Modes of Perception: The flow of creation explained in a framework called The Five Acts, and how we can either be in a mode of perception where we are noticing life happening, or not.

Why we don’t feel connected: A perspective from the non dual tantric thought linages about why we don’t feel the beautiful oneness we like to talk about.

The Gita and On Connection: A comparative study of the ancient wisdom of the Gita with a modern piece of writing called On Connection by Kae Tempest. I love it when a piece of new writing pulls on threads that have been explored thousands of years previously and feel the modern text massively supports the message of the ancient in this case. We specifically look at the instructions given by both texts in response to the question: so how do I remember? How do I re-sensitise? What is the first step? I highly recommend On Connection, it is beautiful.

The Gita - the manifestations of existence: This talk explores the way in which the Gita explains the interrelatedness of all things. Krishna (or existence itself) is attempting to describe all aspects of manifest reality and in the end confesses - ‘actually there is just no end’. This offers us another perspective on the idea of the macrocosm being held within the microcosm, and of self similar patterns repeating on every scale from microscopic to cosmic.

The Gita - Krishna as Existence: In this talk we discuss one thing that completely changed my understanding of the Gita. We explore what the character Krishna represents and how this reading gives us a clear way to practically apply the teachings of the Gita to our lives. We look at verse 34, chapter 9.

The Gita - Seeing the same Self in everyone and everything: In this talk we talk about practice as a process of sensory reanimation, or resensitisation so that we might be fully present in our lives. A helpful talk for if you are ever wondering - what am I even doing?! Why am I practicing? What’s the point? We explore verse 29, chapter 6.

Introduction to talks on the Bhagavad Gita: A short talk to give us some context for diving into the inspirational teachings of the Bhagavad Gita. The text I refer to is The Living Gita by Sri Swami Satchidananda.

The Vayus - exploring the energy body: This was a Monthly Gathering talk, and is a dive into the vayus- otherwise known as the pranic winds or energetic flows in the body. The map of the vayus offered to us by the Hatha Yoga Pradipika is a wonderful spring board to explore our felt sense of our inner state of being. This talk breaks down what the vayus are, how the 5 main directions relate to our experience of moving, breathing and experiencing, and how all of this relates to our day to day experiences living in the world. Begins with a short meditation practice and moves into lecture/discussion format. Feel free to write to me with any questions or insights ;).

Inner Reference Systems: What is our inner reference system? Is my practice moving me towards trust in my inner reference system or more into an advanced capacity of overriding inner reference systems? An important question to consider and I share a quote by Erich Schiffmann that I have found very helpful in exploring this…

Embryology & Cosmology: Contemplating how our embryological unfolding meets the stories the philosophy tells about the nature of the universe unfolding, and how if the philosophy ever gets confusing or overwhelming we can always come back to the simple fact that we have already self assembled, emerged and performed ourselves into being from a tiny uni cellular being into what we are and what we are always continuing to become…

Bridging the Practice: How do we bridge the experiences we have in our practice into our day to day? And how can we access what we cultivate in longer practices through micro meditations later on? Does my practice exist as an island in my life? In what ways can I bridge awareness at the end of the practice for a sense of cohesive integration and grounded awareness as I move into the rest of my daily activities? Here are some thoughts on bridging the practice…

The map is not the Territory: Contemplating the importance of distinguishing the map from the territory in our study of yoga philosophy, and of holding and trusting our own direct experience. A great one to keep teachings in perspective, build trust in your own inner reference system or for if you ever feel like what you study in texts is slightly different from your experience, or you disagree or feel like you must be getting it wrong… ;)

Self with a capital ‘S’: Contemplating what is referred to in yoga philosophy as the big misunderstanding, when we over identify with the “small ‘s’ self”, and what remembering the capital ‘S’ self looks like.

Density & Space: Contemplating the relationship of manifest and unmanifest through the language of density & spaciousness. Inspired by John Stirk in his book, Deeper Still, this framing has really shifted my understanding and experience of the space-density continuum. We also look at how we might explore this idea practically, and how it relates to tantric philosophy.

The Heart: Exploring the relationship between the physiology of our heart, ancient philosophies that talk about the heart, and the utter magic of our embryological heart journey. I read some words written by anatomist and poet Gil Hedley, and share teachings from the Recognition Sutras and Joanne Avison’s insights on the heart. Inspiration station!

Integrating Opposites: Contemplating a leadership skill Brene Brown calls: the capacity to hold two opposite things to both be true. How does integrating opposites and holding both to be true reveal itself in our practice on a physical and philosophical level? The podcast that sparked this contemplation was Brene Brown’s podcast Dare to Lead, in her conversation with Barack Obama - I highly recommend checking it out!

On Boundaries: Contemplating the porousness of our boundaries looking at writing and ideas from ancient and contemporary sources. Perhaps we are not as ‘fixed’ as we imagine? What does it mean to be in relationship with our environment? What is your felt experience of the collective? I refer to: Radical Wholeness by Philip Shepherd, Small Arcs of Larger Circles by Nora Bateson, The Recognition Sutras (Ksemaraja, translation Chris Wallis), and Basic Neurocellular Patterns by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.

When we get stuck in our head: What happens when the centre of our awareness is located in our head? A comparative study of descriptions on what happens when we over identify with our ‘head intelligence’, looking at the Sutras on the Heart of Recognition by Ksemaraja, written about 1000 years ago, and Philip Shepherd’s book, Radical Wholeness, written in 2017. The translation I refer to for Ksemaraja’s book is the Recognition Sutras by Chris Wallis.

Recognition: Sharing one of my favourite passages on recognition and the relationship between the personal and the universal, from Nora Bateson’s book, Small Arcs of Larger Circles.

The 5 Divine Acts - Micro: A continuation from The 5 Divine Acts: Macro, this talk looks at the idea that the same five Acts are being performed through each one of us, and waking up to this reality, from the perspective of The Recognition Sutras, is the process of self realisation.

The 5 Divine Acts - Macro: One perspective of the interplay between consciousness and manifest reality, and the capacity of the One to be concealed within the Many, and the Many to be a doorway back into the One.

Innate Wisdom: Inquiring into our innate wisdom drives, intuitive and creative recovery, our relationship to the whole and how over valuing our ‘head intelligence’ can override the intelligence of our bodies. The wonderful podcast I mention is Pain Removed, Performance Improved by Joanne Avison. The book I recommend is Radical Wholeness by Philip Shepherd.

Tiny & Vast 2: A follow on from Tiny & Vast, sharing a short and sweet poem that speaks to the relationship between the individual and the universal.

Inherent Significance: The idea that our significance is inherent to our existence, and that when we look for our signifance from outside of ourselves, jobs, validation, roles, etc we are looking in the wrong place. We have some sense that we are significant and we ARE but not becasue of all the things we do...

Tiny & Vast: Exploring the relationship between the macrocosm and the microcosm, the universal and the individual, including a reading of a sutra from the Recognition Sutra's translated by Christopher Hareesh Wallis.

What is Duality and Non Duality?: A basic overview of two different perspectives on the nature of reality as explored in yoga philosophy (and beyond).

Well made & beautiful: an idea that sits at the heart of my practice, found in the Taittiriya Upanishad (2.7.1), that the essence of all in existence is well made, inherently worthy, whole and complete. How do we use our practice to anchor into that as a baseline as our circumstances shift and change constantly? I share some thoughts and a translation of the verse by Bill Mahony.