The Mystic Yogi

Did you know that all the yoga styles we commonly see in the world today - power, yin, vinyasa, ashtanga etc. - all are part of what is called “Hatha Yoga”?

Yoga is the ocean, and its expressions are the waves. In this modern era we have been riding the wave of hatha yoga, which is the physical yoga practice that also incorporates breath.

Traditionally, hatha yoga was viewed as a way of preparing the body to master the mind, energy and emotions. The postures, or ‘asanas’, were like tuning forks to balance the body and make us stable to do the inner yoga. �

Nowadays, many people don’t know that there are other forms of yoga that can unlock different human potentials, and are suitable for different temperaments of seekers who are on a spiritual path. ��

In the Beyond Asana training, we will explore practices and knowledge from various yogic path to expand your experience of this powerful inner technology.

In addition to our daily morning hatha yoga practice, you will explore yoga philosophy, meditation, mantra, pranayama and yoga nidra.

If you are ready to explore the deeper dimensions of yoga, learn more about it and ping me for more details :)

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This July full moon, the theme resonating deeply in my life is centred around the inquiry, “What does it mean to stand in my power?” If we shift this into a somatic inquiry, we might ponder, “What does it feel like when I am in my power?”

Take a moment today to ask yourself this question. Notice what arises within you. Does it evoke a particular state of being? Perhaps a word or emotion emerges. Simply making this inquiry creates space for new insights to flow in.

Years ago, I was introduced to the profound teachings of David Hawkins through his book “Power vs. Force.” One of the most impactful revelations was the distinction between power and force. Before encountering his work, I hadn’t fully considered these concepts separately, yet in practice, their differentiation became crystal clear.

What I learned is that power emanates from the source of creation, rooted in life-affirming states such as truth and love. In contrast, force originates from the ego, intertwined with fear, anger, and other life-negating emotions.

Dr. Hawkins illustrated this through a spectrum of consciousness, spanning from lower, denser frequencies to higher, lighter ones. Visualize it as a scale: the lower the consciousness level, the more effort and force are required to manifest an effect. Conversely, higher levels of consciousness enable effortless creation because they resonate with the essence of who we truly are. Acts of love and words of wisdom touch us deeply because they flow effortlessly from this authentic source within.

Consider the difference between ambition and aspiration, or between drudgery and inspiration. The former stems from force, while the latter springs from power.

We’ve all experienced the impact of force in our lives, such as when someone uses aggression or guilt to coerce us. If we are not aligned with higher consciousness states, we may feel the pull of these forces more intensely. However, when grounded in self-love and higher awareness, we become resilient to such influences.

When it comes to manifestation, this distinction is crucial: “Am I motivated by a state of consciousness connected to power or force?” Remember, we shape our lives from the inside out. The thoughts and emotions residing within us are projected outward, carrying frequencies linked to our states of consciousness.

If our aim is to manifest a life aligned with our highest purpose and enlightenment, we must consistently choose alignment with the source of creation and states of consciousness closer to it. Distance from this source increases the likelihood of manifesting outcomes that do not align with our true desires. In the Tao Te Ching it is written “Staying close to the Tao, good deeds naturally arise”. The closer we stay to the natural state, to our Divinity, the more we manifest those qualities in our lives and our relationships.

Let’s continue to explore and embody these teachings in our daily lives. By aligning with power over force, we pave the way for profound transformation and harmonious co-creation.

With love and light

If you are serious about developing a deep yoga practice and also have the credentials to teach others, this training will give you a serious level-up with its holistic approach, integration of somatic techniques and knowledge of yoga philosophy.

This is not your standard 200 hr training. Its really deep - mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually. We call it a spiral curriculum.

Even if you have a YTT....this is going to take your teaching to such a greater depth.

The theme for this year is: ELEVATING TRADITION.

Experience an authentic and embodied approach to uniting yoga’s spiritual wisdom with scientific insight.

Joining me is Sameer Inamdar from India, a master of Naad Yoga - the yoga of sound - who is steeped in an ancient musical lineage called Dhrupad.

You will explore a deeper approach to using mantra, learning the Sanskrit meaning and pronunciation so that you can apply this powerful yogic practice in your life with confidence. �

�Combined with my training in Compassionate Inquiry, a somatic-based psychotherapy developed by Dr. Gabor Mate, this training gives you the tools for personal transformation to work through the “issues in the tissues”.

It sets you up to be a holistic yoga teacher that can impart the profound wisdom of yoga with the somatic techniques that are helping people to repair a nervous system impacted by stress and trauma.

All of this is happening in the midst of our magical yoga shala, surrounded by birds, flowers and fruit trees - with access to a private river, meditation spaces, organic vegan meals and additional community practices held at the centre.

Visit the website to learn more, and check out the video from students talking about their experience at last years training. ��We are excited to welcome you here if you are ready to step into a training that empowers you to become a yogi that transforms self and society.

A quick overview of training:

200hr YTT Certification Upon Completion
4 Week Experience in Costa Rica
4 Hours of Hatha Yoga Daily
Morning & Evening Meditation Practice
Kirtan, Mantra and Raga Music
Daily 1-2 Hour Lecture or Demonstration in Anatomy, Sequencing and Pranayama
Learnings in Yoga Philosophy, Mantra, Psychology and Mythology
Complimentary Inner Path Deck

WEBSITE: www.zamirdhanji.com/ytt

p.s. Forget about adding to your Yoga Alliance hours and getting badges, its all a ploy for money. Do it because you want to become the best teacher you can be

https://youtu.be/ipjPyMdeYJc?si=JJSx4pF3eVErx-yb

TRU Yoga YTT Testimonials - Mystic Yogi Teacher Training Want to hear what others have to say about our Yoga Teacher Training? This was recorded during our 2022 TRU Yoga YTT in Costa Rica. Integrating the 8 limbs o...

GIVEAWAY ALERT!! Since we’ve been getting so much love around The Inner Path oracle deck lately, we decided to keep spreading the wisdom and teachings of Yoga by giving one away✨

To win, tag 3 of your OMies & share this story. We’ll announce the winner March 1st.

“Kiss the Earth with your feet. Bring the Earth your love and happiness. The Earth will be safe when we feel safe in ourselves.” – Thich Nhat Hanh.

Safety signals our nervous systems to digest, to rest, to regenerate. In our 200 hour YTT in April we will explore this further and learn how to co-regulate using nature, breath work, sattvic foods, as well as learn other sciences and technologies for healing and how to share it with others.



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My name is Marie and I’ll be assisting in our upcoming 200hr Yoga Teacher Training. I feel so grateful to be serving you and experiencing this moment in existence with you! My support will be more focused around the asanas themselves, teaching practices, biomechanics, and anatomy of movement.

My approach to the practice is to learn about our own anatomy by warming up in a way that supports the evolution of the deeper asanas later on. Rather than force our bodies into a shape, we incrementally create the space and build the awareness we need in the body to arrive and finally rest there–with comfort, ease, and grace. Yoga is not meant to be hard, in fact, it’s meant to be soft. Once you let go, it moves you as you breathe and you become weightless. Visit our website for my ‘professional’ bio.

I used to say it was the physical aspects of the practice that drew me in, which it seemingly did. I was one of the ones who thought yoga could get you abs—at the eager age of 18 in my first teacher training while refusing to chant in protest of religion.

I didn’t know it back then because of the abs thing, but I had discovered a tool that would never leave me. A tool which transcends the layers of the physical and pierces straight to the heart.

It’s something that can’t be explained, only felt. It feels like a special gift from the Universe, like a secret from God, one that I can’t bare to contain.

I’ll give you a hint: Nervous System. There I said it. Yoga feels so good because it's like a massage for your entire nervous system and that’s what we’ll do together—practice to prime our nervous systems to not only handle the hardness but also be prepared for massive joy and blessings.

Today I would say this discovery was me saving myself; planting seeds of protection, grace, and curiosity for truth into my heart and mind’s eye. And I so look forward to playing yoga together in the jungle together this spring!

In deepest gratitude and reverence,

Satya

This is what I live for - sharing yoga in a holistic way that includes it remarkable science and philosophy for personal transformation. 

Here we are using the cards from the Inner Path Deck to map out the 8 limbs of yoga and see how it all connects.

Over 2000 years ago, the Indian sage Patanjali (the Yoga Sutras of patanjali) condensed the practice and philosophy of yoga into 8 components, or limbs; leaving us a yogic blue-print for ethical living, mind-training and spiritual realization.

Just like we have tools for the physical practice – like straps, blocks and mats – we need tools for inner practice of yoga. This practice deck does just that, and it’s excellent for visual learners.

The 8 Limbs provide a holistic structure that encompasses the moral and lifestyle practices recommended for the yogi to become established in yoga – the state of unitive consciousness.

For those of us living in today’s busy world, it is important to take the different facets of our life into account from a spiritual view. While our logical minds want everything to follow linear progression, the journey of life itself takes place in a spiral: We continue to revisit the themes, practices, and guidance of each of the eight limbs of yoga as we evolve

You can get one through our website (see link in bio). If you want to train with me and explore all the 8 limbs in an immersive environment, check out our upcoming teacher training. Link in bio.

We have the capacity to think several centuries into the future, start the task even if it will not be fulfilled in your lifetime. This generation has a responsibility to reshape the world.” - Dalai Lama

Yoga from India isn’t the only traditional source of knowledge that will be needed as we make this transition to a more awakened society — but it is the one that the whole world is embracing at this time.
 
Part of this renaissance is about the building of another proverbial ark to carry the stories, the songs, the practices and the people of the indigenous and wisdom traditions, including the western ones, to the shores of our ancient future.

As cultural creatives this may be some of the most important work of our time, and yoga is offering us an opportunity to get it right.

The guidelines in the yoga sutras for asana are simple and direct: remain stable and relaxed in your position and you are correctly practicing asana.

Asana practice dissolves stiffness and removes energetic blockages, helping you remain seated for extended periods of time so that you can practice the inner limbs of yoga without discomfort. Popular in many spiritual traditions for practicing meditation, seated asana allow the free-flow of energy through the spine, helping you remain awake and reducing energy expenditure by aligning with gravity.

It also facilitates easy and relaxed focus on the third-eye which is a gateway for accessing the Cosmic Intelligence and exploring the nature of consciousness.

Hatha yoga has the potential to become a spiritual practice when done with mindfulness and inclusiveness of universal movement principles and yogic techniques. Otherwise, hatha yoga and its many variations are little more than glorified stretch routines – sometimes helping and at other times even harming, depending on the awareness of the practitioner.

Concepts such as yielding, intention, centering, and aligning all offer parallels between our outer lives and inner states. Integrating your practice with such principles develops the capacity for conscious movement, meaning that the body, breath, and mind are united.

This becomes a support for your meditation and yogic lifestyle.

Niyama are the observances that establish harmony within ourselves. If our soil is dry and lacking minerals, nothing can grow. Following these observances ensure the integrity and richness of the soil - our body, speech, and mind.

• Shaucha: purity, cleanliness, simplicity
�• Santosha: contentment and acceptance, joyfulness, gratitude
�• Tapas: burning enthusiasm, disciplined use of our energy
• Swadhyaya: self-study, outward observance, inner reflection
�• Ishwara-Pranidhana: wholehearted dedication, surrender to the Divine

These niyamas are all practices that can be considered inner observances, a means to live soulfully and evolve harmoniously. Practicing the them is said to give the yogi the inner strength, clarity and discipline needed in order to progress on our spiritual journey.

Learn more about integrating these principles into daily life through developing a spiritual sadhana. Join us for 200hr YTT in April 2023.

themysticyogi.com/ytt/

Sadhana (साधन) is a Sanskrit term used to refer to a daily spiritual practice. Sadhana represents a disciplined surrendering of the ego, in which the practitioner uses tools such as asana, pranayama, meditation and chanting on a daily basis.

Anything that is practiced with awareness, discipline and the intention of spiritual growth can be considered as sadhana, but it must be practiced alone and for the sake of the individual.

As such, it does not need to be a physical activity; even daily self-study of yogic or spiritual scriptures is a form of sadhana.

The term sadhana comes from the Sanskrit root, sadhu, meaning “go straight to a goal”. Routinely applying mind, body and spirit in the pursuit of a spiritual goal is the most natural and efficient way to surrender the ego, to find relief from suffering and to attain peace.

Yama are the observances that establish harmony and caring for others. The intent is to live in such a way that true yoga practice and study of yoga bears fruit.

Simple reflective exercises reveal the intelligence of yogic ethics and how we benefit from following them.

• Ahimsa: compassion for all living things, to do no harm
• Satya: commitment to the Truth
• Asteya: abiding in generosity and honesty, no belief of lack, not stealing
• Brahmacharya: merging with the One, a balanced and moderate life
• Aparigraha: recognition of what is essential, non-possessiveness

Through self-examination we can proceed with both faith and reason as we apply these moral and ethiical codes to our lives.

This is what yoga can make us aware of; the sacredness of what is being born, what is passing away and what lies beyond both as we remember what a gift life truly is.

Life is impermanent and yoga asks us to strive for what is real, leading us to truth — if yoga is not doing this for you, you must question how you are approaching yoga.

Without acknowledging its depth, yoga won’t develop our capacity for wisdom, love and peace — all gifts of true yoga practice.

As we face how and where our culture is dying, death-oriented or asking to be healed, we as yoga practitioners, as spiritual warriors and seekers, are responsible for learning how to heal it and recognize what wants to be born from the ashes of the old.

The eight limbs provide a holistic structure that encompasses the moral and lifestyle practices recommended for the yogi to become established in yoga – the state of unitive consciousness.

For those of us living in the world, it is important to take the different faucets of our life into account from a spiritual view. While our logical minds want everything to follow linear progression, the journey of life itself takes place in a spiral: We continue to revisit the themes, practices, and guidance of all eight limbs of yoga as we evolve.

The first five limbs comprise the outer limbs(bahirang), meaning that they precede and support the more inward oriented practices. They include Yama and Niyama (yogic ethics and self-disciplines), Asana, Pranayama, and Pratyahara.

The last three limbs form the inner limbs(antarang), which are entirely directed toward meditation. These are Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi.

You don’t have to memorize and believe everything that yoga philosophy teaches. What’s important is that you test what you learn whole-heartedly through the trinity of Kriya yoga: discipline, self-study, and devotion. In the process you will come to know the truth within your own being, this is more valuable to you than anyone else’s words.

That being said, a pitfall on the path is to presume you know prematurely and simply remain content with a pseudo-spiritual realization. One should stay humble without denigrating themselves, and remember the masters teach that enlightenment, like life, is endless.

The eight limbs provide a holistic structure that encompasses the moral and lifestyle practices recommended for the yogi to become established in yoga – the state of unitive consciousness.

For those of us living in the world, it is important to take the different facets of our life into account from a spiritual view. While our logical minds want everything to follow a linear progression, the journey of life itself takes place in a spiral: We continue to revisit the themes, practices, and guidance of all eight limbs of yoga as we evolve.

The first five limbs comprise the outer limbs(Bahirang), meaning that they precede and support the more inward-oriented practices. They include Yama and Niyama (yogic ethics and self-disciplines), Asana, Pranayama, and Pratyahara.

The last three limbs form the inner limbs(Antarang), which are entirely directed toward meditation. These are Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi.

You don’t have to memorize and believe everything that yoga philosophy teaches. What’s important is that you test what you learn wholeheartedly through the trinity of Kriya yoga: discipline, self-study, and devotion. In the process you will come to know the truth within your own being, this is more valuable to you than anyone else’s words.

That being said, a pitfall on the path is to presume you know prematurely and simply remain content with a pseudo-spiritual realization. One should stay humble without denigrating themselves, and remember the masters teach that enlightenment, like life, is endless.

Yoga is a gift that keeps on giving. Discover the 8 limbs of yoga through stunning art, powerful insights and simple exercises that bring the philosophy to life.

Filled with stories and teachings from the yoga tradition, simply draw a card to heighten your intuition and accelerate your evolution

Whether it's for you or that friend who loves yoga, the Inner Path Yoga Deck will take one's yoga practice to the next level.

link to order: https://linktr.ee/mysticyogi

The fire of practice will burn the layers of doubt, fear, anxiety, heaviness and delusion that we carry unconsciously. When we step onto our mat, or sit on our cushion, each morning, we have an opportunity to re-align with the deeper knowledge and experience of who we are. By intentionally entering into the flow state, we make our subconscious available to be re-programmed by the higher frequencies of consciousness that we access. 

Fire is light and heat. As we heat our body through some sort of disciplined activity and harness the wild energies of the mind through focused intent, we experience a form of illumination. When we conduct this in the spirit of spiritual progress, we get much more than a physical sense of lightness and energy, our mind is filled with light and our hearts unite with the Inner Truth. 

The power of nature is within us just waiting to be harnessed. Instead of trying to control nature outwardly, a yogi will seek to come into harmony with nature inside. The breath is air, the body is earth, the blood is water, the fire our spirit. These are the alchemical substance of our Sadhana - our practice. Give yourself to them with devoted attention and a willingness of be transformed - the Universe will never fail to provide illumination for the sincere aspirant of higher consciousness. 

Inspired by the art and words? Get the Inner Path Deck and transform your practice on  and off the mat - Link in Bio