Yama-Niyama & Doing Yoga Philosophy - Ema Čulík, ‘The Chai Sessions’
Unbelievably, this is my 20th Chai Session! It’s super special for a few reasons…
One, Ema is back. This time we’re chatting about yoga philosophy, specifically yama-niyama.
Two, we’re chatting in person from the sofa in the studio.
And three, to celebrate episode 20, this is a special extended Chai Session. So you might need a biscuit to go with your cuppa as you listen in.
But just before we get to chatting, a little caveat.
Although we’re talking about yama-niyama, we are taking them a little out of context. When they appear in Patajali’s Yoga Sutra they are in an order. We appreciate they’re in that order for good reason and the idea is that you study and approach them in that order.
The yama-niyama are all interrelated and connected too. Each individual yama-niyama is influenced by all the others and, in turn, influences all the others as well. You’ll hear we discovered that as you talk about one yama-niyama, it doesn’t take long before you make a connection to one of the others.
If you’ve never heard of yama-niyama before, you might like to watch Ema’s 6-minute video introducing them first.
What are the Yamas and Niyamas? Ethical practices for a deeper practice and a sweeter life.
Then get yourself comfy and come and join us for this very special extended Chai Session.
As Ema explained, yama-niyama are a living, breathing, moving, real life practice. Our understanding of them changes depending on where we’re at. Each can offer a fresh perspective at different times in our life.
I loved her description (borrowed from Deborah Adele) of each yama-niyama as an individual jewel. Jewels have different facets, more than one side, more than one interpretation. The yama-niyama jewels sit in our own little jewellery box, our practice toolkit. Ema says, “One of them will glint at me in a new way… because of what is happening in my life.” Once we learn yama-niyama, we can pick jewels from our toolkit to examine with fresh eyes and apply to different situations. There’s always something new to discover.
Ema’s Yama-Niyama course is coming up here at the studio in June! If you’d like to join her, it runs over 3 consecutive Sundays from 11th June, 3-5pm. You’ll find all the details and can book your place HERE
We’d love to know what you think too. Please feel free to leave a comment or question below.
Judi x
PS If you’ve found this post of interest please share as other people you know may find it interesting too…
‘The Chai Sessions’
Anyone who has been to Merchant City Yoga on a Sunday knows how much I love catching up with everyone over a cup of my freshly brewed spiced chai. These Sunday chai sessions really bring everyone together, a true celebration of friendship, community and connection.
I want to try and capture some of that magic and share it with you at home. So I've invited some familiar and new faces from our MCY family to chat with me over a cuppa. I'm affectionately calling them 'The Chai Sessions'.