I looked up the word "integrity" and it means "wholeness." Like the word "integer from Math class! Whole numbers.

I guess an interpretation can be that whenever we lie, we are concealing a part of ourselves; we're not allowing ourselves to be all that we are.

Satya comes from the Sanskrit verb root "as" which means "to be." And "sat" means "existence, reality, being." As in the second line of our chant: "saccidananda murtaye:"

Who assumes the form (murtaye) of reality (sat), consciousness (chit) and bliss (ananda). 

The implication is that Truth is the bedrock of the Universe.

 I've been teaching this week inspired by this yama and have asked the students to be really honest with their practices. How do I feel today? Am I pushing? Do I need to take child's pose? 

Or am I feeling super strong? Do I want to make the poses harder? Can I do that without feeling that I am showing off?

Or- do I have a question but I don't ask because I am afraid of coming across as stupid? 

The other day a student came up to me and confessed that she never understood the concept of "shins in." I explained it to her and she immediately got it- she thought it meant that the muscles hug towards the shin (which they do by the way, and I told her that as well!). 

Another time a teacher told me she never understood the outer spiral in the arms and was freaking out because she felt she should know that by now and she was again embarrassed. 

For me these stories are a reminder to always be clear in a way that is not patronizing. To not assume that everyone knows what you are talking about; to avoid jargon as much as it is possible and to always look, look, look carefully to see if students are doing the alignment.

One time, one of my students was doing too much Outer Spiral. I would look at her and could tell she was overly clenching her butt muscles and I would ask her not to. But she kept doing it. And I would tell her again. And so it went. One day I asked her where her tail bone was (because I had a feeling she didn't know) and she pointed toward her sacrum! Aha! Bingo. If someone thinks their coccyx is where the sacrum is, then when they scoop their tailbone, they would inevitably do too much Outer Spiral. She was a little sad that all this time no one had told her that. But then she stated to shift and her practice became stronger.

Isn't truth like that? It makes us at first sad, sometimes downright miserable. But then it was this way of empowering you, of setting you free.

I hope to ask questions when I need to.

To take child's pose whenever I feel I need it. To not wait for permission.

To live my life authentically.

And to remember the biggest truth of all, that we are part of something greater. That we ARE that. Tat vam asi.

That we are divine, never separate. 

That we are a vast spaciousness bigger than the ups and downs of our day to day life, to paraphrase the great Sally Kempton.

Theme: Satya

Focus: Shoulder Loop

Open your Heart! Live your life following your heart!

Highlights: Encouraged the students through class to ask questions, to rest when they needed to, to make the poses harder if they wanted to.... After class three people came with questions regarding pain. Interesting. 

I feel that as a teacher I have to create a safe place every single time so that everyone can feel welcome.

Anusara Poster Project Pose: Bharadvajasana I and II.