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THERESA BRIGGS YOGA
YOGA ON AND OFF THE MAT

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August is for: celebrating vulnerability. Allowing the soft frontside of the body open up. Moving into uncertainty. And knowing that you have your own back even if when you’re afraid you might fall.
💚💚💚

Part of the practice of yoga is embracing the unknown. Avidya, often translated as ignorance in the yogic texts, can come across as a negative concept in a world where we place such high importance on being right. On always knowing. Which doesn’t leave a lot of room for mistakes and growth.

We practice our yoga by acknowledging (and then reminding ourselves over and over and over again) that the only guarantee is change. That there is no real “knowing.” That much of what we think we know has been conditioned in us. And we work to recognize how holding on to “knowing” can create rigidity and suffering, both for ourselves and the continued suffering of marginalized groups in our communities.

So here we are! Months into a pandemic where no one really knows what comes next. Centuries into a culture soaked in racism and patriarchy. So thank goodness change is our only guarantee.

Keep practicing. Keep scratching under the surface of what you think you know. In moments of pain and fear and anxiety where it’s nearly impossible to access coping tools, the physical yoga practice (#asana) and breath-work (#pranayama) can remind our nervous systems that we are safe. If those practices feel out of reach because the agitation is too high, try jumping jacks, run around the block, or stomp and shake first. Try yelling! Or singing. These can all stimulate the #vagusnerve & help reset to the nervous system neutral so the quieter practices can become an option again.

#yogapractice #yoga #yogaeverydamnday #yogaeveryday #yogaforanxiety #yogainthetimeofcorona #yogaanywhere #polyvagaltheory #vagusnervestimulation #yogafortrauma #yogaforstress

avidya

4/9/2020

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In the practice of yoga, Avidya is the first of the kleshas- the roots of our suffering. Often translated as ignorance, Avidya is a lack of understanding of the truth. The idea that our beliefs in a moment of time are not reflections of reality. Avidya is forgetting that the labels and categories we use to sort our worlds cannot sum up the true nature of something. The label “tree”- or even a picture of a tree- cannot do justice to standing under a blooming magnolia 🌸 in spring. 🍃 Avidya is also mistaking the temporary for permanent- which is ultimately the core of all of our suffering. 
I was venting my anxiety over the pandemic with a friend via text the other day: “This feels endless.” And she agreed, “It is endless.” We both know it isn’t, of course. But how easy is it to forget in a moment of emotional overwhelm? To go down the rabbit hole of “forever?”🐇 How much worse do we make a situation when we mistake it for a permanent state of being? When we forget we won’t be doomed to social distancing and our homes for eternity? 
Everything is in a permanent state of change, of decay, of breaking down. Last fall (or the year prior- I am losing sense of time and space) in class in a big old building in Vienna, as Richard Freeman lectured about impermanence and a piece of the ceiling literally crumbled to the floor by our mats. It’s all disintegrating around us. But- that applies to the negative stuff too- good news!! 😂

We mislabel the temporary as permanent, so we often lose sight of how precious the good stuff is, too. How much might we appreciate if we knew- like really felt it in the core- this was just moment, a blink in time? I’m not trying to minimize how challenging, sad, and horrible this current situation is- it is those things, 💯. And also. 💚Today, I am grateful for the opportunity to sleep in, for slow mornings, bath time 🛁 , healthy lungs and time to cook homemade food. For practice 🧘🏼‍♀️ this week- at home- with one of my main teachers Barbara Benagh, who skillfully reminded me of the impermanence of it all. 💚 
#coronadays #yoga#yogainthetimeofcorona#yogaeveryday #yogasutras #avidya#impermanence #mindfulness#gratitude
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    This blog, together with the occasional newsletter, will be an active space to share thoughts about yoga on and off the mat. Please let me know what you like and what you'd like to see more of. And as always, thank you for the gift of teaching!

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