Ayurveda – The Science of Life

Ayurveda – The Science of Life

Ayurveda and yoga go hand in hand. You might have heard ayurveda described as yoga’s sister science. Or; another type of yoga. With ayur
meaning ‘life’ and veda meaning ‘science’, ayurveda is also called ‘the science of life’.

You might have heard of the Vedas before. The Vedas are four religious texts written in Vedic Sanskrit. However, the ayurveda or science of life was originally passed down by word of mouth. 

The Vedas explain your human experience: how to maintain a healthy physical body, how to stay mindful and create focus in the intellectual body, how to create emotional well-being, and even find your purpose in life. 

The goal of ayurveda, as I have been taught, is maintaining health to prevent disease by living the appropriate life, according to your dosha constitution. 

What is a dosha constitution? 

Every living being including you, your pet, your garden plants and even minerals consists of elements. The amount of these elements present in your body is different for each individual. This makes you unique. It explains why you like either hot or cold weather, spicy or sweet foods and why your nails are strong or brittle, for example. But, it also tells us why we all have a different purpose and so-called ‘ karma ’.

The main elements are water, air, ether, fire and earth. These elements combine and create doshas. 

The doshas are:

  • Vata: ether and air.
    Its characteristics are light, airy, sharp, crisp, smooth, dry, long, lean, small and cool.
  • Pitta: fire and water.
    Its characteristics are hot, powerful, transformative, irritated, inflamed and warm.
  • Kapha: water and earth
    Its characteristics are slow, grounded, viscous, heavy, balanced, and receptive to sensation.

 

The science of life: Prakriti and Vikriti. 

As mentioned, everybody consists of elements. These elements combine and are called doshas. The dosha constitution you are born with is your natural state of being: prakriti. Your prakriti cannot change.

However, your constitution might change depending on where you live, what you eat, who you hang out with and even the music you listen to. This constitution is called vikriti. It’s the constitution that you have in the present moment and through which you notice imbalances. The vikriti is influenced by environmental and external circumstances, but also internal influences such as the fluctuations of the mind. 

Knowing how much of each of the doshas is present in your body, helps you to make decisions according to your body’s constitution and live a lifestyle in which you feel balanced, capable, confident and understood. 

 

What are the gunas? (Following Ayurveda – The Science of Life)

The gunas are the Hindu concept of energies. Just as the doshas, they are present in every living being. They reflect the three states of your mind and influence your emotions, relationships and daily activities. 

The gunas are: 

  • Sattva: balance and harmony; the ultimate goal. 
  • Rajas: moving energy, being active or activity, sometimes referred to as passion.
  • Tamas: potential energy, lack of movement, laziness and destructiveness.

Any time you practise yoga or carry out ayurvedic remedies, you aim to create sattva (balance). A Manasika assessment will help you find out which gunas are naturally or temporarily more present in your constitution. 

Remember:

Plus and plus are plus. Plus and minus are minus. This means that when you feel lazy your laziness isn’t cured with sleep, but instead requires activity. Or explains why some people are natural leaders, and others prefer to follow. 

One of the things that I was taught by Leah Jones, my Ayurveda teacher at My Vinyasa Practice is that we have to be mindful when aiming for balance. Balancing rajas by slowing down ‘too much’ can soon become tamas and vice versa. Remember that we never aim to completely get rid of either rajas or tamas to find sattva. It’s like the theory of everything, one doesn’t exist without the other.

 

Ayurvedic healers

Ayurvedic healers help you find your prakriti and vikriti. There are several ways to find out, but usually take various assessments. They’ll evaluate your constitution based on the gunas. The gunas help to find out if you’re spending too much energy being active or lazing about and surprisingly, they often prescribe the opposite of what you’re doing to heal or find balance.

Ayurvedic medicine includes 8 branches:

  1. Kayachikitsa (Food Medicine)
  2. Balachikitsa (Pediatrics – Treatment of Children)
  3. Graha Chikitsa (Psychology)
  4. Shalya Chikitsa (Surgery)
  5. Salakya Chikitsa (Otorhinolaryngology – Treatment of eyes, ears, nose, lips, brain, central nervous system, skull and throat)
  6. Visha Chikitsa (Toxicology)
  7. Rasayana (Rejuvenation & Geriatric medicine)
  8. Vajeekarana (Sexual Therapy)

When you first start living an ayurvedic lifestyle, it’s likely you start with your diet. Your healer will help you find the products and ingredients according to your prakriti, vikriti, purpose and stage of your life (age) and even the season. They’ll then create a dietary plan to cure imbalances, prevent disease and bring you back to your most natural state or balance. 

 

(Ayurvedic) Self-Assessment

It’s pretty straightforward; if you have dry skin, your skin isn’t treated with a rough scrub, but oil or thick creams. But why is your skin dry and how can you prevent this from happening (again)?

If you’re interested in finding out your own dosha constitution, there are several ways to take a self-assessment. On the internet you’ll find many different dosha constitution tests. Ayurvedic medicine deals a lot with your digestion and waste matter. Therefore, these tests at first could be disturbing for some, because the questions can be very intimate.

It’s normally advised to take the same test twice. The first time filling out your answers while you think of a time that you feel best, most balanced and happy: prikriti. And the second time filling out your answers according to how you’ve been feeling in the last 30 days or so: vikriti. Complete the quiz as honestly as possible to get closest to your purest state of being. If your vikriti is different to your prikriti, it shows signs of imbalances. Make the changes you can or consult an ayurvedic doctor. 

Beneath, you’ll find a few links to the test I personally trust most. Have a look write down or remember your constitution because next week, we’ll write about dietary tips according to the doshas.

 

Online tests:

  • Prakriti dosha test by the Ayurveda Institute
  • Vikriti dosha test by the Ayurveda Institute 


Please note: In Indian medical school, Ayurvedic doctors study at least 8 years to become qualified. The information we cover in these blogs offer you a basic introduction to the science behind ayurveda. It’s a great tool to help you understand your own body and those of your loved ones and/or students better, but please not use our content to diagnose disease or prescribe medicine of any kind for yourself or others. We do not diagnose or prescribe anything to any individual, nor is it the purpose of our content.

More resources:

 

An Introduction to Ayurveda
https://www.ayurveda.com/pdf/intro_ayurveda.pdf

 

Institutions
https://artoflivingretreatcenter.org/
https://www.ayurveda.com/ 
https://sivananda.org/in
Beginner Book
Practical Ayurveda – Find Out Who You Are and What You Need to Bring Balance to Your Life – Sivananda Yoga, Vedanta Center

Continuing Education Membership

In the meantime, check out our Continuing Education Membership for multilingual yoga teachers. This membership offers professional and personal development for yoga teachers that want to start teaching worldwide; online or abroad. Develop your communication and teaching skills while obtaining continuing education hours with our live and recorded classes and teacher training sessions!

Have a look at all that’s included here.

Cleanse Your Space This Spring

Cleanse your space this spring!

Just like eating healthily and detoxing your body, why exclude your living space from a therapeutic clear-out? Throughout the year, physical objects and emotional experiences build up inside you and your living space.

Yogic and ayurvedic spring cleanses are particularly focussed on clearing out waste and toxins from the body, which we will talk about in the coming weeks. For now, let’s look at cleansing the space around us.

 

Start fresh: cleanse your space

Sometimes, in our living or working spaces, there are things you can’t see, like feelings or documents you put on the top shelf and never looked at again. You can’t see them, but they’re still affecting you mentally, perhaps in the back of your mind. A lot of the time, we need to acknowledge that, go looking for them and finally confront them!

How about dedicating time specifically to digging inside yourself and your home to identify what’s stopping you from moving forward this spring? Is it that grudge you held against a student who complained about your lesson, or the fact that yoga studios are closed? Would finally paying the bills help you feel like you were coping with life better?

Spring’s the start of a new year in many countries and religions, and is therefore a great time to remove unnecessary feelings or objects from our lives that might be holding us back. Ayurvedic practitioners believe that spring is an opportunity to clear out what you’ve accumulated over winter that you now don’t need. It allows you to start spring with new energy and a fresh perspective.

 

4 practical ways to cleanse your space!

1. Declutter and let go

‘Clutter’ is the disorganised stuff you have in your home or workplace. There’s normally a lot of it, and mine is in ‘The Shit Drawer’. Where’s yours? 

It’s the stuff you’d rather not deal with just now. Or tomorrow. Or next week. And with that attitude, it grows and grows, and grows again.

So, decluttering is not that. Decluttering is finally clearing it all out and kissing it goodbye!

Don’t try to do it all at one time. Pick one area of clutter and if it’s big, focus on only part of it. Deal with that section before trying to tackle it all.

Stay green. See if there’s anything you can repurpose, recycle or give away so as not to waste.

 

2. (Re)organise your space

We teach our children to put their toys away so that they learn how to take responsibility for something they own. Keeping our things safe and in places where they can’t be broken is a way of valuing them and looking after them, out of respect and gratitude.

So, now that you have only the things you need or that make you happy, organise them in a way that means they’re easy to find or out of sight, if you want them to be.

New perspectives. If you’re looking for a fresh start, it might be a good time to change the arrangement of your furniture and belongings. We go on holiday because we benefit from a change of scenery! So, especially in times of ‘staying at home’, change the scenery of your space instead.

Experiment with your space and ask yourself ‘how can I get more light on my desk?’, ‘which angle of this room do I want to see when I wake up tomorrow?’ Swap things around and see how it feels.

 

3. Clean your space

 

Create a sense of health and clarity in your space, with two things to remember. Keep it natural, and clean in moderation.

 

One thing we can all do is avoid using the toxins in standard cleaning products which eventually poison the environment. Investigate options that are kinder to nature – there are plenty of eco-friendly alternatives these days. Think of plastic free scrubbers, plant-based soap bars or bamboo tissues. Have a look in your local eco-shops. Alternatively, to keep your space clean and fresh you could simply use vinegar, lemon and bicarbonate of soda.

Check in before you clean. This should be therapeutic, so check in with yourself and find out if it’s good for you at this point in time. Obsessive cleaning can encourage negative behaviour such as anxiety. Your spring cleanse doesn’t have an expiry date and should be a positive experience so, think about what’s right for you; maybe it’s a mid-spring cleanse!

 

4. Cleanse the senses

Sensory impressions such as sounds, sights or smells, can influence your experience in a space. They can stimulate both positive and negative thoughts that you might associate with a particular sound, sight or smell. 

Have a sensory spring make-over this spring equinox, exploring how you could use these things to redefine your space and make a fresh start!

 

  • Sounds

Sounds and music can really contribute to how you feel, even if you don’t notice it. How many times have you heard a song for the first time in years and it transported you back to a past feeling or moment? Perhaps it reminds you of when we were on holiday and they played it at the hotel every night. Depending on your experience at the time, it could bring back sadness, happiness or a mixture of emotions. Sounds can make you feel a feeling you haven’t felt in years. They get deep inside us and stay there. 

Some sounds we use in yoga  that can help you release are:

  • gentle drums
  • singing bowls
  • Tibetan (meditation) bells
  • chanting mantras

You don’t have to add in a new sound to your space, it can be about appreciating things that are already there that can be enjoyed more mindfully. By opening the window more often, perhaps you can bring your awareness and gratitude to these things during your classes or practices.

Listen out for: 

  • bird song 
  • wind in the trees
  • bikes and vehicles passing by
  • footsteps
  • voices in the distance or nearby
  • water in the pipes
  • a candle flickering

and even sirens

 

  • Sight:

We can be affected by the things in our sight, and there are a few aspects you can focus on when giving your space a sensory makeover. Things like light, colours and shapes can all influence how we feel when we’re in an environment.

What kind of light are you surrounded by right now? Natural light? Sunlight? Candlelight? The light from your screen? Do you like the colour of that light? Is it bright? Is it harsh or gentle?

One study (6) showed that the health and wellbeing of employees working in an office with lots of daylight improved. The employees reported a 51% decrease in eyestrain, a 63% decrease in headaches and a 56% reduction in tiredness. It’s also known to help prevent or minimise the effects of seasonal depression, increases vitamin D and improves sleep. (5)

So let’s look at ways you can maximise the light in your space:

  • Mirrors reflect the light entering your room.
  • Lighter colours of paint on your walls, ceilings or furniture.
  • Gentle lighting. Replace harsh, fluorescent bulbs with softer, warmer ones. Consider replacing overhead lighting with the soft glow of lamps.
  • Images. Think about them and make sure they represent positive things. Does that painting still represent what you need it to? Is that photo actually a good memory, or are you just attached to it? Our relationship with things can change too, so maybe it’s time for an update.
  • Shapes. We’re attracted to aesthetically pleasing lines, edges and shapes. So, when you walk into your space, what’s going to make you think ‘my home’s nice’? Strong, angular shapes? Or curves and organic forms? Do you like your furniture to be centred or off-centre?
     

 

  • Smell

We’re more sensitive to smell than we think. I’m not just talking about perfumes or scented candles.

One incredible study has shown just how essential oils can affect our minds and bodies. People who suffered epileptic seizures started having aromatherapy massages to cause them to associate the smell of an essential oil with relaxation. When they felt a seizure starting, they could smell the oil used during their aromatherapy massages to mentally return to a place of relaxation, where seizures are less common. The result was that some people could actually reverse the start of a seizure and therefore had fewer seizures. (8)

What is it about making coffee in the morning that makes it feel like morning? What is it that doesn’t stop you loving your partner even when they’re a sweaty mess after working out? Smells alert us to danger, help us identify attraction and even experience taste. 

Explore these as ways of cleansing: 

  • Fresh air! Open that window.
  • Air purifying plants such as Devil’s Ivy 
  • Burning Palo santo, sage or other plants is said to have spiritual effects of cleansing negative energies. As you burn, you can visualise the intentions and prayers you have for the springtime. (7)

 

Incense and essential oils. Burning, diffusing, bathing, soaking, massaging, cooking, watching or making your own candles! Search for a licensed oil practitioner that could give you a hand. Or explore and choose smells that are your personal preferences or that you have nice associations with. You could even use them to help tackle any mental barriers you’re experiencing, by developing positive associations with them.

 

We encourage you to research carefully before buying plants, plant products and oils. Now a huge market, their extraction from the natural world is having a negative impact on the planet and many communities. Consider where you live and your carbon footprint. There are local and ethical options. For example, if you live in a country that grows an abundance of lavender, avoid shipping palo santo from South America. 

 

A little research goes a long way!

Resources:

(5) Garone, Sarah. (2020). ‘The Health Benefits of Natural Light (and 7 Ways to Get More of It)’, Healthline. Available at: https://www.healthline.com/health/natural-light-benefits#benefits (Accessed: 17th of February 2021) 

(6) Meister, Jeanne, C. (2018). ‘The #1 Office Perk? Natural Light’, Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2018/09/the-1-office-perk-natural-light (Accessed: 17th of February 2021) 

(7) Williams, Rachelle. (2018). ‘An Ayurvedic Approach to Cleansing Your Home’, Chopra. Available at: https://chopra.com/articles/an-ayurvedic-approach-to-cleansing-your-home (Accessed: 4th of March 2021)

(8) Epilepsy Society (April 2019). Complementary Therapies. UK. Available at: https://epilepsysociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/2020-05/Complementarytherapies2019.pdf (Accessed: 4th of March 2021)

 

Continuing Education Membership

In the meantime, check out our Continuing Education Membership for multilingual yoga teachers. This membership offers professional and personal development for yoga teachers that want to start teaching worldwide; online or abroad. Develop your communication and teaching skills while obtaining continuing education hours with our live and recorded classes and teacher training sessions!

Have a look at all that’s included here.

Clean & Cleanse

Spring for many of us means a new beginning. In some countries, it even means the start of a new year. It’s the perfect time to plant new seeds, make new plans and cleanse your body, mind and space for a ‘new start’. 

In the coming weeks, we’ll focus on ways of clearing out all the toxins from your body. You’ll extract negative energy and thoughts from your mind, and clean your living or working space for a healthier, happier life.

 

Clean your body and cleanse your body: what’s the difference?

Cleanse and clean are linked but imagine this: you cleanse the body when you intentionally consume or use foods, herbs or plants that are believed to detoxify the body and mind. Or, intentionally avoid ones that are believed to build up toxins. You might also use remedies to help you excrete them. However, you clean your body simply by having a shower or a bath. Cleansing is often a more holistic experience than cleaning because it’s more than just your physical body.

Cleansing often has a figurative meaning, and that’s why it applies so perfectly to our minds. Unfortunately, our minds aren’t like a chest of drawers: we can’t just reach in and remove the thoughts or limiting beliefs we don’t want. To cleanse the mind is also to do things that help purify your thoughts or maintain good morals. For you, that could be meditation, mindfulness, a run or writing in your journal.

Spring Clean Your Space!

 

When it comes to cleaning our homes, many of us only have time for the absolute minimum. However, spring time is the perfect season not only to clean the places and things in our homes that are left out normally, but also to get rid of all the useless things that you have accumulated over winter.

 

We live in a world that wants us to believe that we need way more than we actually do. But, living surrounded by lots of unnecessary things that don’t have a real place in our lives, results in a feeling of chaos. And it can be very distracting: a study by Princeton Neuroscience Institute concluded that having a lot of things in sight results in your brain getting confused: it doesn’t know which thing to focus on. (1)

 

Looking after your living or working space is as important as looking after yourself. As a yogi, you might already watch what you eat and move enough to stay happy and healthy. However, your living space is also part of you. It’s worth reflecting on your relationship with it and how it does or could affect your mentality and daily life. Perhaps giving your space, as well as your mind and body, a clean and cleanse this spring will give you some new energy to achieve what you want to this year.

 

Clean, cleanse and Introduction to Ayurveda Course

This month, get ready to learn about spring cleaning the body, mind and soul through the tools of ayurveda, yoga asana and mindfulness. You’ll explore the ayurvedic kitchen and speak about juicing with Anka and other special guests. You’ll practise yoga to cleanse, rinse and create more awareness. And, we’re starting with conversation classes in which you can practise speaking about your new learnings, meet your fellow yogis and get answers to any questions you may have.

 

Download the worksheet on the right to start with some self-exploration!

 

Resources:

 (1) Vrcek, Laura. ‘Does a clear space really mean a clear mind?’, Headspace. Available at: https://www.headspace.com/blog/2016/03/21/clear-space-really-mean-clear-mind/ (Accessed 18 February 2021). 

Continuing Education Membership

In the meantime, check out our Continuing Education Membership for multilingual yoga teachers. This membership offers professional and personal development for yoga teachers that want to start teaching worldwide; online or abroad. Develop your communication and teaching skills while obtaining continuing education hours with our live and recorded classes and teacher training sessions!

Have a look at all that’s included here.

Spend Your Energy Wisely

Let’s apply yogic philosophy to your modern life and learn how to spend your energy wisely.

Brahmacharya is probably the most confusing Yamas of all. When studying the Yamas and niyamas, this one often gets neglected. It’s controversial, which means disagreement’. Brahmacharya is known for being linked to celibacy but it has also been used to simply mean a conservation of energy so that it is used in a correct way. In other words: ‘spending your energy wisely’.

Did I lose you already? Let me help you investigate and discover ways in which it could apply to you. Give you a new perspective and understanding of Brahmacharya in our modern, Western, day-to-day life so you can spend your energy wisely.

Let’s start with an example of ‘wasting’ energy: 

‘It’s Tuesday morning and you accidentally slept in. You wanted to practise yoga and get some work done, but it’s already 12pm. You’re still in bed, you scroll through Instagram and you feel yourself getting annoyed. You get annoyed because the house is a mess, your partner hasn’t taken the dog out, you haven’t had a coffee and suddenly everything just seems shit and there’s chaos’. 

However, the chaos isn’t really happening externally. The chaos is what you notice in your mind and body. 

To make yourself feel better, you make a massive breakfast. Let’s say brunch. You decide it’s already too late to make this day productive and instead go watch a film, do some online shopping and let the hours pass by.  You realise the sun is about to set and get even more annoyed. You call yourself useless, worthless, and ‘a loser’ because you haven’t done anything (yet).’

Sometimes, we need a day like this. But sometimes, we really let ourselves go. Brachmacharya speaks about ‘the right use of energy’: self-regulation or self-control, but in this example, you also saw how we neglected other yamas such as Asteya (non-stealing) and Ahimsa (loving kindness). Remember, everything is connected. So are the Yamas. 

Then, how can I spend my energy wisely?

Brahmacharya originally refers to ‘celibacy’. Celibacy means that you’re not sexually active or actively looking for it. Basically, you voluntarily give up your sexual energy and only use it to reproduce in the right stage of your life. I understand that doesn’t sound appealing. But, I also believe we can find a way in which you can practise this yama yourself.   

Rather than focussing on sexual activity, we focus on spending energy wisely. Do you do the things you do because it brings you internal happiness? Or do you do it because it’s what’s expected? Maybe you don’t know any better, you’re too tired to find a different way, or maybe there’s fear of judgement or not being good enough. 

To spend our energy wisely, we have to find balance or moderation. To find this equilibrium, I like to ask the questions words starting with WH-. In this case: What? When? And why? 

A few useful questions:

Let’s go back to the example and start at the moment that you realised it was ‘too late’ for a productive day. What if you’d asked yourself: 

‘What do I actually need to do?’ – Maybe there’s a deadline or someone waiting for you, but maybe it’s okay to rest.

‘When do I have time to do it?’ – If it’s work, you might not have a choice, but maybe it doesn’t actually need to happen straight away.

‘Why is it so much effort?’ – Are you truly tired, or are you becoming tired of the idea of doing it? Maybe it’s ignorance and you simply need to get out of your own bubble.

What is the actual reason behind your negative use of energy??

You’re most likely not actually angry with your partner, or the fact that the house is a little messy. When I find myself in a position like this, I most often feel stuck or tired of doing things the same way. No one has ever achieved more without changing and improving the process.

It’s all about balance, baby!

In yoga we search for healthy challenges in moderation. This means that it’s okay to find your limits, but don’t go beyond them. When you find a spot where you are too comfortable, you’re not spending your energy wisely. When you find a spot that’s too challenging, it takes longer to improve and gets too frustrating; you’ll eventually give up or go past your boundaries, provoking all sorts of issues from mental health to physical health or unhealthy relationships. 

If you feel unhappy, unsatisfied, frustrated, or are easily distracted, it’s a sign of imbalance within. I’d highly recommend you read our blog about ‘happiness’ and finding your flow.

 

Continuing Education Membership

In the meantime, check out our Continuing Education Membership for multilingual yoga teachers. This membership offers professional and personal development for yoga teachers that want to start teaching worldwide; online or abroad. Develop your communication and teaching skills while obtaining continuing education hours with our live and recorded classes and teacher training sessions!

Have a look at all that’s included here.

Truthfulness (Satya) and Introducing the THINK-method

An Honest Guide for Your Daily Life: Truthfulness (Satya) and introducing the THINK-method.

‘Tell me the truth’, my mum said. ‘The truth’, I answered. I was three years old and honestly I had no idea what ‘the truth’ meant. 

I can’t remember if I took something that wasn’t mine or if she thought I had lied. Whatever it was, most of us are taught that lying is a bad thing and we must always speak the truth. Yet, we lie. We lie all the time. We lie about how delicious something tastes, how well we’re doing, how bad we are at something, or how talented someone is. And, we even lie about the fact that we never lie.

Lying takes many forms from ignorance to exaggeration, pride, fear and insecurity. Lies lie in your subconscious, but also on the tip of your tongue. We display them in our actions, thoughts and words, day in day out.

In yoga, the second Yama (social ethic) is called Satya. Satya is translated into English as  ‘truthfulness’. Truthfulness is the opposite of telling lies. Truthfulness quite simply means thinking and speaking the truth or the fact of being realistic. 

 

Let’s explore the reasons why we lie, what truthfulness (Satya) means and how we can introduce the THINK-method to your daily life.

 

Why do we lie?

Lying is a deeply ingrained human behaviour. Some of the best liars are criminals and politicians. They lie to create a better image, cover up bad behaviour, or quite frankly to save their asses. But you also lie. You lie to your friends, family, partners, colleagues, strangers and yourself. Research shows we lie to gain financial or personal benefits, protect others’ feelings, avoid certain people, to come across more polite, and more. 7% of the time the reason is unknown; sometimes we simply lie for no reason! (1)

You learn to lie between the ages of 2 and 5 which is when you’re experiencing many things for the first time and testing your independence. While many parents find their lying children worrying, Kang Lee, a psychologist at the University of Toronto, actually describes this as a comforting sign. It means their cognitive growth is on track. (1)

At the same time, you’re developing your morals, values, or at least learning to ‘live’ a certain way. You learn to lie, but don’t lie all the time or about everything. “We lie if honesty won’t work.” – Tim Levine.

However, you don’t live your life expecting others to lie, or verifying everything you hear. You perceive what you see and hear as reality and the truth. You hear what you want to hear, and you see what you want to see. This is especially true when the source is someone or something that you trust, or it confirms or emphasises what you already believe.

 

Are you a liar? 

Yes. When was the last time you told yourself you’d wake-up in the morning without checking your phone first thing and you did it anyway? Tell me about a time you told yourself you’d clean the house, including the cupboard and you ‘forgot’. Or, how often have you told someone ‘it was amazing’, while inside you’re thinking it wasn’t as great as you made it sound.

When you think of lying, you think of the people you lie to, but creating awareness of how much you lie to yourself is just as important. The lies you tell yourself might not be as obvious or as damaging as you think. But these lies are often your limiting beliefs. 

You tell yourself you can’t do it, you’re not good enough, you need to lose weight and so on. 

Are these beliefs actual truths and facts? Probably not. They are probably little lies or biased versions of the truth, created by your perception of reality: not what is actually real or true.

 

Journal prompts:

  1. What kind(s) of lies do you tell? Write an example of a lie you told yourself or someone else recently.
  2. What are some of the common or repetitive things you tell yourself?
  3. Do these things express something negative about yourself?
  4. How true are they, if at all?
  5. Do you have proof that they’re true? What’s the evidence?

 

Satya: truthfulness or ‘to speak truth’

All the yamas go hand in hand. Truthfulness relates to forgiveness, not stealing, and not being possessive or violent. When practising one, you’re practising others. However, all of them have something unique to them. 

“Speak the truth which is pleasant. Do not speak unpleasant truths. Do not lie, even if the lies are pleasing to the ear. That is the eternal law, the dharma.” – Heart of Yoga.

You might read this quote and find it a little confusing. Does this mean you should speak about the truth you like, but ignore the truth that you don’t like? 

I believe that we should be able to speak about everything, even if it’s unpleasant. However, it’s the words and the moment you choose that make all the difference. 

 

Apply truthfulness (Satya) and the THINK-method to your daily life:

To start consciously acting instead of reacting on impulse, you need to learn to THINK before you speak. 

THINK stands for: True Helpful Inspiring Necessary Kind.

Next time you catch yourself ‘wanting to lie’, reacting from your emotion and telling someone the truth as you see or feel it in that moment, pause. 

Stop your urge to act on your impulses and bring your awareness to your breath and sensations. Then, ask yourself: ‘Is what I want to say True? Helpful? Inspiring? Necessary? Kind?’

You can tell the truth if you think it is necessary and in a helpful, inspiring and kind way. Even if the truth is difficult for you or another person to face, using this method helps you do it in a way that is honest but not detrimental.

This requires strong awareness skills, but you can definitely train yourself! The THINK-method will help you to better understand yourself, other people, communicate more respectfully and verbalise your needs, wishes and desires accomplishing a healthy outcome. 

Do you want to learn more about this topic or start integrating the THINK-method into your life, training specific scenarios and situations? Have a look at ‘The Ways We Love’: a course designed to create awareness around our relationships, your relationship with yourself and the Yamas (social ethics as described in yoga philosophy).

 

RESOURCES and RECOMMENDATIONS:

(1) Why we lie –  Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, National Geographic
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, a contributing writer, has also written about deception in his new book, The Spy Who Couldn’t Spell. He wrote about baby brains in January 2015. Dan Winters is an award-winning photographer based in Austin, Texas. This is his first feature assignment for the magazine.

Honest liars — the psychology of self-deception: Cortney Warren at TEDxUNLV

Catch me if you can – Steven Spielberg

The film about compulsive lying. This Steven Spielberg film is based on the life of Frank Abagnale, who successfully performed many different professions without having obtained a degree in anything.

Continuing Education Membership

In the meantime, check out our Continuing Education Membership for multilingual yoga teachers. This membership offers professional and personal development for yoga teachers that want to start teaching worldwide; online or abroad. Develop your communication and teaching skills while obtaining continuing education hours with our live and recorded classes and teacher training sessions!

Have a look at all that’s included here.

Loving Kindness and Ahimsa

Loving kindness & Ahimsa, if you practise yoga regularly, you’ve probably heard of these before. But, what do loving kindness & Ahimsa actually mean and how can we practise them in our day-to-day life?

There are many types of love. The love you feel for your pet, your friend, your siblings, your partner, or your child. They are all different and special in their own way. In earlier blogs we’ve already discussed self-care, self-love and self-compassion, and you might know that to love anything and anyone truly, you must first learn to love yourself.

If you lack self-esteem, confidence or self-acceptance it’s likely that this is reflected in feelings such as frustration, jealousy, envy or even hatred towards others. You can’t like everyone and not everybody will like you, but practising self-acceptance and especially loving kindness, will help you reduce such strong feelings, as well as criticism and destructive thoughts.

What is loving kindness?

Loving kindness is most commonly known as a type of meditation. It’s also called ‘Metta’ meditation. The ultimate form of generous and selfless love. It combines several qualities of love: friendliness, mutual understanding and peace, compassion, goodwill and an active interest in others. It’s originally a self-healing practice that traditional Buddhists consider a pathway for creating happiness, appreciation, satisfaction, and ultimate acceptance (Bodhi, 2005; Shen-Yen 2001).

With loving-kindness meditation comes a profound spiritual transformation and the urge to reflect on our positive emotions (Kabat-Zinn, 1990).

This week we’re looking at the relationships we have with our friends and family, and practising loving kindness and Ahimsa. Before we say anything else: 

Journal questions:

  1. Describe the relationship you have with your best friend.
  2. Why do you love this person?
  3. What are their best characteristics? 
  4. Why do you consider these their ‘best’ characteristics?

Practising loving kindness and ahimsa

Meditation is a great way to practise loving kindness. It allows you to create awareness, understand your obstacles better and make space for wiser decisions. Meditation is a limb of yoga. Yoga is a lifestyle and something you also practise off the mat in your daily life. 

The Yama ‘Ahimsa’ is very closely linked to loving kindness. Ahimsa means non-harming and non-violence in thought, word and intentional behaviour and acts. Now, when your brain sees all these negative words; ‘no, non, never’, it doesn’t know what to do instead. So, let’s have a look at some examples and let’s be super honest (practise truthfulness: Satya.

Journal questions:

Do you easily judge…

  • someone for the way they look? 
  • what they have(n’t) achieved?
  • what they eat?

Do you (negatively) speak about others…

  • when they are not there?
  • to laugh at them (with another friend)?
  • in a passive aggressive way?

Do you consciously…

  • speak nastily to others?
  • exclude others?
  • Avoid telling the truth because it seems easier? 

Especially around the people we feel most comfortable with, we forget our social ethics. I’m guilty of this too and honestly also think it’s healthy to express your negative feelings and experiences from time to time. But way too often, we express ourselves without thinking and use words that are very harmful and damaging.  

When I studied Ahimsa I learned to read between the lines and now see that it’s not just about the absence of violence, but rather it teaches us kindness, friendliness, thoughtfulness and taking others, as well as our duties and responsibilities into consideration. 

“World  peace, please!” 

I’m not telling you to start vegan propaganda, spread-the-love cult, or tell you to go on  strike for climate change, but I do believe in the meaning behind these practices. They simply beg for your attention; treat yourself, others and all living things the way you’d like to be treated.

 

Continuing Education Membership

In the meantime, check out our Continuing Education Membership for multilingual yoga teachers. This membership offers professional and personal development for yoga teachers that want to start teaching worldwide; online or abroad. Develop your communication and teaching skills while obtaining continuing education hours with our live and recorded classes and teacher training sessions!

Have a look at all that’s included here.

Are you a thief?

Are you a thief?

Integrate Asteya and Aparigraha In Your Life.

In yoga we often speak about the Yamas. The yamas are social ethical principles. They include non-stealing, non-greed and non-hoarding, in yogic terms: Asteya and Aparigraha. Let’s dive into the meaning of Asteya and Aparigraha and learn how to integrate them in your daily life.

 

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Paula posted a quote on Instagram that touched my soul.

“You say you love your children above all else and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.”

Paula spoke about ‘Asteya’. Asteya means non-stealing. Non-stealing means not taking anything that doesn’t belong to you. To take only what’s necessary, even when it’s free. I believe it goes hand in hand with ‘Aparigraha’. Aparigraha teaches us non-hoarding, non-greed and non-attachment. In other words, to share and give to others.

 

Are you guilty of neglecting Asteya and Aparigraha?

You might think you never steal. You probably don’t do it intentionally anyway. But non-stealing refers to everything in life. We steal time, food, energy, confidence and feelings. We steal to fill up emptiness in our bodies and souls. In yoga we practise for ‘union’. We aim to connect to a deeper meaning to fill the gaps we experience within ourselves, and share this with others.

Journal question:

‘When was the last time you stole something?’ ‘Do you take more than you need?’

Stealing from yourself

When you practise yoga asana, do you go beyond a healthy boundary? Do you push yourself to the max? Do you tell yourself you’re not good enough, you must gain flexibility, become stronger or that you’re not doing it right? This also is stealing. You’re stealing from your experience in the present moment. Your confidence and ability to allow and accept yourself for who you are, right now.

Stealing from others

Think of a time you were late for class or a meeting. You came in out of breath, puffing and groaning about the traffic, apologised, but still disturbed the peace in the room. And, took away focus and stole time from the person or people involved.

You get the picture. I don’t want to blame you or call you a thief. We’re all guilty of this and although it’s very often accepted, I do think it’s a good thing to create more awareness of how we steal from ourselves, our loved ones and our surroundings.

Whenever we think about ‘The Ways We Love’, we generally think of the relationships we have with our loved ones, but where I’d like to start today is your relationship with nature.

We’re all connected

Remember the quote I wrote at the start: “You say you love your children above all else and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.”

Loving your loved ones even more deeply starts with Mother Earth: all of our oceans, beaches, woods and forests, the countryside, all sea creatures, animals and wildlife.

When looking at nature, we see how everything is connected. All species work together as a big family and rely on each other. Trees for example are connected through underground networks. They share their water and nutrients through these networks, and also use them to communicate. They are so deeply connected that when a tree is stressed or malnourished, the other trees send them extra supplies.

We, just as all other species, rely on our relationship with trees. Trees release oxygen, helping us breathe. Just what you focus on in your yoga class. Trees are used for the production of (toilet) paper, cork, medicines, sponges, hair dye, rubber and even chocolate, just to name a few.

Practise Asteya & Aparigraha: take care of each other

In 2021, global warming, plastic and air pollution, agricultural emissions, extinction and other environmental issues are probably not new to you. Yet, when speaking about these topics, a lot of us tend to look the other way and change the conversation. I’m not going to lie, didn’t used to be a big fan either. But I believe that not addressing these topics is purely because we don’t know enough about them.

It’s very hard to stay up to date with all the news that we’re being exposed to. It’s even harder to choose what’s true and trustworthy. I can’t decide for you, but I believe that you’re very capable of doing your own research and understanding what you could change to practise Asteya & Aparigraha and live a more sustainable lifestyle for you, for the planet and for others. If you think of the people you love and your relationships with them, I reckon you’d like them to have the resources they need to be healthy.

By taking care of your surroundings for example the paper, water, food and materials you use, and managing how much of them you use, you help preserve resources and a healthy planet.  By doing this, you care actively not only for yourself, but also for your children, your loved ones and their children.

This is where I stop my speech about caring for the environment and practising Asteya and Aparigraha, but if you’d like to get into this topic I’ve referred to some resources below.

 

 

Resources to dive into:

Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret
A shocking documentary about environmental matters, sustainable production and how the government and big companies such as Greenpeace hide the biggest issues.
If I had to choose one reason I’d consume a whole food or vegan diet, this would be mine.

Day 0: Cape Town’s Water Crisis Approaches Day Zero

An incredible documentary about the effects and consequences of climate change including extreme drought that led South Africa to take extreme measures we could all learn from.

The Minimalists – books and documentaries

Declutter your life from your home to your relationships. Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus help others to truly let go of what you don’t need and focus on life’s most important aspects.

The Natural Capital Project 

An organisation that focuses on improvement of the well-being of people and nature through sustainable partnership and combining science and technology that enable people and nature to thrive.

Marie Kondo – Home Cleansing Practices

Clean out your space. Pay respect to your belongings, give what you no longer need a second chance by giving it away. End up with a spacious house, room, and/or closet.

Bim, Bam, Boo – Eco-Friendly Toilet Paper

Sustainable, high quality toilet paper made from bamboo that doesn’t only save trees, but also protects your skin, health and well-being.

Practising Asteya & Aparigraha

Book 1: The Yamas & Niyamas: Exploring Yoga’s Ethical Practice 

Book 2: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Continuing Education Membership

In the meantime, check out our Continuing Education Membership for multilingual yoga teachers. This membership offers professional and personal development for yoga teachers that want to start teaching worldwide; online or abroad. Develop your communication and teaching skills while obtaining continuing education hours with our live and recorded classes and teacher training sessions!

Have a look at all that’s included here.

Willpower and How to Stick to It!

Just as your body needs practise to perform a yoga asana, your brain needs repetition to learn a new language, your mind also needs training to effectively serve you to live a calm, happy and healthier life. When you train your mind, you’ll also gain willpower and determination. These characteristics help you to, for example, make that yoga asana an advanced posture or open yourself to experiment with new vocabulary. A calm, trained mind can do anything from disconnecting from your limiting beliefs to living a happier, healthier life while following your calling.

Why should you train willpower?

At the start of something new, everything seems exciting, but whoever you are, wherever you are from, the excitement starts to fade and after a while and you get frustrated, lazy, indifferent or unconcerned, and give up on our goals. Training your willpower will make your process more motivating by setting realistic processes and end-goals.

‘As long as you want it, everything is possible’ is a myth.

This is striving for superficial happiness. Happiness doesn’t make you successful, and success doesn’t make you happy. Happiness can bring success if you know how to, and continue to, balance pleasure, strengths and fulfillment.
You could say: ‘As long as you’re striving for the right thing, it’s possible’. 

 

Ready to learn how you can actually stick to your willpower and determination?

 

1. Letting go of unrealistic goals

These are goals that take up too much time and goals that are not in your reach right now. Wanting too many things at the same time requires too much effort from your body and mind and in the end limits your success. Choose quality over quantity!

E.g.: working out 7 times a week, exhausting yourself and, as a result, not wanting to return to the gym after a couple of weeks.

Or: Working your bum off on your online business, hoping to see your bank account grow from 0 to 10.000 in one month.

 

 2. Replacing those goals with realistic goals

To achieve and have success, we need to combine pleasure, strengths and fulfilment by taking small steps. Taking smaller steps gives you the opportunity to celebrate your little successes and actually grow according to where you are in life right now. You’ll feel less competitive, less frustrated and instead, calmer, more grateful and happier.

E.g.: Work out 3 times a week and you’ll notice you have more motivation and maybe even miss the gym on the days you don’t go. This will make you stick to your routine longer and have a more positive effect in the long run.

Or: Starting a business takes time, patience and effort. Lowering your expectations will make you feel less defeated when you don’t reach your goal, more determined when you do reach your goal and will surprise you when you overachieve (do better than your goal).

 

3. Routine and habits (check out our earlier blog about routines and habits).

Rituals and routines are the only accepted methods when it comes to automatic behaviour. People with a (healthy) routine are more likely to reach their goals, fulfil their wishes and meet deadlines.

 

Your body truly integrates a (healthy) habit after 66 days and thereafter will start to miss it when you’re not performing it. Therefore, give yourself time to adapt to new and healthy actions in your routine and stick to them. Need help with shaping your routine? Read the ‘blame the brain’ blog and download the worksheet.

 

4. The words you use or tell yourself 

Speak positively to yourself and your actions will change. Your brain doesn’t like words such as: ‘not’, ‘none’, ‘never’, ‘no one’. Telling yourself things such as: ‘I’m not going to eat sugar anymore’, or ‘I’ll never get up late from now on’ are first of all unrealistic and unnecessary, but it also takes time for the brain to then find out what it’s supposed to do instead! Telling yourself: ‘I’ll eat more fruit instead of sugar’, or ‘I’ll set my alarm and get up earlier’ not only sound more achievable but the brain also understands what it’s meant to do straight away.

 

5. Doing it, not just thinking it 

There’s no such thing as ‘the right time’ and no one else to blame but yourself. ⁠Here’s a list of the top 5 best excuses used by professional procrastinators:

  • ⁠‘Now’s not the time.’ or ‘I’m not good enough’. (worrier)
  • ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ or ‘Monday, or next month’. (defier: someone who resists)
  • ‘First, I need to…’ or ‘I can only do it when I have …’ (perfectionist)⁠
  • ‘I must do it all, or nothing at all.’ (over-doer)⁠
  • ‘But do I need to do all of that myself?’ (dreamer) ⁠⠀

 

Do you recognise yourself in any of these? Do you know why you procrastinate? Or what type of procrastinator you are?

 

Procrastination consumes your willpower. The more the think of something you need to do,⁠ the more your brain thinks it’s already doing it. The longer you procrastinate for, the more tiring it gets and you’ll end up not doing it at all or doing it reluctantly and therefore not to the best of your ability.

 

Continuing Education Membership

In the meantime, check out our Continuing Education Membership for multilingual yoga teachers. This membership offers professional and personal development for yoga teachers that want to start teaching worldwide; online or abroad. Develop your communication and teaching skills while obtaining continuing education hours with our live and recorded classes and teacher training sessions!

Have a look at all that’s included here.

The Key to Your Happiness

You might think that money, success, power, popularity or a partner bring you happiness. And even though they fill up your heart with joy, these external and superficial ‘things’ only bring you temporary satisfaction. The key to your happiness is a combination of three things: pleasure, strengths and fulfilment. 

To find out in which things you find these three key elements you could ask yourself what you’d do if you only had one more month to live, or a week, or a day, or a few hours. This thought might  sound surrealistic, but ask yourself and take a minute to think about your answer. ‘What would you do if you only had a limited time to live?’ Or: ‘If you died now, what regrets would you have about the way you are living (your life) now?

The answer to these questions are the things that you’re bringing into action today, not tomorrow, next week or whenever you have time; TODAY!

Did you answer you wanted to have more time with your parents? Then go visit them. If you can’t, video call them. If you wrote down you would have wanted to be more creative or write a book, start today. Studies have shown that if you do something that brings you pleasure, in which you can use your strengths and find fulfilment at least once a week, you’ll experience significantly more happiness and satisfaction in your life. 

 

Some handy definitions to find the keys to your happiness:

Pleasure:

What do you enjoy the most? Now, don’t tell me that it’s ice-cream or a morning of self-care. We all do! And though there’s nothing wrong with that, I’d like you to become curious about your deepest senses of pleasure. Ask yourself: ‘What do I truly desire?’. Write down your answer or say it out loud. If you don’t have an answer, repeat. Repeat today, tomorrow, the day after or as long as you need to find your answer to where you find true pleasure.

Strengths:

Your strengths are your superpowers. Focus on your strengths instead of improving your weaknesses. Working on your weaknesses requires a lot of your energy and doesn’t get you much further. This doesn’t mean you can ignore your weaknesses, but spending time and energy on something that will only have little effect, is demotivating. Focussing on your strengths, however, isn’t only more enjoyable but you’ll also see true development straight away and it provides you with the possibility of becoming an expert in your particular strength. When choosing what strengths you want to focus on, consider the following questions: 

  • ‘Does it inspire me and give me energy?’
  • ‘Do I experience personal growth when I use it?’
  • ‘Do I consider this strength part of me?’

If all of these questions have a positive outcome. You may well have found your answer to your ‘calling’ – read down below. 

If you find it difficult to name your strengths, have a look at VIA Character Strengths. They have a fun, free test for you to find out your biggest strengths.

Fulfilment:

A feeling of satisfaction you experience when you live up to your values. Your values are the things that give you meaning and you find truly important. You don’t create values; you have them. If you don’t know them, you’ll need to uncover them.
Be curious: talk with others, write and journal, think of the things you would want to be remembered for. In the end, it always comes down to ‘having made a positive impact in someone’s life’. Whether it’s teaching or providing someone with their perfect pair of shoes, we all have our own ‘calling’. 

It is important to keep a balance between pleasure, strengths and fulfilment. Focusing too much on one of them actually works counterproductively. When you spend an equal amount of time on these three elements, you get into the so-called ‘flow’. This same flow is used to describe your yoga class!

Yoga flow:

Yoga Flow: Fluid and dynamic movement through asanas combined with a focus on the breath which generates a meditative state and feeling of presence or being in the present moment.
Flow (as used in mindfulness training): where pleasure, strengths and fulfilment meet.

Psychologist Csikszentmihalyi researched the concept of flow and came to the conclusion of six components: 

  • Intense focused concentration in which time seems to go as fast as it is slow.
  • Intense presence and motivation in which you find true pleasure in what you’re doing.
  • Merging of action and awareness: not thinking of the end-goal but carrying out the steps.
  • Loss of self-consciousness: you’re not distracted by anything or anyone.
  • Sense of control over the situation or activity, but still having a clear goal.
  • Balance between pleasure, strengths and fulfillment: it’s not super easy, but not too challenging. 

How do you get into this flow? 

Flow exists, but it’s not up for grabs. However you can create your own flow by living up to your values and train your awareness and mindfulness on a regular basis. Focus on what you have now and enjoy the process, instead of listing all the things you want to achieve and getting frustrated with yourself because you haven’t done them yet. 

 

Create more flow in your life, today…

Continuing Education Membership

Check out our Continuing Education Membership for multilingual yoga teachers. This membership offers professional and personal development for yoga teachers that want to start teaching worldwide; online or abroad. Develop your communication and teaching skills while obtaining continuing education hours with our live and recorded classes and teacher training sessions!

Have a look at all that’s included here.

Your Biggest Obstacles to Living Your Purest Reality

Your thoughts and emotions are your biggest obstacles when searching for a purer reality or simply; a happier, healthier, stress-free life.

Our thoughts are our biggest addiction. On average we have about 50,000 thoughts per day, only 16,000 of which we actually say out loud and 90% of them are repetitions! Have you ever heard of ‘You become your thoughts’ or ‘Your thoughts are your reality’? This all has to do with the mechanism of interpretation, judgment and sensitivity to intrusive thoughts.

Interpretation:
How we assess situations, things and people; our personal perspective or understanding of the meaning of something

Judgement: 

Your opinion on situations, things and people, often after thinking about it.

Intrusive thoughts: 

Repeated, disturbing and unwanted thoughts that develop into repetitive thinking, often so much that you eventually start to believe it.

Fun fact:

Some animals deal with this same obstacle. Give an ant a paper with a black circle on it and the ant will walk around, but stay inside the circle. It will create its own illusion of not being able to get out or walk over the black line.

Also Buddha and Gandhi spoke about this ‘personal reality’. 

“The thought manifests the word;
The word manifests the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character;
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let them spring forth from love
Born out of compassion for all beings.
As the shadow follows the body, as we think, so we become.”

– Buddha

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”

– Gandhi

What do your thoughts have to do with your emotions?

Many among us and especially those who haven’t focused on awareness or mindfulness before, think that our feelings are the truth: ‘I’m feeling it, so it’s true’. Your thoughts and emotions are your leading functions; they inform what you do and how you do it. However, they also are your biggest enemy when it comes to living in a more care-free way.
Sounds logical, maybe? But here’s how to train yourself.

What are emotions?

You have 6 base emotions: fear, anger, sadness, happiness, disgust, surprise. Emotions help you to take action and prepare you to manage a situation. When they feel good, they tell you to take or do more. When they feel bad, they tell you to take or do less, or change the situation.

When you were younger you probably were told and taught that everything should be fun, good, positive and your bad emotions didn’t really count. We try to suppress them and return  to our happiness as fast as possible. We oppose, fight and find distractions but when that’s not possible, chaos occurs and we feel shit. When you ignore or suppress your negative emotions for a long time, chances are that you do this automatically. Automatically searching for distraction is like throwing water on a fire: it becomes stronger. 

Negative emotions are as necessary as positive emotions. When trying to achieve a less stressful and more fulfilling life, you need to address all your emotions and practise awareness. This not only lets your negative emotions such as stress, fear, anger or sadness last less time, but it also lets your positive emotions and calmness last longer.

 

Ready to uncover the obstacles to living your purest reality? …

Check out our Continuing Education Membership for multilingual yoga teachers. This membership offers professional and personal development for yoga teachers that want to start teaching worldwide; online or abroad. Develop your communication and teaching skills while obtaining continuing education hours with our live and recorded classes and teacher training sessions!

Have a look at all that’s included here.