PHILOSOPHY
Welcome to Sophia Tilley Yoga, Wellness & Meditation
“As a garland of beautiful flowers: make in your life a garland of beautiful deeds.” - Budha
To me this is ahimsa or non-harm, many of us forget first and foremost to show this also to ourselves. So often we go out of our way to do wonderful things for others yet neglect self care. Making the time to meditate: be it a moving meditation like yoga or Kindred or traditional seated meditation is like a shower for your mind, cleansing away the unnecessary grime from the days before.
Then begins the practise off the mat or pillow where you become more intentional about your actions; are they inline with your overall intention or sankalpa. Another teacher of mine; Matt Ringrose a-likens meditation to the traditional dyeing process of silk in India.
In this analogy being immersed in meditation is the silk's immersion in the bright yellow saffron which gives the silk its magnificent colour. However if you remove it after dipping only once, it is not colourfast, it bleeds and fades. It is not only the repetitive dipping which fastens its colour but the resistance when removed which sets the effects of the immersion; the wind and dry air in the analogy, are like the dukkha or tough situations. It is the overcoming of adversity and how we respond to this which elongates and deepens the effects of our practise.
“As within so without. As above, so below”
As you deepen your practise of yoga you will undoubtedly notice changes in your body’s flexibility, strength, agility, mobility and overall capabilities. Our body is a slow mind and we are the sum of our habits. Our thoughts become our behaviours, our behaviours become our habits and over time our habits become visible in our appearance.
When you begin to see the physical changes in yoga they are merely a positive bi-product of the many mental changes you’re reaping the benefits of. Yoga re-patterns our mind, literally massaging out our Samskaras which are like energy footprints or pathways, our old tendencies stored in our visceral tissues.
As you refine your ability to detangle your body from these unusual poses calmly, so too will you enhance your mind’s ability untangle yourself from uncomfortable situations. You increase your tolerance to mild discomforts on the mat and this tolerance is residual off the mat.
“When I do not know who I am, I serve you and when I remember who I am, you and I are one.” - Hanuman
This ancient quote can also be interpreted as: We are all divine, divinity connects us all. When we see ourselves in others we remember that and when we forget; we practice yoga to remember.
“To be enlightened or awakened with true freedom is to be without anxiety about non perfection.” - Seng-Tsan
The idea is not to perfect yourself but to perfect your love and kindness. Fearlessness comes of a different kind.
“If you want to help the world, you must be beyond the need of help. Then all your doing as well as not doing will help the world”- Sri Nisargardatta
That is why it all begins with filling our cup first, Ishvara Pranidhana or self love through ritual makes space for us to make every act an offering and through that we emanate love and peace with a higher intention sewn through all that we do.
“When our hearts are frightened to touch all the things of the world, we contract and things become solid. And when our hearts open we see that it’s waves of experience arising out of emptiness, appearing for a time and displaying themselves like Aeolian music and then vanishing. To take a seat in the midst of all things requires fearlessness. This doesn’t mean having no fear. It means the great heart of compassion opening within you in the face of fear or suffering. The goal is not to overcome or perfect anything. The goal is liberation of the heart.” - Jack Kornfield
Angels are angles, only seen when we rise above a situation to see a cross section of different perspectives that serve as a piercing msg as if by bow and arrow from an ArchAngel/warrior Arjuna (Bhagavad Gita) to guide us like a current through us to sail from one point of connection between cycles or worlds to another star like point of light or juncture in a mandala. Compassion is the star and connection point, Gratitude is the magnetic charge that spreads the light Thank you.
