I wanted to reach out and send our hope that you, your families, and communities are staying safe and healthy as we collectively endure this global pandemic.
The pandemic we are now experiencing is extremely challenging.
Lives are disrupted. People are suffering. People are sick and dying.
Fear of the future is permeating our collective atmosphere.
It would be difficult to not have any reaction to all of this.
We may find ourselves distracted from the present—from the collective hum of anxiety that is permeating the atmosphere right now.
I am personally experiencing all of these things in and around me.
My mind is moving very quickly making decisions, taking in information, figuring out how to help my family, wanting to get relief by distraction from news, food, anything that will change my state.
And my practice teaches me that I can handle all of these states.
I can be worried confused angry and just plain fearful while also understanding that these states will come and go.
The underlying felt sense of presence is available to me whenever I choose to engage with it.
It’s available to all of us.
Practice is based on presence. Being in the present moment and expanding our perception brings us peace, joy, and contentment.
It shows us our connection to all things, and in doing so allows us to bear difficult emotions and circumstances.
Practice is a gift that allows us to access what is our birthright, to feel and experience the present moment which is filled with all things.
This includes the peace and bliss that we all crave especially during difficult times.
I invite you to practice with me.
I recently recorded this one-hour meditation session as an intro to our meditation course.
In light of current events, I’d like to offer it to you now as a simple gift during this challenging time.
Let’s practice together in this small way and contribute to balancing our own states as well as those around us.
Om Shanti
Brandt Passalaqua
Director and Lead Teacher, Breathing Deeply
Most of us western yoga teachers have a similar path that looks something like this: We realize we are suffering (from an illness, anxiety, watching family age poorly, etc.) We find yoga and it helps us We want to share this amazing helpful thing called yoga with others We see our local studio has a […]
Yoga therapy is a relatively new method of healing born out of an ancient tradition. Yoga has been around for over 1,000 years. The idea of using yoga in a therapeutic context has been credited to Tirumalai Krishnamacharya who died in 1981 at the age of 100. We can think of yoga therapy the same […]
Listen in as Brandt discusses how a Yoga Therapist might work with a client who has already been to physical therapy, as well as some of the different approaches between the two therapies.