My grandmother practiced yoga for fifty years. She called it sitting down.
Asana means seat. Not pose. She had it right all along, the vocabulary just hadn't caught up.
What does your practice look like without the words?
#yoga #asana #ancestralwisdom
#yogaphilosophy #presencepractice #familywisdom
#embodiedwisdom #contemplativepractice #culturalheritage
We've been taught that stillness means not moving.
But the Buddha walked for forty-nine days after his awakening. Maybe wisdom needs legs.
How does your body find its own way to stillness?
Read the full story
https://medium.com/@clarainsweden/running-toward-stillness-315ccaf8e421
#meditationpractice #embodiedwisdom #movementmeditation
#buddhism #contemplativepractice #spiritualjourney
#mindfulness #runningmeditation #walkingmeditation
My teacher in Rishikesh never missed a dawn practice for thirty days. When I asked how, he laughed.
His answer changed everything, practice stays consistent with you.
Do you maintain your practice, or does it maintain you?
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#mindfulpractice #embodiedwisdom #gurulessons
I was surrounded by books on non-attachment, deeply attached to every one of them.
The irony was lost on me then, I had to step on my mat to find it.
What irony have you found in your reading practice?
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https://medium.com/@clarainsweden/what-books-couldnt-teach-me-about-yoga-3af80e9c0db9
#spirituality #yoga #books
#yogaphilosophy #nonattachment #embodiedwisdom
#spiritualbooks #studyandpractice #mindfulreading
Moving to a new country feels like running in the dark.
You can't see the whole path. You don't know which streets will become familiar. You just take the next step, then the next.
What practice has taught you to trust the unknown?
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#mindfulness #embodiedwisdom #contemplativelife
#movingforward #innerstrength #dailypractice
I used to run to conquer my body. Now I run like having a conversation with it.
My hamstring whispers, I slow down. My breath labors, I adjust pace.
How do you know when to push and when to listen to your body?
Read essay
https://medium.com/@clarainsweden/when-the-body-says-no-e5ca3df5f30a
#mindfulrunning #bodylistening #yoga
#runningmeditation #embodiedwisdom #presence
#runningpractice #yogarunner #intuitivemovement
She never called it pranayama. She said: breathe like the mountains breathe.
I was ten. The Sierra Nevada held still on the horizon.
Who first taught you to slow down?
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#breathwork #granada #embodiedwisdom
#yogaoffthemat #ancestralwisdom #spanishculture
Despacio. One word. My grandmother's entire yoga teaching, without the yoga.
She said it to her plants, to herself, to a ten-year-old who didn't know she was learning.
What word from someone you loved carries the most?
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#spanishyogi #breath #contemplativelife
#yogajourney #presence #clararamirez
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I practiced yoga for five years before I learned what yoga actually was.
The first sutra changed everything: yoga is stilling the mind, not mastering poses.
What surprised you most when you first encountered yoga philosophy?
Read the full essay
https://medium.com/@clarainsweden/books-that-challenged-my-yoga-practice-77c4aeddf69a
#yogaphilosophy #yogasutras #yogapractice
#mindfulness #meditation #contemplativepractice
#yogabooks #spiritualreading #embodiedwisdom
ClaraTheWriter
Psychotherapy Commission ACPE