SHANTI YOGA: The accessible mind-body life path to healing and peace

Shanti Yoga is the mindful, accessible life-path
of mind-body solutions
towards simple healing and peace.
It is a contemporary science, that is vitally relevant to our times.

Self-exploration, self-study, and self-awareness,
encompasses every stage and layer of your being,
through sacred movement, sacred breathing, sacred rest.
These practices have been forged with the timeless, sacred heart of yoga
which is inclusive, and giving, and ultimately offers transcendent healing
to anyone willing to practice.

The diverse group of practices of yoga stems from
many different ancient and not so ancient traditions of India.
At its heart, Yoga is about love and service.
It is a spiritual practice that can be used by anyone at any time.
The point of spiritual practice is to make us teachable,
In order for us to open up our hearts,
and focus our awareness to enable us
to know what we already know
and be who we already are.

It is not just a set of physical practices
that we should all aspire to do
and that can only be performed by people
who we should aspire to look like.
Yoga is for real people, with real, diverse bodies.
It is not about a workout, hot yoga pants, and Instagram followers.

People with disabilities, chronic illnesses,
those who have suffered trauma or discrimination,
Those suffering from obesity, the elderly,
people who have been marginalised,
or anyone who doesn’t fit
into the commercial image of a yoga practitioner,
all have equal claims to the peace of yoga.
Yoga serves the diversity of humankind.
Human beings are all valuable and equally deserving of yoga.
Yoga is not just for the select few, but for everybody.

Much of what we think is Yoga
is really a modern, Westernised practice
that reeks of colonisation and commercialisation.
Culturally, psychologically and physiologically,
modern yoga has stumbled many times,
with an unacceptable amount of abuse and injury.
Accessible, inclusive, and equitable practice
is one that is safe and effective
and still respectful of the Indian roots of yoga.
Like light through a prism,
Shanti yoga expands the teachings of yoga
to expose and explore its endless variations and application.

In fact, the most subtle, accessible, and powerful practices of yoga
that anybody can access,
do not rely on gymnastic ability or great physical strength.
In fact, most of the practices do not rely on gross physical movement at all.
For example, meditation works directly with the mind,
teaching us how to let go of stress and detach from our obsessive thinking.
Yoga Nidra is a powerful form of guided meditation
that leads us on an inner journey to the deeper layers of our being.
Pranayama, the breathing practices of yoga
gives us ways to direct energy and soothe the mind.

The principles of yoga and asana do not discriminate.
Yoga posturing does,
unless yoga poses are made accessible to all newcomers.
Adapting yoga poses to the person is far more relevant
than adapting the person to the pose.

Authentic yoga gently helps you breathe, stretch, rest
so that you can focus on what matters most.
When you relax the body and breath
and start making friends with the mind,
you experience a shift of focus,
from outward to inward.

Working inwardly in an asana
provides the means for arranging the inner geometry of the body
to control and direct the life-energy, prana,
through the complex and intricate network
of channels and energy meridians
at more and more subtle levels.
When practiced gently, without force,
with kind, mindful awareness,
a session (or many) of yoga
can gently break open our hearts.

In the process, the declines
of stress, illness, toxicity, and aging
are reduced, even reversed,
and energy and wellbeing are restored.
You feel better, move with more ease,
behave better, worry less, sleep better, and do better
to begin to heal yourself and the world.
This is only possible when you let go
of preconceived ideas of what yoga is,
how yoga is supposed to be done,
or how it is supposed to look
And create a personal yoga practice
That is adapted just for you.
Yoga is not about having a flexible body,
It is about having a flexible mind.
Then, every single session
is enlivening, soul-enriching and mind-exploding.