Oksana: I was living as a successful film technician’s life working in the TV and in the Film industry. Life was in the fast lane. I was busy making a name for myself, hopping from one big job to the next, money fame and fortune was always just one step ahead of me.

 

But at the end of the day, what became quite apparent to me was that I was living a really unfulfilled and not so happy life. I just knew there was something else for me but I didn’t know what it was.

 

After a set of crises one day I woke up realising that I was lost. Most of my relationships where dysfunctional and I had no idea where up or down was.

 

My first yoga practice was not asana, it was meditation and energy work. This is how I begun healing myself. I became involved with Master Chao Kok Suis’ work with pranic healing. I began to learn how to approach life differently as the old ways weren’t working for me. In fact when I looked around it wasn’t working for many people around me so I had no role models that had it all pulled together. I started to explore, learn and push boundaries that were all new to me. I detoxed the body,  I read and learnt about new ways of living and practices.

 

My whole perspective on life shifted. I stopped watching TV, and started participating in conscious conversations.

 

I came to Bali to do yoga teacher training over 4 years ago and I never left. I whole-heartedly embarked on this journey ever since. I created a yoga program for disadvantaged children at the Bali Global Foundation which gave me a platform to put things into action; the path of service to others. Doing something outside of ourselves, for others less fortunate, unconditionally is an amazing tool to shift our perspective – especially if we think we don’t have ‘enough’ of something in our lives.

 

Gekko: How do yoga student s benefit from their practice? What changes do you notice in students?
Oksana: Yoga is actually a science, a path to learn about and develop your inner self. If you do certain things in a particular way you get certain results. As Pattabhi Jois said: Practice. Practice. All is coming.

 

Everybody’s yoga journey is unique, some people come to yoga to get a work out, others come with injuries or discomforts that need attention, and some are looking to find peace and stillness in their hearts.

 

Whatever it is that attracts us to the practice, at the end of the day it’s a vehicle for us to appreciate the connection that already exists within is.

 

We come to a realisation that the physical body and the mind are connected to everything and everyone else – as big as that seems to be.

 

Changes can happen immediately or they can happen more subtle with time. From feeling more flexible and at ease with our bodies to being able to control our emotions and reactions to things – yoga is such a wonderful tool.

Gekko: What makes you happy?
Oksana: I consider myself to be very lucky to be living a life I could have only dreamt of. All the things that I do in life make me happy, and I keep my focus on the things that make me happy. It’s interconnected.

 

The connections that I have now with my friends, my family, with my community trough my yoga practice all contribute to this. I finally feel like I have a sense of belonging, in my own skin and on this planet. This wasn’t always the case but it has been a wonderful journey so far and I can only look forward to all the future adventures that life has in store for me.

 

Posted by Iva Tarle from Gekko Retreats

 

When I was first starting my ‘serious’ yoga I would have thought there was something wrong with thinking like that.  It was because I had a narrow conception of yoga and because I had (?still have) a slight tendency towards rigidity or control in certain areas of my life.

 

This was the phase of my practice where I thought I must do my yoga every day and that I must do it for a certain amount of time (anything less than an hour was considered slacker territory).

 

What this meant was that I made great improvements in terms of my physical practice (as you surely must when you practice 60-90 minutes a day).  But I also felt guilty or ashamed of myself for lack of discipline if I did not practice (though this was rare).  There was also fear that if I did not practice I might ‘backslide’ or something.

 

Throughout this time I was mainly doing self practice due to being in a remote location where a civil war was going on.  I was very fortunate that I had met my teacher by then and her words would echo through my practice.  Words about free spinal movement. About not feeling tension or strain (thanks Paddy).  This meant I did not injure myself.

 

I learned to do the splits and backdrops and all sorts of interesting things upside down.  I was very pleased with myself.  But there was still this controlling and guilt element that crept into my thinking about practice. I knew I was missing something here.

 

Things changed a lot for me when I heard my other teacher, Simon, whisper some words before a group practice. “The main purpose of this practice,” he said, “is to move circulation and energy through your body.”

 

The words were a missing piece of the puzzle (there are more and I will keep putting them in place).  Today I say these words before every class I teach.  I mean them.  They are just too important.

 

I stand there and I think to myself.  Right, I have this body and it is designed to move and to be healthy it needs to move in a way that is going to make it feel good.  And I remind myself to distinguish between that which makes my body feel good in and of itself rather than some sort of ‘feel good’ of the ego that comes with flashy poses.

 

When I remind myself about this purpose it is a reminder to myself to be honest about whether these movements, whatever I am doing, free up my body so that it feels elegant, light, and warm.  So that any niggly aches and pains dissipate.

 

When I practice like this I can generally do ‘stronger things’ but feel more at ease.

 

When I practice without force or strain or too much desire then it also helps my mind become much clearer.  By the end of such a practice I feel more connected to my body, any troubling thoughts or life circumstances feel much more manageable, and I am somehow able to be a better and kinder person to others.

 

And you know, for me that is a driving force.  To practice in a way that helps you move away from pain and suffering so that you can be a more stable person for friends, family, and people you do not even know.

 

You see, aside from teaching around 10 classes a week, along with my own practice, I also work full time as an occupational therapist with children with autism and their families.  I also live with my sister and her family, including my nieces.

 

What this means is that some mornings I get up and I want to practice my hatha yoga.  I’ll head out to the balcony and my niece will get up all ready to play.  There I have a decision.  Am I going to tell her to go away or do I use this interaction as an opportunity to practice my yoga, to enhance my connection to self and others.  So although I have a strong desire to get the kinks out I might make toilet roll fairies or do Willy Wonka puzzles or even show her a few down dogs if she is interested.

 

Or I might get up all keen for a practice but I realise I have some kids to see at work who need some extra input.  So I spend that time re-writing my therapy activity plans or researching some new ideas.

 

The key is I can now do this without resentment, guilt, or a feeling that I am somehow not doing my yoga.

 

To me this is a type of karma yoga.  You know, a yoga of service.  And it is delightful.

 

I can only do this because of the change in mindset.  Because I changed my ideas about the main purpose of my practice, I know that I can also slip in 5-10 minutes of circulation/energy moving sequences into my day.  Longer if time allows later in the day.  But I do not feel bound to a 60-minute practice just for the sake of it.

 

My physical practice is very important to me.  I have twisted vertebrae and without it I would be in a lot of pain.  This means I am very motivated to do some form of physical practice every day, which is perhaps a more obvious answer.  That is, I get out of bed to do yoga so I am not in pain.

 

With that said.  All this writing has inspired me to get out and move!  Happy and safe practicing to you all.

I’m not sure how long it had been til my mind registered that there was a small bump on my right toe. The registry had been made some time ago, but it was only two weeks ago that I stopped and really looked at it, what was that?

 

Surprisingly, under closer inspection I discovered  it was a dreaded wart! I’d never experienced any growths, and this one took me aback. Having practiced self-care over the years through high vibe nutrition, keeping the body alkaline,  periodic cleansing and with a deep interest in health, I instantly made a self inquiry into my routine and practices. Where could I have gone wrong?

 

It was only after doing some research that I found out that warts stem from a virus. Although this  doesn’t rebuke that my immune system might not have been in top shape for the virus to have set in in the first place.

 

Warts are viral and usually located on the hands or feet. They can enter through broken skin. This is where I put 2 and 2 together – below the toe nail had been a cuticle cut that hadn’t healed properly.

 

Conventional methods suggest burning, freezing and using invasive (in my view) procedures. So instead I went for the Reference Guide to Essential Oils book. Essential therapeutic oils are said to be mankind’s first medicine. They’re potent liquids that are distilled from plants – including seeds, bark, leaves, stems, roots, flowers and fruit. Because of their potency they are very powerful.

 

There were a couple of suggestions for warts so I took the principle recipe:

 

2 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar, 5 drops of cypress and 10 drops of lemon oil. Apply twice daily, and bandage. Keep a bandage on until the wart is gone. From this I made my own concoction using apple cider vinegar, cypress, clove, oregano and cinnamon bark. And followed the instructions.

 

Two days later I felt a slight tingling sensation every time I applied the potion. A scab had formed right at the top of the wart and I could literally feel the oils working their magic. Within a week  I could safely say that the growth  was gone.

 

Raw apple cider vinegar (with the mother culture so that it’s living) is also a very powerful natural tonic. My mother swears by it for getting rid of her varicose veins, and together with the oils it made the best natural remedy possible. All from the comfort of my own home.

 

Self care is an important part of the way I want to live my life.  I want to take responsibility for everything that happens to me – which is what brought me to yoga in the first place. To bring myself closer to being responsible for me. Thank you dear wart for reminding me of this.

 

Keeping my mat clean (also using natural oils), keeping my feet clean and going to salons for pedicures that are hygienic, are all part of my new Happy Feet Routine.

 

Toes – with or without warts, I still love my toes…. but so much better without.

Yoga is known by almost everyone as a philosophy or as a path, but very few know that yoga is also an art. No artist can define his own art: what art is can only be expressed through art itself, and not by words. BKS Iyengar so wonderfully says in his book The Tree of Yoga: Three qualities are required if one is to become an artist. One must have aptitude, or the ability to acquire mastery of the art; one must have tremendous love for one’s art in order to work on it with determination, effort and concentration, and one must have imagination and creativity to develop the art along new and unknown paths.

 

So what is your art?

 

We have certainly been witness to what yoga has opened up for us in our own individual lives, the expansion has gone beyond just the mere flexibility or strength in our bodies, it has also opened up the ability to explore things far greater than what we would have ever imagined.

 

Different tools give us different results. Knowing which tools serve us is the essence of having mastery over our decisions and actions. Just like using different materials or brush strokes to make a desired artwork, we can apply the same analogy to our life.

 

There are many foundations to finding solutions to life’s most complex problems; connecting to people, taking care of the body, learning new things, finding strengths and focusing on them, giving to others, connecting to nature.

 

Do you feel drawn to explore more about what’s possible in your life, develop a deeper connection to your spirit and also meet like minded people? Come join us in Bali for a transformational week at Dragonfly Village in the midst of the rice-fields being nurtured by healthy raw food!

 

For loads of more details about this amazing retreat.
We hope you are all healthy and well wherever you are in the world. Stay in touch!
Sunny side up,

 

Oksana and Lisa
www.artofliferetreats.com

By defining the world as a problem it becomes a problem, otherwise everything is perfect. The only way to see life is that there is no good or bad, all problems dissolve. Whether we are experiencing it or not we are all connected, there is nothing to lose, nothing to get, everything is just as it is. Its only our attachments to the outcome. Most spiritual practices are there to make us realise that we have no problems. Hari Om

Rather than resist war, envision peace, rather than fight drugs, envision healing, rather than judge the homeless, envision a solution that serves the highest and best for all. Rather than seeing the differences of others begin to acknowledge their uniqueness. Be the answer. Be the solution. Anchor this firmly into your consciousness and offer if to all.

You can practice Yoga for all sorts of reasons: to remain fit; to stay healthy or recover your health; to balance your nervous system; to calm your busy mind, and to live in a more meaningful way. All these goals are worthy of our attention and pursuit. Yet, traditionally, Yoga has for several millennia been employed as a pathway to liberation or enlightenment. Long ago, the masters of Yoga recognized that we can never be completely satisfied with life until we have found the source of happiness beyond pleasure and pain. Even when we are completely fit and healthy, enjoy a relatively balanced nervous system, and live in an apparently meaningful way, deep down we still feel ill at ease. We just have to dig deep enough to go past all the layers of limited satisfaction—the kind of satisfaction that depends on having just the right sort of external circumstance. We can easily discover whether we are truly content and happy when we lose our job, have our marriage break up, or have a good friend suddenly turn against us. In the case of a great Yoga master, these events will not cause as much as a ripple in his or her mind. Upon enlightenment, when consciousness is free from all mental conditioning, neither pleasure nor pain will diminish our inner freedom. We are pure consciousness and one with the Source of all things. This is what the Hindu Yoga tradition calls “Self-realization.” The Self, or Spirit, is superconscious, immortal, eternally free, and unspeakably blissful. From a yogic point of view, there is no higher attainment than this; nor is there a pursuit more worthy than this. For when we have realized our true nature, as pure consciousness, whatever we do will be infused with the bliss of Self-realization. We are all right in any circumstance, and because of our inner freedom and bliss, we can enrich all situations with wisdom and compassion so as to benefit other beings. Whatever your personal reasons for practicing Yoga may be, it is good to bear Yoga’s traditional goal in mind. This will prevent you from getting stuck with a particular achievement. Yoga seeks to recover your highest potential.

If you can have just one health “practice” that you do faithfully for a lifetime, whether it is getting up and doing yoga for an hour each morning, meditating for 12 minutes at noon each day, drinking a liter or two of water a day, always saying no to second helpings, hitting the gym after work for an hour three times a week, or whatever one habit is doable and effective for you, this can go a long way towards keeping you on a positive path for life. This is a “practice” that we do no matter what, it becomes part of who we are, and becomes ingrained as a habit. This can get us through the doldrums of life even if we are depressed or going through traumatic changes. It can be easy to spiral down in to negative habits and negative thinking, but with an anchor like this, we will be on automatic pilot towards a positive destination. It is not a conversation, it is just something we do every day no matter what. What a great insurance and security to have suc h a “practice” in the ever-changing landscape of life!
~Jinjee