity. I believe carrying that not only into my yoga practice as a teacher, but as a therapist, as a volunteer, as a mentor and more is extremely important. Ahimsa and Aparigraha in particular stand out as yamas that are central to trauma-informed practice, being intentional in leading a yoga space and considering the abilities of all, and also not perpetuating toxic aspects of yoga culture. In my work life as a therapist, mitigating harm is a part of daily life. Non-attachment is something I certainly struggle with. Quieting the outside noise and utilizing tools such as mindfulness and meditative practice has always been something I've struggled with. I hope that my insight into the difficulties around can help me bridge the gap between individuals who also struggle or are unfamiliar with these practices.