"Nothing to prove, nothing to hide" opens the heart to unknown depths.

If you want to be able to step outside your comfort zone, I have something that will give you the support and confidence you need. It is four statements to guide you in your thinking, feeling and decision making.

These four statements banish fear and get me into a high-quality mode of functioning. I feel I am able to see reality more clearly as I relate to the people around me.

For example, in holding workshops and retreats it is common for fear, self sabotage or over-preparing to occur. These fears are ‘inner friends’ I have faced many times as I walk the path I am on. No doubt you too step into new, unknown realms and need an anchor or guide-rail as support.

Read each of these statements and see how they feel in your body.

“I have nothing to prove”

“I have nothing to hide”

“I have nothing to defend’

“I have nothing to protect”

I recently ran a workshop “Owning and Loving your Yoga so it Rings True for You.” This topic inspired me to abandon negative thinking in order to share myself openly and hold space successfully. I committed to a deep alignment of my inner life with the workshop intention.

In holding space for others my intentions were: to teach without

proving my worth,

hiding my weaknesses,

defending my ignorance

or protecting my vulnerabilities.

Aligning with one’s actions with one’s truest, deepest calling is not easy.

It took an initial hit of self-awareness svadhyaya and grit, to deeply listen in.

With these four statements I experienced a radical throwing off of ‘shoulds’ and limitations. My physical body opened up, shoulder loose, chest big, smile wide. And my breath flowed too. So much love can be felt on the breath.

Because I had these powerful four statements, I found the process from start to finish to be engaging and delightful. Without drama or incident, I learned to be easy instead of fearful and I warmly connected with those involved in hosting the event and those attending.

How did the participants experience my offering?

“Our yoga teacher workshop by Katie de Araujo, created a beautiful exploration of yogic freedom, and permission to honour and embody our own unique yoga journey as individuals and as teachers.” 

“We explored concepts such as curiosity, roundness, and replacing goals with presence. We connected over personal reflections on yamas and niyamas, while time flowed as smoothly as the energy in our bodies.”

As humans we can be triggered, stressed or defensive. It is not a great state for us, and has an impact on those around too.  

If you feel there is something more and that the reflective path of insight can uplift and liberate the mind, then I offer you this embodied skill.

If they feel like fake words, great, that means that you are engaging with satya (truthfulness). Naming truthfully how the phrases land in you is the first step, and the work is before you to be done.

It is good news to know you are on the right path, asking the useful questions.

From the deep psychology of yoga, these four phrases: nothing to prove, hide, defend or protect, can be viewed as a kind of surrender. An offering up and letting go of the self and of the ego.

PRACTICE

Say these words, one phrase at a time, and see what arises for you in your heart or in your belly.

“I have nothing to prove”

“I have nothing to hide”

“I have nothing to defend’

“I have nothing to protect”

Visualise yourself speaking with a lover or a stranger from this state of selflessness. Do you feel freedom to side step the mental noise and open a fresh path of presence with another?

If stuff arises you’d like assistance processing, you can book in to a Yoga Therapy session in studio and online. I am available for such deep work.

In letting go we receive gifts we could not have known to ask for.

The yoga of tennis: a story of heightened inner awareness.

Tennis merged with yoga tonight, and I loved it.

Stephanos Tsitsipas beat Jannik Sinner at the Australia Open after 5 long sets. He was asked what changed at the start of the final set that pushed him on to win. What did he tell himself?

To answer this question truthfully, as must be his default, he first warned the audience that it may be technical and people might not understand it.

“I relaxed my wrist for my serve” he said.

This type of minor adjustment elite athletes deeply appreciate. A runner, a swimmer, but also anyone completely engaged and engrossed in what they are producing with their bodies: a musician, a singer… they understand that tiny, minuscule changes make profound impacts to the outcome.

Yoga is all about awareness, and refining that awareness to a point of mastery.

Yoga begins with behaviour and ethics but is mostly understood through the body. A person who has great mastery over the energy moving through their body will therefore have mastery over their emotions and mind and self.

Titsipas’ minor adjustment was not about releasing the wrist. It was about having a mind so attuned to the inner world of the body and the situation that he could sense where and how changes needed to be made. And it worked! He was right. What an awesome level of connection. This is a whole system experience. This is not about the wrist. It is about being a person who understands the mind and can use that mind to merge with the body, listen to its millions of different messages, even under stress, even when tired, even when being watched by millions across the world, and make that perfect subtle adjustment so everything clicks back into harmony.

From my experience, this state of refined awareness feels like a heightened or elevated state. There is a tacit spirituality.

The mind is immersed in an interoceptive state. It is not worrying about the future or churning up the past. The information from the body in this one lived moment is lit up.

As Jim Courier says “Minor adjustments have major impacts.”

So at your desk, dive into that interoceptive state, let the body be felt and make a minor adjustment. You might release your jaw, or roll your shoulders, or sit forward on your sit bones so your chest lifts. In standing, you might place the feet evenly under the pelvis or lift the chin when scrolling through your phone.

And it feels a little more special than just a bodily movement, if it feels like something in your spirit has changed. Then great. That’s yoga. And it is special.

I really hope you take this with you in to your yoga and into your life.

I am so thankful for Tsitsipas and his honesty. It meant that he did not underestimate his audience. He trusted that something so personal and specific and “elite” is true and real for all of us in some way.

Intuitive Flow turns the letters of yoga into Poetry

You will see I am sharing on YouTube and Facebook many of my Intuitive Flow moments. This is piquing interest in yoga lovers. Is this a yoga class? Is this a random movement practice? Should I even be privy to this since it seems more a private monologue than a public lecture?

I want to encourage discussion of the idea that what happens in a class is not the formula for home practice. Does a yogi of 20 years think “I’ll do a set of yoga poses and that is my Hatha yoga”. I know I would be bereaved if that was all I wanted for my beautiful soul and tender Self.

In this blog I present the idea that what happens in many yoga classes can be best categorised as the ‘abc’ of hatha yoga. It is foundational learning that is necessary and useful, but not complete. It has not had the fullness of spirit breathed into it, because that is something that happens in a different space.

If what happens in a an average yoga class in the Western World in 2023 is really building blocks of learning, then I find myself wondering and asking the question… what happens next? At school, once we have learnt the abc’s we don’t keep repeating them each year. They are committed to memory, just as asana are committed to cellular memory, so we can use them to create something more meaningful.

Yoga poses as MEANING is my way of Being In Yoga.

Just as our abc’s are used to write words and sentences which then allow us the more meaningful ability to communicate and even create stories, Yoga practices can trickle through us into our inner most psyche. One’s yoga becomes attuned to those inner places where deeper truths, archetypal knowledge, music and poetry reside. It is a creative, unknown world where sponteneity is welcomed and authenticity has the full authority.

My yoga is definitely poetry. It took growth and maturation to move from rules to deep listening and self trust, but it is a step for yogis to take if they wish.

I will in time offer some useful break-downs of what is happening for me in Intuitive Flow moments, so the principles are well communicated.

But for now, to bring the ideas together I’d like to start with what is important to know:

“The approach is simple - a completely undefended looking and feeling into
the essential activities of life: joy, sorrow, breathing, loving, walking,
dancing, sleeping.
Meditation is diving into your entire sensorium so fearlessly that you go beyond it into the core of your being and rest there.
This is a yoga of delight, awe and wonder.

”

— The Radiance Sutras, Introduction by Lorin Roche

Yoga means Union. Meditation leads to absorption. A yoga class is an opportunity for a safe and sacred space to learn, but it is limited. I invite you to open to a personal practice, a yoga that can take your hand and walk you through the wilderness into awe. These paths are there for you to pioneer your way through until the toil turns to leisure and delight. The guiding principles are clear but they are pillars, not fillers. They leave a wide open space for the unknown. This is what the Japanese call ‘Mu’ the creative void or the dance of nothingness.

At this point in the evolution of yoga, we Yoga Teachers may have a lot more to learn and share than is currently thought possible.

The upward flowing spiral

With a small step of our own making, gravity

(or some invisible uplifting force)

then freely flows the good vibes toward us.

Hello,

I wonder how you feel about Sunday down-time.

I think it is a precious thing.

Perhaps you do too. Or perhaps you'll allow me to encourage you toward finding a cosy spot you love and to endow it with something special to you, as company.

Once you're there, perhaps all that's left is to let wisdom surround and nourish the soul.

Whose wisdom? That's up to you. What are you called toward? Who has touched and inspired you? What has really worked to lull you into a contented state or uplift you into rapture?

As one called toward beauty, truth and love, I have many ideas to share.

Perhaps you have a sacred space that is just for you? Some cosy corner or garden that creates a feeling of "ahhhh" as body's tensions melts away. Or a favourite thinker whose words leave you feeling cleansed and uplifted (Joseph Campbell does this for me).

Imagine yourself becoming a gravitational force that draws the good life to you. 

Inspiring and uplifting things are fully available, and with a couple of little steps you may get the gravitational force or up-flow started. It is so much easier and lighter once you catch the flow.

It takes a little inner determination at first - you might decide to pick up that lovely book, watch that beautiful documentary, listen to classical music, visit that special friend, walk in nature in the sun, get your hands in the garden, light a candle and do some stretches, hug someone, sing a song or hum a tune.

Now we are a few steps up the spiral staircase, the suction is strong, drawn toward insight, compassion, receptivity and wisdom, we may even become a radiant gift to those around us.

Three things that got me on the upward spiral this past fortnight:

- It started when I booked my husband and I into a Poetry Evening at The Chestnut Tree bookshop in West Footscray with local poets reading their exquisite words.

- It gained momentum when, last minute, I decided to attend The Grace Notes Singers and Essendon Symphony Orchestra play at Moonee Ponds on a Sunday. Oh my the music!!!! Floating like a cloud.

- I then stumbled into the Seddon Bookshop (Mahli randomly walked in and I followed) and bought some gorgeous books on Christian spirituality and meditation.

- Yesterday I travelled to Hepburn Springs and joined another poetry reading about the travels of the sonnet form and its transformations, written and spoken by the charming Toby Sime.

And now here I am listening to the sparkling gems of wisdom of Terry Real.
I have it here to share with you. If you are a human being in a relationship with another human being, you will love the insights and clarity Terry so lovingly shares.

https://resources.soundstrue.com/podcast/soft-power-moving-from-you-and-me-to-us/

And benefits of all this goodness? How deep do they go?

A chest cold that stuck around for 6 weeks, at last lifted. Along with now being back singing as I work and scowling less at my loved ones. I freely offer smiles, hugs and an attentive ear to those in need. 

That is human sunshine, born from one little step on the upward spiral staircase.  

Coming down into heavy darkness and despair might be an upcoming blog, as that is also a real and loveable part of life. 

With love, 

Katie

Steeped in Sacred Silence

I drove out of Melbourne toward Hepburn Springs to hold a gathering called Deep Healing Retreat - a precious time where one departs from the regular world and meets deep inner silence. 

That morning was the day we all received news that the Queen had died.

Processing such a significant event, away from screens, devices and chatter, felt regal to me.

On retreat we experienced Noble Silence, withdrawn from speech and free from having to be anyone to anyone for the entire first morning. Silence is a powerful way to meet the need for rest, slowing down and finding one’s feet. But it also means more than that. 

Over this past week we have witnessed historic scenes of silence as reverence:

~ Streams of people have moved silently through Westminster Hall to honour the Queen and even more watched this silent vigil.

~ When on screens we are not used to silence, yet the funeral was televised without commentary, and we watched, ourselves becoming a silent witness.

~ London streets lined with people in a unique and special way befitting an extraordinary life and extraordinary role for a human to step into. How uncommon to see a gathering of people not wanting to barrack for a team or be entertained, but instead, to honour something other, bigger, more significant, even ineffable. 

In silence we depart from our chatty ego-self and we can enter a greater depth of awareness and a spiritual sense of self and life. 

That is what the role of the Queen represents to me: a departure from the everyday mundane world of likes and dislikes, opinions and preferences, being on this team or being on that team. A queenly state is one that witnesses all, is open to all and remains neutral and unsullied. 

In yoga we call this neutral state Vairagya. It is known as one of the wings of the dove that can fly us on our spiritual path. The other wing is Abhyasa dedicated commitment. 

Perhaps you can sense how the three elements of silence, vairagya and abhyasa can lead to a deepening of one’s spiritual path.

A retreat participant wrote these insightful words about being in silence:

“Even after talking resumed, that feeling of compassionate unity stayed.”

I feel strongly that in life there is much less we need to say and much more depth we can touch upon in silence and with a little neutrality. Especially, for me, when being present to children and partners in that all too common domestic setting. 

I invite you to be the gift of grace, dignity and silence.

I am sending out a special thank you to those who attended Deep Healing retreat. I honour your for the wholeheartedness of your participation. It was a joy and privilege to hold space for you.

With love,

Katie

Here is a thorough article about our dove’s two wings that enable flight: perseverance (abhyasa) and detachment (vairagya)

https://hridaya-yoga.com/abhyasa-vairagya-the-essential-aspects-of-spiritual-life/

The presence of a compassionate witness has the power to heal.

You know that feeling when you are being brave and you soldier on, and then someone sympathetic turns up and that triggers repressed emotions to well up or even flow right out? 

That’s a really special moment. 

Like in that moment of distress when you unexpectedly see a familiar face or someone with kind eyes asks  “How are you?”  Something inside our bodies knows it is now ok to break open and let some emotions be felt. 

I find my 'guard' somehow knows when to go up and when it is safe to come down, like my body can read the kind intentions a person holds for me.

My sister and I have just shared stories of the times this has happened to us. 

Here’s one of my stories. You might have a similar one that you can share with a friend and perhaps they will have one to share back with you.

~~~

I arrived to meet a friend in the city, but she turned up to a different place on the other side of Melbourne. We we're both upset about the mixup particularly because of a fragile situation to begin with. I felt a sense of incompetence, and disappointment and shame for having let someone down but probably I had a hundred micro moments of unresolved upsets too that decided to hijak this moment.

Being in the busy city alone felt overwhelming, so waiting to be seated in such a fancy restaurant, alone, brought up a whole history of insecurities. I felt small, I felt I did not belonging there, I felt exposed and basically dejected. Thanks to past trauma this simple situation had me feeling more than miserable. 

My thoughts darted from how angry and mean my friend was going to be about it all when I next see her next, to thinking that everyone here knows I don’t have the right to be here: I am not dressed right and I’m not rich enough. I am a nobody. I have nobody… etc…

I literally had tears falling down my cheeks as I ate my bolognes. I was so hungry that I just had to stay and eat anyway. After that I had to sit and finish my wine (which I really could not afford). Then, seeing me hunched and averted, without me having ordered it, a waitress quietly came over and placed a dessert before me - a gift, a gesture of human connection and care. 

“From me, to you” she said.

It brought much warmth and colour back into my heart and mind. As I took in the sweetness with each mouthful,  I allowed myself to cry happy tears this time, and to feel the ancient, healing depths of my own being.

I remember the restaurant no longer felt like a room of enemies judging me, it became soft and warm like a room of friends. When I stepped out into the cold night air an incredible feeling of being whole and protected wrapped itself around me. I felt totally able to embrace life on the journey home and to even be a radiant presence for others to warm themselves in.

~~~
 

This is the power of being witnessed by another.

The presence of a caring person has a power to touch and move us deeply. It's the basis of friendship, good communities, and is essential in the healing power of therapy.

Pioneer of a body-centred psychological approach, Peter Levine, says  

“Trauma is not what happens to us but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness”

Without an empathetic witness, emotions can get stuck in the tissues of the physical body, and those stuck emotions can become ingrained behaviours and beliefs about ourself and the world.

We are social creatures and thriving means feeling we belong.
Knowing we are seen, heard and fully witnessed is a joyous and healing state. It is a state where we feel whole and where love can be present. 

Even in silence, this conscious presence of another holds validating and healing qualities. 

For now I ask myself: If I were to be fully seen in the compassionate presence of another what part of me would want to show up?

What part of you is wanting to show up?

With Love,

Katie de Araujo