Soften yourself
Autumn Bhakti
Learn to Fall like Like Autumn Leaf
and you will rest into Inner Peace
Week 3
~ Bhakti ~
The Path of Devotion
Bhakti Yoga is the path of devotion and love for the divine, focusing on cultivating a deep, heartfelt connection with Spirit or a Universal Source. It involves practices such as daily remembrance, prayer, lighting a lamp, and the expression of devotion through various rituals, chanting and singing.
This form of yoga emphasizes self surrender, softening of our individual egos and deep engagement with that which we consider to govern the cosmos, be it perceived in the form of a Godhead, Source, Absolute, Dao, Universal intelligence or Simply Truth. Shifting our perspective towards the Universal, can lead to a profound sense of inner peace and connection to a reality greater than own little worlds.
Bhakti Yoga helps deepen your spiritual practice through love and devotion, creating a strong remembrance and emotional bond with the divine. Instilling deep faith, trust and belief back into your life has profound implications for creating a strong sense of inner guidance, relaxation of mind, opening of heart, deep inner peace, emotional fulfillment.
Balancing Pranayama Practices
Traditional Pranayama, the practice of subtle breath control and expansion, is essential for purifying and balancing the body's energy channels. According to the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, pranayama techniques help regulate the flow of prana (vital energy) in the body, promoting physical health and mental clarity.
Techniques such as Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing with gradual slowing and elongation with gentle suspending of breath) help discharge stuck energy from our being and open and harmonize the body's energy channels, leading to enhanced focus, deeper introspection and calmness.
Proper breath control is crucial for balancing the body's energies and improving overall well-being. It Improves respiratory function, reduces stress, and enhances mental focus and stillness.
Surrendering & Yielding Yin Yoga
The Yin approach focuses on surrendering, softening and yielding, patiently allowing the body to release deeply held mental, emotional and physical tensions. This practice targets the deep connective tissues and fosters a quietly meditative and introspective state.
Yin Yoga is a fully supported and restorative practice that utilises passive long held postures to help release stuck tensions and improve openness and suppleness of body and mind.
By embracing softness and letting go, with a mind supported in devotion, participants can access deeper levels of trusting in the process, relaxation, emotional release and acceptance.
You'll benefit from enhanced flexibility, reduced stress, and improved emotional balance.
Body Wisdom:
Fascia & Meridians
Together we explore the fascial system anatomy, myofascial trains and correlations to the subtle Chinese meridians, with exploration of how our expressions, emotions and stressors are stored in the body.
Each day we roll and release through our fascial trains to see how everything is linked inside of us.
Understanding the interplay between anatomy and mental emotional health helps you to recognize and release stored tensions and trauma. These workshops will help you to see the mind body relationship more clearly and support a more integrated approach to self healing and self-awareness.
You'll recognize how unhealthy expressions are stored in your body and what you can do to start to unwind and release them for better emotional health and enhanced well-being.
Mind Wisdom:
Philosophy of Bhakti
Together we explore the practice of Bhakti and why it is important in our lives, helping you to find your own personal relationship, expression and mini ritual that helps you open up to Source and surrender the ego.
We discuss various ways in which Bhakti can be practiced, including the practice of prayer, and rituals, looking at the connection to deities and how the deities are a personal bridge to the the highest source which is ultimately inconceivable.
Bhakti is a transformative power of humbling our self, surrender and devotion that helps us to overcome the limitations of the mind and intellect. The Yogis describe it as the swift and direct path to Truth and can lead to significant inner growth. It enriches our spiritual practice and fosters a deep connection with the divine and more profound sense of inner purpose.
Devotional Mantra Meditations & Kirtan
Each morning and evening we engage in the practice of chanting japa and Vedic mantras and singing devotional song, repeating sacred sounds and phrases which loving intention, and embodied feeling to cultivate wholesome mind states.
These practices help focus and purify the mind, elevate and expand consciousness, and invoke divine energy within us. The repetitive nature of chanting aids in calming the noise of the mind and deepening spiritual connection.
Mantra and chanting are powerful tools for mental clarity, wholesome mindset and bridging the connection to Source. It will enhance concentration, increase spiritual awareness, and open the heart to something ultimately vaster and more deeply sustaining in the universe.
Yin Retreat Highlights
– 1 hour – Pranayama, Meditation & Chanting
– 1.5 hour – Guided Restorative Yin Yoga practice
– 30 min – Personal Journaling with daily guided reflections
– Herbal Tea and Fruit Break
– 2 hour – Mind Body Wisdom Workshops – Fascia, Meridians, Yin Yang and Daoism, Bhakti philosophy
– Sattvic Vegetarian Brunch
– 1 hour – Optional Community Led workshops and Free Time
– 1 hour – Evening Myofascial Roll and Release
– Evening Dinner
– 1.5 hour – Evening Ceremony with 108 Vedic Mantra Chanting & Devotional Kirtan song circle
Having only ever practiced Yin a handful of times I was incredibly taken to a whole new dimension and understanding of yoga. Yan’s calm, informative, gentle, approach was something that I’ll always remember, she also has the most incredible knowledge of the human body and the mechanics of it. Her teaching method is wonderful, she is full of wisdom and has a beautiful spiritual deep love for sharing all her knowledge and experiences to her students.
Natalie
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