How do I know my inner voice?

What do you call that inner voice of yours? We have lots of names for it don’t we, whether we are spiritual seekers or not. It’s your soul, your intuition, or your gut instinct. We might call it following your heart or listening to your inner wisdom. Whatever you call it, whatever its genesis, there is something inside us that knows.

That knowing tends to come to us in the quiet moments, whether joyful or sad.  It tends to come when we have given ourselves more time to be quiet, move slowly, do less. Often it arises when we are immersed in nature and sometimes when we are at a low ebb, amidst that kind of surrender that only comes in our very darkest moments.

As yogis, we pay great attention to that inner voice and we listen for it all the time.  For us, that voice is the guide and the map and we have long since ceased all attempts at ignoring or doubting it.  It is crucially important that we keep on listening out for it.

We have long been tutored to work hard, try more, master our own destinies. This is completely different.  Any attempt you make to force your inner voice will fail. That quiet voice does not come because we demand it, it does not come when we try to hard to find it.

Instead of looking, searching, asking, what we seek instead is a peaceful kind of emptiness, a receptive and open attitude. We arrive at a patient, quiet space inside, in which certain things which have been obfuscated become clear and that clarity rises with sometimes astonishing perspicacity.

How do you tell the difference between your thoughts and your inner voice?  If you are uncertain, then wait – time will tell you if what you are hearing is the consistent clarity of your inner voice, or the restless musings of your ego-mind. Another way to be sure is to open yourself up to what rises in you immediately after yoga practice, particularly yoga practice in which you have been lead quite deeply into peace by your teacher. You can trust what rises from that quiet stillness.

We are evolving all the time and the inklings that arise within us are our guides. Your quiet inner voice needs to be nurtured, for it is easily drowned out by our familial/social conditioning, by our fear (also known as anxiety) and by our lack of courage. The world can be very noisy and everybody has their opinion.  Only you know, but you will only know if you learn how to listen.

Sarah x

How do you meditate properly?

Meditating is easy:
1. Choose a time to sit.
2. Be comfortable.
3. Select something to focus on (a mantra, your breath, a recording).
4. Make it your intention to draw your mind’s attention back to your chosen focus every time it wanders off. Your mind will wander off. Over & over again. That’s ok.

Meditating is difficult:
1. You have so many things to do.
2. It is hard to keep faith with the knowledge that everyone you admire says meditation is good for your soul, good for your mental health, good for your body when your mind is telling you that you are certainly THE ONLY PERSON WHO CANNOT DO IT!!!
3. Wow, you have a wildly oscillating mind! All of its memories, resentments, distractions, to do lists & plans are whizzing around in there.

So it’s a simple principle, but hard to do.

You will have seen the happy monks, the ones who have had electric cables attached to their heads so that science might quantify by computer what we have already seen on their faces: they are full of joy.

What you have not seen is the years of practice & sitting quietly with their own pain & disfunction that each monk will have been through to get to that peaceful, smiling state. More than this: pain & disfunction is permanently recurring, which is why it is called a practice, which is why you have to do it every day, which is why a happy monk continues to meditate every day, sometimes multiple times.

This is why it is so important to commit to your practice. Life sometimes feels pretty bad. In the course of a lifetime you will experience loss as well as gain, sorrow as well as joy. Your meditation practice has to be something that you can be with through all of life’s vicissitudes. Trust me when I tell you that if you can be there on your happy days, meditation will save you on your saddest.

As with any skill worth having, it is daily practice that brings accomplishment.

Nobody has the time and yet they do it. Really busy people that you admire do it. Thinking that you don’t have time is an excuse and nothing more. Everybody has time; how you choose to use your time what matters.

Find a mentor who can support you, help you find answers to your questions and offer guidance; or join a meditation group in which you feel at home.

Sit quietly …
Set a timer …
Breathe calmly …
Settle your mind to the best of today’s ability on your chosen focus or the voice of your teacher.

Forgive yourself when you find yourself distracted, or ruminating, or planning, or doubting.
You are human; it happens.

Then let it be.
No expectations. No judgement (these are yet more habits of mind that you might wish to watch, accept & let go of).

Sarah x

You will find several free guided meditations on my website here.
There are more on the way.
Let me know how you get on.

How can I be more peaceful?

When you are uncertain about what to do, where to go or how best to move forward, then choose the option that brings you peace. When you are feeling unsettled and unsure, do something to bring you towards peace. Being in a peaceful state will always help you to make the right decision.

Where do you look for peace? I look for it in the woods, on mountains and in the ocean. I look for it on my yoga mat and on my meditation cushion; I seek it in my breath and in the movement of my body; I see it in my teachers and hear it in the tone of their books; I watch for it in my students and observe it blooming within them when they practice.

Peace is nowhere else. I do not climb mountains to look for it there; peace lives in my heart, being alone on a mountain just reminds me of that fact. Peace is always within us; it is our natural state. Yoga is a way that we turn to the peace in our hearts, over and over again until it becomes an old friend.

There are many reasons why people come to their yoga mats: it makes you fit, increases your flexibility, improves lung-capacity and good-health. It makes you feel good, challenges you and increases your sense of yourself and your capacities. I am a recipient of all of these benefits.

But a fit body is only a vessel for the peace inside and a comfortable and healthy body and mind is simply a better place for a peaceful soul to live. That's all. It doesn't matter what we do on our mat or how we do it; whether we sit, or stand, or leap or dance, whether it be in silence or with music, whether we chant or pray, or meditate or not; none of that matters. The only thing that matters; the one thing that makes yoga different, is that yoga is always, always about seeking and finding peace.

If you approach life with your old same habits of self-recrimination and criticism, then all you are going to find there is what you have been living with. If you water the seed of not good enough, then that is what is going to bloom.

There is a different way. For yogis, this way begins in formal practice: we learn to use our breath and movement to let go of tension, inflexibility and negative habits of mind. We find that at the end of our practice we feel more peaceful and we want to let this inner peace imbue more of life. We do not shy away from difficulties when they present themselves, we know that sometimes we have to address old hurts and habits in order to move forward more freely.

If you want to be more peaceful, remember that it is already in you. Get to your mat a little more often, approach your practice in a kind and curious way with no pushing and no self-recrimination. Use your practice for the purpose of peace and peace will surely come.

“We are not going to change the whole world, but we can change ourselves and feel free as birds. We can be serene even in the midst of calamities and, by our serenity, make others more tranquil. Serenity is contagious. If we smile at someone, he or she will smile back. And a smile costs nothing. We should plague everyone with joy. If we are to die in a minute, why not die happily, laughing?"

Swami Satchidananda

Sarah x