The lesson this week is another one of my favorites because it is such a good way to get deep into the alignment of your hips and core. In this class you will get to learn and practice skills in yoga poses... using the wall!

The deeper theme stems from the word, Svadhyaya.

To begin, I want to share two connotations of this Sanskrit word: 

Sva means,
“self or one’s own.”

Dhyaya, the root of Adhyaya, means,
“meditate, contemplate, think of.”

-or-

Adhyaya specifies the meaning as,
“a lesson, lecture, chapter, reading.”

* * * * * * *

And I'd like to first ask you this:

What comes to mind when you look at these words and read these definitions?

Take a moment to reflect on these Sanskrit words and make a note of what your impressions are. Keep in mind that this language dates back to 4th and 5th CE and the compound word, Svadhyaya, is found in generations of context and has been translated in many ways.

For the purposes of this blog and video series, I am referring to various translations with appropriate context AND I will not shy away from modern applications.

My intent is to respect the historical context while connecting the ancient teachings and cultural transmissions with life wisdom and practice of Yoga today.

So, to be honest with you, when I sat down to practice the lesson this week, as I reflected on Svadhyaya, the first thing that came to mind was an intention towards the general habit of reading everyday. Regardless of the genre. I know that the daily act of reading can change our lives by nourishing our mind and its intellect, and in our current world we have THE WORLD available to us. I don't believe that the practice of Svadhyaya needs to be restricted to the certain authors and texts around the subject of Yoga.

Now, that we've run free in our moments of first impression interpretations, let's look at how Svadhyaya is explained in context of our Yoga lessons.

Specific to the Yoga Sutras, Svadhyaya is one of the niyamas-- a habit, act, or behavior creating a health lifestyle for Yoga. Svadhyaya is known to be an introspective practice of “studying the self,” but can also be thought of as the habit of studying, reading, or reciting on one’s own.

When you watch and follow along with the video for this week, you will gain more insights into how this interpretation can be used in daily life to take you into a "deeper current" of connection.

This video is the original Svadhyaya Lesson from the yoga studio. Zoe is teaching from behind the camera (she was about 8 months pregnant at the time) and I am representing my own personal #bodygoals as I would now like to return to that physique!

But more on that in the upcoming weekly lessons 🙂