Journalling Prompt 1 – Write about a relationship you have or had that fills you with joy.
Prompt 1 – Journal about a relationship you have or had that fills you with joy
Each day one of the Same Star Yoga team will be sharing their journalling on the prompt given. Today’s is from Tara Perlaki.
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My relationship to animals is one that fills me with deep joy, especially the relationship I’ve with my cats.
Even as I type this, a warm smile emerges from my heart. The joyful glow when I think about Judy, our current little girl, quite literally makes my heart sing.
It’s strange when you think about it, because cats do life totally on their own terms. They may love unconditionally, but they’re certainly conditional with how and when they give their attention and affection. It’s something I’ve now come to admire, you always know where you stand.
My cat is 100% part of my family. I miss her when I’m away, can’t wait to get back home, even if Judy ignores me till she deems me suitably punished for going away. (Every cat owner will know this one!).
People often tell me they grieved for their pets more than they did when they lost a human loved one.
I think this is because our relationships with our furry friends tend to be much simpler, with us free to be ourselves and not worry what other people might think. For example, I cry freely when I’m sad, singing or dancing when I’m happy. Often, she’ll respond with a head bop, or nose kisses. They really are the cutest!
Hanging out with my girl is pure soul food, despite much of the relationship being on her terms (catitude at its finest). It’s without a doubt one of the most joyful relationships in my life.
2021 SSYTT 200hr graduate
Teaches Beginner Yin
Mondays 7.45-8.45pm
Thursdays 11.15-12.15pm
Dear Soul – Passionate about providing tools to help women tackle cycles of life.
What is Journalling?
Mindfulness writing is like anything else it takes a bit of time and practice for it to feel easeful, some particular subjects and themes you may run with, others may be hard to even get off the starting blocks but with practice we hope this becomes easier and easier for you.
To take part you will need a journal or notebook, pens/pencils and at least 10 minutes a day to compose and write.
We hope you enjoy your journalling practice. Head over to our Facebook and Instagram pages to share your thoughts and writings with us.
Same Star Yoga – I Care Strategy
How can we help our kula?
Through these turbulent times where families are experiencing difficulty, businesses are suffering and the health service continues to be under a huge strain we wondered if and how we could be of service throughout this collective strain.
As most of you know we have created karma yoga videos of mini practices which you can find on our On Demand page & YouTube channel, and we hope that you are able to make use of those.
We have also put together the Same Star Yoga ~ I Care strategy. If you are someone who cares about their well-being then this may be of good use to you. If not immediately, then at some point in your life.
All is valid & worthy
We all face adversity and difficult emotions through-out life. For years we felt we had to deny our deeper inner feelings in order to succeed, fit in, find enlightenment. Throughout our journeys we’ve been given practices such as an energetic egg or bubble & other practices with the aim of removing myself or eradicating thoughts & feelings and it’s only through the depths of personal exploration that we have come to the understanding that all emotions, thoughts and feelings are valid and worthy of being seen, heard & expressed & that denial of any sort could be seen as spiritually by-passing life itself and creating a resistance to life instead of flowing with it. When we trust in the ever changing Shakti we become witness to how much quicker difficult emotions and feelings transmute into something else.
This beautiful quote by S. Ajna. here explains it all.
What’s worked for us
Why therefore would we ever think that suppressing or numbing anything we feel would be an answer to life?
So over time we have found one of the best tools for healing was to journal, as all the time we are in our head with these emotions/feelings they continue to churn around causing discomfort.
We’re not saying that we’re enlightened by these strategies. We feel that enlightenment is something to be found in every moment through Self Awareness. So we hope that these 5 journaling steps may assist you in any moment where you feel you may need a path to follow.
Our offering to you – I Care
We offer this 5-10 minute journaling exercise with questions we have put together to be worked through when feeling particularly overwhelmed by certain feelings/emotions.
So that it is easy for you to remember, the 5 pointed star spells ‘I Care’, a reminder that the reason I take 5-10 minutes to journal when experiencing difficulty is because ‘I care’ about my well-being.
These 5 letters translate as:
I – Identify
C – Consider
A – Aim
R – Recognise
E – Express
1. Identify – What is the core emotion/feeling in present time?
2. Consider – Considering my life in present time does this emotion/feeling have a right to express itself?
3. Aim – What is this the reason, motive or aim of this emotion/feeling and what is it trying to tell me, warn me, show me, get me to do?
4. Recognise – Can I recognise that this emotion/feeling is separate from me. For example “anxiety is arising in me” rather than “I am anxious” what happens when I begin to acknowledge that?
5. Express – Can I let this emotion/feeling have its rightful opportunity to express itself as I equally allow joy, happiness, excitement, contentment etc & what can I do to support myself that feels nourishing or in support of this particular feeling/emotion’s calling?
Get in touch
If you find this practice useful we would love to hear from you. Also maybe somebody in your life could benefit from this, please feel free to pass it on to your loved ones.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your incredible support to us through Shakti’s chaotic dance. We hope she will be a little kinder to us in the coming year and that we all begin to blossom from being thrown into the 2020 mud.
ॐ बोलो श्री सत गुरु भगवान की जै
Om Bolo Shri Sat Guru Bhagavan Ki Jai
Honouring our teachers but remembering the closest access point we have to divinity and guidance is within our own hearts.
Saprema
Faye & Samantha
What does Graduation mean?
What does Graduation mean?
Not just qualified to teach traditional Hatha, Vinyasa & Yin yoga, the joy in these pictures represent Graduating on to the path of a lifetime of inner work. To experience a greater understanding of oneness takes a dedicated practice and time – lifetimes even.
Pay it Forward
P a y i t F o r w a r d
We know ourselves how good it feels to give. Sometimes it’s the simplest of things that lights up someone’s heart. We’re giving you an opportunity to do just that. We have a space on our Silent Night Half Day Retreat that we are holding for you to possibly be able to gift to someone else.
What does Same Star Yoga mean to you?
When we had our closing ceremony at Same Star Yoga in Dedham we asked our students to put a word in a jar about their experience with us.
Moving Home
We have only a couple of weeks left in the Same Star Yoga Dedham studio before we will be moving home to East Bergholt.
What is Diwali?
Observed by more than a billion people across many faiths, Diwali which celebrates the triumph of light over darkness originates from the Sanskrit Deepavali meaning row of lamps. It is a very significant festival in the Vedic tradition. The festival usually falls around the darkest day of the year. This year it begins on November 1st and carries right through until the 6th November.
New Beginnings with a New Studio
We are embarking on new beginnings with a brand new yoga studio in East Bergholt and can’t wait to share this space with you all.
Beginners Guide to Yoga
We understand that booking your first yoga class can be daunting, so we have created this beginners guide to yoga so you can feel prepared.
What’s coming your way at Same Star Yoga?
Despite still being in lockdown we have been working hard to still bring you new and exciting things. Keep your eyes peeled on our new timetable full of things that are coming your way.
The Four Gates of Speech
Yin yoga uses supported, long, passive holds to work on the deep, dense connective tissues of the body – the fascia, tendons, ligaments and cartilage – which are difficult to energize and open. Using this combination of support, low stress and long holds allows the connective tissue time to transform at a cellular level.
What is Yin Yoga?
Yin yoga uses supported, long, passive holds to work on the deep, dense connective tissues of the body – the fascia, tendons, ligaments and cartilage – which are difficult to energize and open. Using this combination of support, low stress and long holds allows the connective tissue time to transform at a cellular level.
Starting Your Yoga Journey as a Beginner
Now more than ever we are all looking for something to distract us from the turmoil of life, a way to balance our emotions and reflect. Yoga is a great way to do all of those things and get moving, but starting your yoga journey as a complete beginner can be daunting.
How Yoga Can Help With Stress
Looking back to times in my life when I have suffered great stress & anxiety, I know that it is always times when I have failed to remember the importance of symbiosis of the body, mind and soul. One or all of those aspects were being neglected. I was forgetting the benefits of yoga as a way of easing my stress.
Yoga Makes Me Feel…Confident
We are starting a new series where we speak to our kula about their yoga journey.. This week we have spoken to Lucy, a newer member of the kula who started yoga recently over lockdown. Since then Lucy has joined us for multiple online live-stream yoga classes and we chatted to her about her experiences and how yoga makes her feel confident.
We Are a Multi-Award Winning Yoga Studio!
There are always silver linings. Lockdown measures prompted us to invest in improvements for our online live-streamed yoga classes which has resulted in the studio winning an industry award.
The Benefits of Restorative Yoga
I know that it is hard to slow down sometimes, there feels like there is less and less time to rest. We take our bodies for granted and don’t nurture them like we are supposed to. This is why we have reintroduced Restorative Yoga into our class timetable. This practice has so many benefits from promoting deep relaxation to regulating the nervous system, Restorative Yoga will give us the space and time to reboot.
The Importance of a Good Yoga Mat
Let’s talk about the importance of a good yoga mat. Even though we use them everyday in our yoga classes, I have always taken the features of a good yoga mat for granted – until now.
Keeping You Safe
As a yoga studio, keeping our community safe is the most important thing to us. We have made lots of changes to ensure your safety and enjoyment of the class is unbeatable.
Be Kind to Yourself
It is important to be kind to yourself, because until we are kind to ourselves we can’t expect the world to be a kind place to be in.
Bring The Wonders of Ganesha Into Your Life
Many of us are familiar with the very cute looking elephant headed deity, but do you really understand what he, Ganesha, is all about? Have you considered reasons why it might feel relevant to have a murti (a statue) or a picture of him in your home?
4 Ways Yoga Can Help Ease Back Pain
The question of whether yoga can help ease back pain is a difficult one to answer. Having had many students pass through our doors with back-related conditions, we recognise that not only are we dealing with multiple types of injuries on a physical level (from disc problems, spinal fusions and nerve impingements to broken backs and chronic pain), there is also the fact that some physical conditions may arise as a result of the amount of mental stress that one is under or the fact that certain emotions haven’t been able to be expressed freely and easily.
Teaching Yoga is an Exploration of the Self
We’ve just had a fantastic couple of days teaching yoga. Trainees on our Yoga Teacher Training have now been studying with us for 6 months, having completed Module 1 ‘Connection to Source’ and Module 2 ‘Exploration of the Self’, this weekend we stepped in to Module 3 ‘Awakening the Heart of the Teacher’ where trainees began to move deeper into their teaching practice. Such a joy to see the difference in confidence from weekend 1 in March to now.
A space for you to be whatever you are feeling
Many of my students know the thoughts I have on the phrase “Love & Light”. It feels so very sadly unreal to me. I suppose the reason it’s used so much is because “Honour the Darkness” probably doesn’t sell quite so well on a yogi’s Instagram page.
But let’s face it, Life is not all love & light. Yes there has (for some people) been moments of illumination over the last 6 months but mostly there’s been a lot of grief, pain, separation, fear & loss, it has been and continues to be a very painful & difficult time for many people.
What are Mudras?
Mudras are hand gestures, energy locks used in yoga to influence the flow of Prana, lifeforce. Mudras can be used to balance the energies within us. In life our hands connect us to the outer world, not only do they enable us to reach out, touch, heal, express play, work, cultivate, hold & share.
Join us on an Odyssey of Sight & Sound
From time immemorial the teaching of yoga has been an oral tradition. The name of an early collection of yoga teachings, The Upanishads, literally translates as ‘sitting near devotedly” conjuring up images of students sitting at their teacher’s side listening intently to their teacher’s words. The sound and sights of yoga, such as chanting the mantra Om and forming mudras (hand gestures) to express our intentions are intrinsically linked with how we experience and integrate our practice.
Why do we chant Om?
Why we Om. It would be difficult to uncover the full wisdom of this mantra in a lifetime let alone a few words here, but I hope at least to shine a little bit of light on to it so that hopefully it can be a more meaningful part of your practice.
Re-imagining and Evolving Same Star Yoga
We are witnessing a global call to learn new ways of interacting, working and living together, adapting our perspectives and behaviours for the good of the wider community. It is a call to set aside our old patterns for new collective ones.
Collective change and transition to a new future
We have been very quiet throughout lockdown. Instead of trying to convey that we have all the answers to the fear and uncertainty of these times, we have taken our own advice of silence, to breathe, to press the pause button, to listen to our intuition, our souls whispers & to trust in the ‘no answers yet’ & that we will know when the time is right to press the reset button. We feel that time is rapidly approaching.