By Fiona McGovern, Isle of Arran, Scotland
LOOKING FOR UNION
I am often asked if I do yoga and my answer has been, “yes I do, but no, not in the way I used to practise and teach it”.
Yoga claims to be uncompetitive, and a way to find union.
I practised yoga for over 30 years and taught it for 20 years: I worked with some of the leading teachers from around the world and read widely on the subject.
Yes, yoga does mean union, but I never found an explanation of what that union was… just something wishy-washy, like connecting to your ‘higher self’ – and that was left to your own interpretation. It always felt like an unattainable state. It was like a carrot in front of me that kept me hooked; forever enticing me to get to an elusive destination outside of me and far away – always requiring more study, another posture and more courses – which I dutifully did.
I felt like I was trying to find union and connection in the many postures, sanskrit words, complex philosophical discussions and relaxation and meditation techniques – but I couldn’t find it in any of these things. I felt I was actually going further away from the truth and far from the union spoken of.
I kept going because there was a sense of self worth and identity attached to practising and teaching yoga in this way. It was something I could hide in; I had a false confidence and security. When I taught, I always felt I was someone else – the words I used were not mine.
LOOKING FOR TRUTH
I felt I was not living any kind of union with myself or God… in fact, I found saying his name impossible. My body was tight and ached for a rest.
However, in 2006 I went to a talk by Serge Benhayon and I felt for the first time a deep knowing that there was indeed another way which felt more true. A way that I felt I already knew, and one which would support me to be me, and get me out of the mess I knew I was in physically, mentally and emotionally.
ESOTERIC YOGA
A few years later, I had my first one to one esoteric yoga session. I could feel how deeply the presenter was connected to their body, and how steady they felt. There was a depth and simplicity that resounded somewhere deep within me – a beauty of simply being there with no need to try and nothing to reach or gain.
I tasted a union with my own body and felt a quality of stillness within me. This feeling came from being with my body, and so I realised I could feel this any time that I choose to be with me. It is available in every moment. This kind of union is something very practical, and something I could live every day.
Previously, if I wanted to override any uncomfortable feeling, I could always do a pose or a breathing technique to make it go away. I realise now that I was storing my feelings up, burying them deeper in my body, and choosing to ignore what my body was showing me. I was in fact dis-connecting from my body.
But now, in Esoteric Yoga, I can feel grace and the healing of truly listening to my body.
TRUE UNION… AT LAST
In these sessions, and now on my own, I can feel the union of me – being present with my body and allowing it to be – without trying to get anywhere. When I am present and accepting in this way, I can feel what union truly is; it is a relationship with me. And in this, I can feel my connection to God.
I find it is immensely practical as I can have mini sessions wherever I am – maybe in a waiting room or while travelling. My body feels free again, my breath tender and my expression can be felt and heard in the world.
In these sessions I have met me and I have felt the wonder of what lays within the inner heart. It feels like I have re-opened a window long closed and allowed streams of light to pour out from it. Union through yoga – Simply Divine!
The Truth about Universal Medicine 
Spot on Elizabeth, Esoteric Yoga is a journey that is forever deepening and evolving us, there is no end point.
Having studied and practiced yoga for many years as well, I had very similar experiences. I was always longing to feel a deeper connection to myself and others but I got caught up in the postures and perfecting them, so much that I became very competitive and was recognised for my practice by the teachers. It took a while to undo this illusion I had bought into to, although it became crystal clear that this modality was harming my body and not about truth or love in anyway. The Esoteric Yoga is a powerful modality, it has supported me to experience a deep silliness in my body, a quality that can be carried throughout the day and not just left on the yoga mat.
That feeling of having no need to go anywhere or achieve anything is so expansive, it always leaves me laughing because the simplicity of what is is just so tangible and every counter I have used to keep myself confined in the realm of images just crumbles in its presence.
It is through stillness only that we discover that we are part of the universe, in perfect union with everything else.
The power of Esoteric Yoga is huge and what I love most about it is that we do it ourselves, and being reminded of those opportunities for mini-sessions you note here is great … we have all the tools within us, it’s about taking the time to connect and allow the space to feel what is needed to support us to be more in union with ourselves and thus with God.
Esoteric yoga is immensely beautiful and powerful. Just the simple movements have a huge effect on how I feel for days after. Feeling more connected to my body and as well more connected to my delicacy as a women and yes there is a feeling of divinity there too.
‘ Union through yoga – Simply Divine! ”
The simplest of understandings returning to and rejoining with one’s Divinity.
A timely reminder that ignoring where I am at doesn’t work. Listening to the body is what gets things shifting and ill feelings to leave. Thank you.
These days, having attended many Esoteric Yoga sessions in the last two years, I feel deeply content when I allow myself to settle and be with me. Like in a waiting room or sitting on the sofa I don’t need a conversation or my phone to distract me. Nor do I do that fidgety leg thing anymore or being restless. I can be with and enjoy me and it feels lovely.
” I felt I was not living any kind of union with myself or God… in fact, I found saying his name impossible. My body was tight and ached for a rest. ” The is quite amazing when one considers ,yoga ( from my understanding ) is union with the God that is you, reconnecting with the Godliness of self in truth.
The energetic quality of Esoteric Yoga is divine and how I feel at the end of a session is incredible. There is nothing else like it. I find I move differently after a session because I am more connected to my body and the quality of my movements are gentle, loving and delicate.
Yes, it’s quite something to consider how much we allow what is sacred and divine to be twisted and morphed to be a copy of this divine impress – but of course with nothing divine left in it. Yoga as it is practiced today – and I share this from having been a devout yogi for many years – is a significant example of this. We have made it about asanas, head-stands and hand-stands and deep breaths that stimulate and give us a sense of relief from the world around us – but in the sheer illusion that we have reconnected to our body and to ourselves.
In this we have lost the simplicity of what yoga is – union with God. There are no fancy postures for this union to be. There is nothing to show off to another or to ourselves. It is simply us being with our bodies and bringing an honesty to where our bodies are actually at. This is what Esoteric Yoga has brought back to me from the first time I experienced it – a deep reconnection and return back to my inner most essence which I realised I can access by making the choice to feel my body and let myself drop into the honesty it offers – the bridge to me feeling how God can absolutely be accessed through me being in connection with my body.
We as human beings have a tendency to bastardise words and practices like what is being presented in this blog. Esoteric Yoga has brought back the true meaning of the word Yoga into an activity and with that, we are now able to experience in a very simple way a very deep connection, the union with the body and with that, what it is connected to.
For centuries I have been wanting to do yoga but the thing that kept me away was some of the shapes/poses the body had to go into in the name of fitness – I did not want to look like a pretzel. And now I realise why – ‘I felt I was not living any kind of union with myself or God’
I felt the same Shushila, I also felt it was too difficult and my body didn’t enjoy the postures and poses. Now, I love Esoteric Yoga, it is so simple, easy to apply and I can practice anywhere at any time.
Esoteric Yoga truly brings understanding through bodily experience of the meaning of yoga – union.
After doing something and studying it for so long as the author did in many ways she would possibly be deemed an expert and yet after all that time she wasn’t settled really on what she was doing. It would ask the question then what was it truly they were doing for all those 30 years, it couldn’t have been what it was saying it was. To now when we see our ‘expert’ truly find her ‘yoga’ and the realisation or awareness of where she had been all those years. Some things take us to a point but don’t deliver things all the way, Esoteric Yoga delivers it all and that’s because it’s all bought back to the relationship with you. No need to put yourself in any other pose, we already are divinely designed, we just need to let go and allow it.
“Previously, if I wanted to override any uncomfortable feeling, I could always do a pose or a breathing technique to make it go away. I realise now that I was storing my feelings up, burying them deeper in my body, and choosing to ignore what my body was showing me. I was in fact dis-connecting from my body.” The moment we move in disconnection with our body we are creating dis-ease within it that has to at some point come out, whether that be with a pimple, a stiff neck, skin rash, cancer or any of the myriad of illnesses and diseases we can manifest. It makes sense then to move with and from our body, to the best of our ability. Esoteric Yoga is awesome for supporting us to practice this.
Esoteric Yoga does bring a depth of simplicity and quality; there is no doing, just being with oneself and feeling the immense connection to one’s surroundings through the natural stillness within our bodies.
I also studied and practiced a very vigorous form of Yoga for many years and trained to be a teacher, and in all my years I never experienced anything close to the true union and deep stillness as I have with the Esoteric Yoga.
“I was, in fact, dis-connecting from my body.” Does yoga disconnect you from your body? Is this the reason why people participate in yoga to further disconnect themselves from their body and numb the mind of the ‘painful’ thoughts — “Previously, if I wanted to override any uncomfortable feeling, I could always do a pose or a breathing technique to make it go away. I realise now that I was storing my feelings up, burying them deeper in my body, and choosing to ignore what my body was showing me.” Proof from a yoga participant and teacher of over 30 years that the common and strands of yoga are deeply harming. It is not until you have felt something true in your body that can you look back on something else and say that was not true. “But now, in Esoteric Yoga, I can feel grace and the healing of truly listening to my body.” and “In these sessions I have met me and I have felt the wonder of what lays within the inner heart.” I have felt the same in Esoteric Yoga.
We use words without truly living them and union is one of those words, often used and as noted here rarely life, but much chased as an ideal. There is something really key shared here that if we do not allow our feelings but store them we are in fact disconnecting from our bodies, simple to understand yes, but something that we often do in life. Our bodies really are the way we can truly understand life and who we are and most of all the divineness we innately are.
Union is something you can only understand from the body if you experience it and there are not many ‘yogas’ that allow you to truly feel it. Perhaps, they should drop the name yoga altogether.
It’s a great point about the way we try to manage uncomfortable feelings, we generally try to make them go away and this is seen as good and how to cope with life. When I experienced my first Esoteric Yoga session I was shocked to feel the amount of emotion and emotional trauma stored in my body, but the reconnection was not just to my body it was to the whole of me (being included). I was at the time very much living from my mind and I can understand why because of the many painful experiences stored in my body I did not want to feel. Esoteric Yoga though has helped me to not only reconnect back to my body and being and learn to live from that connection, but it’s also helped to clear the painful experiences and my body feels much more clear now.
Esoteric Yoga is not just something we do in a class, it is something we do every day and in every moment. We can bring awareness to how we are in our bodies, how we move, and the quality we move in. We can notice how we are feeling and allow ourselves to feel it and allow it to pass. We can feel God in our bodies as we move, and we can appreciate how our presence has an effect on others. Living life with the awareness built from Esoteric Yoga is amazing. The connection to the body is so key and can help to keep us steady even in the most tragic of situations. It enables us to observe life while staying in connection to ourselves, so there is no need to ‘lose it’ or get in a mess. It provides steadiness and solidness in daily life. This is absolutely priceless.
It is amazing to feel that our true fulfilment is found through our union of our body and being, where our connection to our stillness within is what guides us to realise we already are everything we need to be. Through Esoteric Yoga I discovered that living in connection to this quality is not only possible but our natural way of being.
30 years of practicing and 20 years of teaching – that is a lot of investment, but you have let it go! Letting go of identification and attachment is so very freeing and opens up space for connecting with true essence, for me that is yoga.
A stunning example of what Esoteric Yoga offers our body and being again. What I find is that in many mainstream yogas, participants have an experience while in the session of being more calm or slowing down, but then walk away in the same energy as which they arrived. This was my experience too… well I would actually leave more spaced out and not with it then when I started. Esoteric Yoga offers a true stop moment, yes you can dismiss it or reject it, but you are continually held and supported to keep connecting with your body without any judgement or needing to change anything. This is what stood out for me most, and helped to let go of an enormous amount of anxiety and perfection in my body.
“In these sessions I have met me and I have felt the wonder of what lays within the inner heart” and this is the greatest healing to be able to know who we are and finally break away from that which keeps us identifying as individuals and not the true sons of God that we are.
My previous experience with yoga was that it was a fight to get the body to get into the different poses. There is none of that in Esoteric Yoga, the whole focus is not on what the body can do but the union with it and thus with the all (the universe, God, the practitioner, everyone).
There is a beautiful vibration to connect to, the vibration of Stillness through Esoteric Yoga. I have reconnected to this quality myself and it definitely breaks through the illusion that other yoga practices teach.
Union is within the body where the God within us all can be felt in Stillness.
This is a gorgeous blog to confirm the power of this amazing modality- Esoteric Yoga, thank you Fiona.
Before Universal Medicine I attended a couple of yoga classes for the purpose of trying to get a better body. The Esoteric Yoga sessions are so different to this, they allow you to go much deeper within and to connect to yourself so that you feel an expansion from within. This then gives the space to live your day in a totally different way.
I have definitely felt a connection with my body, and a stillness from within while participating in Esoteric Yoga, and because of that I know that I can choose to move in a way that keeps me connected.
Having spent a lot of time in India and doing various yoga classes there – I was always confused by the bodies of those teaching the classes and some of the very experienced students practicing it. They all looked sick in different ways – some very over weight with heavy damp coughs, others very thin with no definition to their structure and all had a look of hardness and protection in their body. I stopped doing yoga after I could feel myself going into hardness trying to keep up with the moves and postures.
It is the ‘not trying to get anywhere’ that brings a simplicity that in the beginning was puzzling me. Yoga needed to be hard work, with different postures and also full with judgement, comparison and even jealousy. Now I love the stillness in connection with what lays inside my body and how esoteric yoga asks me to be present and to appreciate all that is revealed in my session about my connection with with me, with God.
Your blog highlights the power of words and is indicative of how we use a word without knowing what it means from practical experience, only from our heads in theories or concepts at best. This is a great trap for man because the true lived meaning of words is becoming divorced from its day to day use and this leaves the door open to miss interpretation, confusion and bastardisation.
I have also become aware of the overlay of an ‘identity’ that practising yoga can offer – which is seductive in the allure of the trim body, and the recognition of belonging to an ‘in’ spiritual practice, and for many other reasons as well, but once I could see those allures and the illusion underlying it all, it was easy to let it go, as it was clear this recognition and identity is just one step further away from the truth of who we are.
Attempting to practise yoga I could feel functionally better than before exercising at all and yet something in the practice did not ever seem right, and I would often abandon the ‘yoga’ practice to just revert to some simple stretching – and only then I would start to feel clearer and more connected – the other was forced and unpleasant on the body – kind of an endurance session- but most importantly the truth of connection to the body and to our awareness was missing.
I can relate here – the body feeling tight and achy from constant yoga practice – not free flowing, light expanded and aware and greater sense of wellbeing.. that kind of yoga brought no true connection
The proverbial dangling carrot that is ‘forever enticing me to get to an elusive destination outside of me and far away’ is something that we can all get hooked on Fiona. Unfortunately it only serves to take us further away from ourselves and our innermost which is our true strength and power.
I now realise that the striving and achieving towards something outside of myself will only keep me in a perpetual state of unease and lack of settlement. It also indicates that I am in an illusion that I need to attain something and that I am not enough, instead of surrendering to all I am already and confirming my divinity as a soul.
I am deeply grateful for the inspiration, particularly the ‘mini sessions’. I have found it particularly challenging just surrendering into my body and letting myself feel what I’ve been trying to run from, so as a result, I have avoided esoteric yoga – even though when I have let myself be there with it I have felt the tremendous delicateness and power in my connection to my body. No more running.
A ‘simply Divine’ blog too. The words ‘A way that I felt I already knew…’ ring so true with me. It is apparent to me that when we connect deeply in this way it is because it accords with something that is already within us rather than hitting on a new idea or belief that comes from outside. Our whole being chimes in harmony with the realisation of truth expressed.
There has been little evidence the truth in the current forms of yoga being lived by its teachers and students despite the many hundreds of styles. Yoga is a Union and way of life – a living that connection with the All. Esoteric Yoga unfolds that deepening connection with our bodies that allows us to connect to the all of life.
Interesting to read that true union with our bodies and ourselves has nothing to do with trying or striving or studying or competing or pushing but simply surrendering and allowing knowing that it is all already there ready to be connected to and expressed out.
When I practiced hatha yoga, I was always chasing the next posture to perfect. I would push and push my body to get into the next complex shape, ignoring the pain in my joints and discomfort in my body. It was as if I thought I would somehow find the ‘union’ I had been seeking in being able to ‘do’ all the postures. The only yoga I now practice is Esoteric Yoga. There are no fancy postures to perform, just an invitation to connect to the stillness within.
The Esoteric Yoga is a truly divine way to reconnect to the stillness that lies within us all. It absolutley is the union of body and soul in the truest sense.
Fiona you give beautiful credit to a divine modality. What I got from reading your blog was how esoteric yoga is something that builds trust in your connection with yourself and God, that then allows you to live this connection in all you do. Where as other yoga gives you moments where you get to feel different than you do during the day, which I would call moments of checking out, and you don’t walk away with anything that then supports you connect within, there is no healing on offer only another moment to escape your everyday.
As soon as we invest in trying to get something or somewhere we have already failed. Trying is the total opposite of knowing and living through the connection that is constantly available within – no trying required.
It is interesting to read about your experience of yoga Fiona. Having taught conventional yoga for so many years, you were able let go of it to follow what felt true for you is inspiring.
How divine that you can feel the grace and union with yourself and God through Esoteric Yoga Fiona, thank you; I love your simple, true and loving expression;
“I can feel what union truly is; it is a relationship with me. And in this, I can feel my connection to God.”
I have done the mainstream yoga and my body hurt like… a lot. Back then a part of me thought that well maybe it should hurt, that is was a good thing but now I realise that we need to be very precious with our bodies for true union to occur.
I experienced this too in the handful of classes of mainstream yoga I attended. In my experience to be precious with our body was not taught in the classes and hence why I didn’t experience true union. In contrast the love, care and delicateness I experienced with Esoteric Yoga classes was simply exquisite.
We can so easily get locked in on a way and absolutely dedicating in pursuing it and yet actually we’re taking ourselves further away – we’re compounding ourselves away from our bodies especially when we find something that comforts or relieves us. Often we do not want to give it up or more importantly admit to ourselves we’ve been fooling ourselves. It takes courage to admit we’re off track and be open to the truth and that’s what I feel hugely here, a willingness to say no to it and allow the space for truth to present. How often do we allow this in our lives?
Esoteric Yoga offers us the opportunity to experience that God is within ourselves and that when we choose to align to that, our movements reflect the fluidity and power of the universe.
Esoteric Yoga can be practiced anywhere, which means we can connect to our body and union with God at any time. This is what I love about Esoteric Yoga, so simple and easy to practice.
The magic in Esoteric Yoga for me happens not so much during the session, but afterwards. What I connect to in the session I realise I can live every moment, through the quality of how I move. There is no relief during the session, in fact it’s the opposite. There is an understanding of how I have lived up until that moment and what choices I have made that lead me to that moment. I have realised that I do have choices in each moment. It’s a most brilliant modality.
What you’ve shared Jennifer is my experience of Esoteric Yoga too. The first few sessions of Esoteric Yoga was excruciating for me because it exposed how I have been living and using my body in hardness and drive. What I experience after the sessions was stillness I had never experienced before. Amazing to be able to connect to this with such simplicity and ease.
Esoteric Yoga, in all its simplicity and at once endless depth, offers the opportunity to once again foster a connection and indeed relationship of union with the being of love that we are within, with the divinity of our true essence. Fiona has beautifully described the truth of the way it offers here: “…a beauty of simply being there with no need to try and nothing to reach or gain.”
Should this be experienced, all practices which have had us enshackled in endless attainment, trying and striving are at once exposed. We begin to unravel one of the deepest curses upon humanity, i.e. the illusion that we are not ‘the whole deal’ to begin with. As is taught by Serge Benhayon, to live from the Esoteric is to live from a foundation that one is first and foremost a Son of God (to begin with) – our path of return to living this truth in full, is simply about discarding all that we have taken on that is not in line with our truth, that the Son may once again shine in all of his or her glory.
What is shared here by Fiona is deeply exposing of many a spiritual path, or indeed foray into achieving in any area of life: “I felt I was actually going further away from the truth and far from the union spoken of.”
How often are we promised ‘nirvana’, bliss or indeed an outcome of liberation from human life… by a system, modality and way that actually takes us further away from our true selves. A system that compels us to always be striving for more, and thus negating the fact that connection to our essence, and union with God, our soul and the all rests within every single one of us.
The truth – our truth, of who we naturally and essentially are – rests within every one of us. No striving or endless ‘bettering’ of ourselves required, but rather, a surrender to the magnificence of the potential ever-awaiting within.
“I tasted a union with my own body and felt a quality of stillness within me. This feeling came from being with my body, and so I realised I could feel this any time that I choose to be with me. It is available in every moment. This kind of union is something very practical, and something I could live every day.” This is where God is. When we choose to be with ourselves we find union with God.
Such honesty and simplicity in the way you described the futility of seeking yoga = union through postures and relaxation techniques; it is indeed a perpetual carrot, dangled in front of us but never delivering. And taking us further and further away from ourselves, to top it all.
Well said Gabriele – twisting ones body like a pretzel will not deliver the connection we so desperately seek, but it will provide relief from the reality that we have stepped away from our divinity. So… really… there is no need to twist and bend and hurt the body – all that is needed is to clock the level of disconnection being lived and make the choices to choose differently knowing that everything we need is already within.
Wow 30 years of practise and 20 years of teaching yoga and still no clarity of what being in ‘union’ might actually mean, let alone knowing it from your practise as a natural by-product, which is what would be sensible to assume at least after a few years of dedicated practise. One session of Esoteric Yoga and I knew exactly what is meant by union… and I still do to this day, some 8-10 years later, with every Esoteric Yoga session offering the potential to deepen this connection and awareness more. It is a practise that feels like communing with my Soul, with God and with divinity… all one and the same energy in fact.
Esoteric Yoga offers everyone the space to truly feel the union with yourself and God, and the more I surrender to this feeling the more deeply connected to everyone and everything I feel.
A simply Divine sharing of the depth and power of Esoteric Yoga to bring us back to the stillness that lives within. ” My body feels free again, my breath tender and my expression can be felt and heard in the world.”
Yes Esoteric Yoga is so very simple and yet so very profound and allows us an actual feeling of what union – yoga – really and truly is.
What a beautiful sharing, it is absolutely union with one self and the connection to God. How lovingly Esoteric Yoga brings us back to our beautiful stillness.
Yes this is a true pathway back to ourselves through Esoteric Yoga. So simple and accessible to all ages.
Union with our higher selves and God; how divine Fiona, thank you. Esoteric Yoga invites union with ourselves and union with one another;
To understand the simplicity of ‘union’ is very powerful Fiona, I love what you’ve shared and what it offers by way of practical understanding of this term… “I can feel what union truly is; it is a relationship with me. And in this, I can feel my connection to God.” Nothing airy-fairy, not out-there-spiritual, not elusive, not special, no postures or poses required, no hard discipline… just simple, connection and relationship with your own body!
“Previously, if I wanted to override any uncomfortable feeling, I could always do a pose or a breathing technique to make it go away.” Just another form of distraction albeit well disguised under the label of ‘good for you’.
Great point Tamara. So often when we are doing something that is ‘good’ for us when in fact it is actually harmful long-term as it just a panacea which makes us feel comfortable in the moment.
Mini session everywhere…Love it.
‘It feels like I have re-opened a window long closed and allowed streams of light to pour out from it. Union through yoga – Simply Divine!’ As our body is a part of the Universe we shine just like the stars from the connection we have with our own body, the stillness that lives inside
It is such an excellent way to look at union, that through union with ourself in our own body, that is available to all, and union with others naturally happens.
The union I feel is indeed with my body and from that I feel I can connect to the divine, God, instead of the other way around and trying to connect to the ‘higher self’ above me and not feeling my body.
I love returning to this blog and being reminded of the simple joy of connection, and how our every movement can be in connection or not, a Esoteric Yoga is such a great support in this, and something you can take out with you wherever you go.
‘There was a depth and simplicity that resounded somewhere deep within me – a beauty of simply being there with no need to try and nothing to reach or gain.’ I know my body is very grateful that I have stopped pushing it in all kind of postures as long as possible and as far as no one else could do, and why this headache the day after? Now I would say my body reflected to me how frustrated. Esoteric Yoga is the complete opposite, I feel a solid connection with myself and I am just with my body very tenderly and I take this into every day and when I lose it I can connect wherever I am just in the posture I am, simple but divine at the same time.
What we would call ‘union’ was here before that word came. Your sharing reminds me: I teach English and I see how students always find it hard to increase their vocabularies and they always try writing them down so many times to memorise how they are written and what they mean in their own language, and it takes them long time trying to comprehend a sentence as they then move around the words to fit into their familiar form of grammar to make sense of it. Phew. However, when we can relate it to our lived experience, there’s no need to apply translation, we simply get it – we know what ‘white’ is without knowing that word. Sometimes we make things way too complicated for what it is.
Hi Fiona, I’ve enjoyed reading your blog, I agree with you about the Esoteric Yoga practitioners “I could feel how deeply the presenter was connected to their body, and how steady they felt.”, there is also a contented-ness to them. I’ve found the way Esoteric Yoga practitioners are very inspiring, it’s not in what they say but how they are with themselves.
“…in Esoteric Yoga, I can feel grace and the healing of truly listening to my body.” So true. The stillness and timelessness experienced in Esoteric Yoga, allowing true connection, feels amazing.
Yes nothing is quite like feeling the stillness and the connection that can only be described as the beautiful spaciousness that can be found within each and everyone of us if we are prepared to stop and connect to it. Esoteric Yoga allows us that stop.
The deep connection with ourselves and God is found in stillness. Esoteric Yoga brings this stillness and connection in a very simple way. Human beings seem to want to complicate things when the answer is simple and within them all along.
The way you have shared your experience of true union is just gorgeous to read and the metaphor of opening a window allowing the streams of light to pour out encapsulates beautifully letting go and releasing what has been buried, enabling you to be free to shine once again. Stunning.
I love how I can take Esoteric Yoga with me wherever I go -it is that simple and that powerful. My perpetual union with myself and thus with God.
I really like the idea of being able to do a mini session of yoga wherever I am. So often I can feel a tension in my body and I know that yoga is the key to unlocking the tension and becoming more accepting of me as I am.
I had always thought that Yoga was somewhat of an add-on to life to help manage and get through. This is so far from the truth. It is actually a tool to help support us to re-connect but to also deepen our relationship with our body, Soul and God.
It’s fascinating to read the stark difference between Esoteric Yoga and yoga as it’s conventionally practised, Esoteric Yoga has taught me a completely different way to be with myself and my body, and introduced a stillness and a much deeper more connected way of living – I love it!
“I felt I was not living any kind of union with myself or God… in fact, I found saying his name impossible.” I find it interesting that you should say this – perhaps it’s because we know that through practicing these modalities we are actually moving further away from God and ourselves although God is always there waiting patiently for our return.
‘Our connection with ourselves and with God has helped me reconnect to that feeling that I had when I was young and looked at the stars.’ So beautiful! I find too that in connection the wonders of the universe are untapped.
‘I have met me’ – what could be more joyful or important. A beautiful reminder of how important the connection we have with our body is – thank you.
Esoteric Yoga brings us a true connection with ourselves and from this a connection with God. A heavenly exercise program.
Having just done an Esoteric Yoga session this morning I can feel a level of stillness in my body that is exquisite, a great foundation to start my day and allow this deep connection to stay with me throughout my day.
Thank you Fiona for this amazing sharing. It is an eye opener to read how you found the Yoga you did for 30 years actually was disconnecting you from union. Whereas Esoteric Yoga brought you to stillness, connecting you to your body and to God bringing true union. This is incredible, you have now found what union really means and feels like in your body.
When Esoteric Yoga first came in to my life I remember feeling so overjoyed that at last here was a very practical everyday technique that I could do each day to support me, there was no need to pay vast amounts of money for special classes only taught on certain days by certain people. Esoteric Yoga is deeply accessible, partly because it is just about your relationship with your own body in the life that you live, which by the way can become so full and rich in connection simply by these very practical techniques.
“I kept going because there was a sense of self worth and identity attached to practising and teaching yoga in this way. It was something I could hide in; I had a false confidence and security. When I taught, I always felt I was someone else – the words I used were not mine.”
I’ve only recently understood the ways and things we use to hide. We can seemingly be out there in public but if we are hiding behind any kind of persona or using anything with which to identify ourselves we are in effect hiding behind it and not allowing others to see us for who we truly are.
Esoteric Yoga has brought me the deepest sense of connection to my body and with it the understanding of how, for so very long, I simply had very little connection to any part of me. Through the Yoga sessions I have slowly become more aware of how my body is truly feeling, as these feelings cannot be hidden when one is in stillness and in union with self. Everything that is not me is exposed and ready for healing, even my previous dis-connection to God, whose name now flows easily from lips after a very long absence.
Awesome Ingrid, I love what you’ve shared. It inspires me to practice Esoteric Yoga more often as this can be applied at anytime and anywhere.
‘I tasted a union with my own body and felt a quality of stillness within me. This feeling came from being with my body, and so I realised I could feel this any time that I choose to be with me.’ This is truly a great feeling when we are able to feel the stillness within us.
Yes, I agree Sally. To feel this exquisite stillness and union in our body is simply magic and what is so incredible is as Fiona shares we can connect to this wherever we are. What we bring into the space that surrounds us with this amazing connection is profound and healing.
Feeling the quality of stillness inside me is still super revolutionary to me, I wonder how my life would have been different if I’d learnt about this earlier, there would have been much less struggle, fight and discontentment in myself – feeling still, settled and content is one of the best feelings in the world.
I could really relate to what you have shared about yoga, I would hear the word union, but didn’t really understand that or feel that in my body, especially when God was thrown in there as well. To connect to myself was a challenge enough, let alone needing to connect to God too. In time, as I did learn to still the very noisy voices inside my head, learning to touch and feel my body, the concept of union became more real. It is still a constant choice to feel and connect, I can do this so much quicker than I used to, loose it but then come back again. The Esoteric Yoga has been instrumental in developing the awareness and ability to do so.
‘Previously, if I wanted to override any uncomfortable feeling, I could always do a pose or a breathing technique to make it go away. I realise now that I was storing my feelings up, burying them deeper in my body, and choosing to ignore what my body was showing me. I was in fact dis-connecting from my body.’ And isn’t this what lots of us have done, consciously or unconsciously, many times? Yoga can be a panacea like anything else. How refreshing to come across a true form of yoga that really does offer us union and allows us a new way of being with ourselves that inspires our every move.
Two things that stood out for me were; certain yoga (techniques) can be used to numb & suppress our unwanted feelings (which seem like control) by choice. Also the effects of the yoga you had done for 30 years. The ineffable effect of how true yoga has supported you to be in connection with yourself, God, and so explore and feel true union again.. were it has been truly all about, even though it was not practised or lived before. I know Esoteric Yoga, and I have been doing it so for over 4 years, it has been truly amazing, deep and supporting being connected with myself. So, knowing the difference of the yoga that is most common practised and the Esoteric Yoga, I deeply recommend the Esoteric Yoga as it is very beneficial. Let us all hear and know all about true yoga.
I have only recently been introduced to Esoteric Yoga and found that I love every session. I have found it to be a powerful way to stop and connect in with my body and feel whatever is there to be felt without judgement. It has taught me about stillness and is something that I have then carried out on into my life. The union with myself and God is full of simplicity and I have learnt that trying just causes the connection to be lost. For me, Esoteric Yoga offers valuable lessons for living life.
‘There was a depth and simplicity that resounded somewhere deep within me – a beauty of simply being there with no need to try and nothing to reach or gain.’ How different with the yoga I have been practising for years, it was all about getting the posture right and stay in it as long as you could. Esoteric yoga has taught me how simple it is to connect to my body and live from the stillness within me, no need to try just be with what my body is communicating with me.
Thank you for sharing Fiona.
Even from the perspective of a profession yoga instructor for 20+ years it was explained there is more to yoga.
Many gyms and organisations now offer yoga classes however to its effectiveness I’m unsure of. When ever I hear someone talk about yoga it seems to be something that can deliver relaxation, down time and rest. However the point that is missed and that Fiona has brought up is the fact that yoga is to re-connect.
Esoteric yoga allows the body the space to be. I find there is no hiding from the things my body wants to tell me and at the same time I feel the awesome stillness that is within me.
Esoteric Yoga allows me to connect to the truth of my body, to feel the steadiness of that truth and as a consequence, allows me to infuse that steadiness into how I live my everyday. Ultimately Esoteric Yoga provides the foundation for me to meet me. I just love it.
Awesome summing up but also feel the grace of Fiona’s honesty and willingness to let go of her years of investment in traditional yoga.
I have tried various forms of yoga over the years and never felt a sense of union with my body but rather a disconnection as I strove to push my body into deeper stretches. It felt like I was in competition with my body whereas Esoteric Yoga offers you space to be with you which I initially found very exposing, particularly of my exhaustion, and often drifted off. Thank you for summing up the difference so beautifully: ‘in Esoteric Yoga, I can feel grace and the healing of truly listening to my body.’
I am loving the phrase describing Esoteric Yoga as being “meeting me”- that says it all really as we spend so much time avoiding this very personal meeting. There seems to be so little “to do” when making this beautiful and heart felt connection with ourselves in an Esoteric Yoga session, that sometimes it is hard to appreciate the simplicity of it all. It is in this stillness and simplicity that the communication between body and soul occurs.
I too have loved connecting to and experiencing the true meaning of Yoga and to feel the divine union to myself that Esoteric Yoga offers. These final words sum up exactly what I have felt in every Esoteric Yoga session. “In these sessions I have met me and I have felt the wonder of what lays within the inner heart. It feels like I have re-opened a window long closed and allowed streams of light to pour out from it. Union through yoga – Simply Divine”: all this amazing insight from simply allowing myself the time and space to stop long enough to re-connect to me and to acknowledge how my body is truly feeling – the ultimate gift of love.
I find that Esoteric Yoga supports me to listen to my body and hear what it is saying and lovingly communicating to me. It provides a depth of awareness that I have never experienced before. And a space and stillness to truly listen as it is not filled with physical activity.
I have done many different yoga styles and like you, every time I had a feeling that I did not like, I would just move into the next posture or there was some other form of distraction. Especially my anxiousness has never been addressed during all those yoga classes I did as I was still always on the move so to speak, but then on my yoga mat. With Esoteric Yoga I have been introduced in what yoga truly means and what union is all about. I have never experienced this with any other kind of yoga.
Union with self and God – this is beautifully expressed here, Fiona, in a way I can really understand – a quality of stillness within me, coming from being present with my body, there to feel whenever I choose. Nowhere to get to, just allowing me and my body to be. That’s a true relationship with me and in it, I can feel that stillness, my essence and my connection to God. As you say, esoteric yoga is ‘immensely practical’ and immediately available whenever we may need it.
Thank you Fiona for sharing your experiences with Esoteric Yoga. I also practised Yoga for many years and I never once felt a deep connection to myself, usually I was left feeling quite jittery after a class because I had pushed and contorted my body into unnatural positions that my nervous system was still affected. Esoteric Yoga is a beautiful modality that truly supports the body to surrender and invite a deep stillness that is gorgeous to feel. This line stood out for me and is a reminder of what Esoteric Yoga truly offers us -‘ I can feel what union truly is; it is a relationship with me. And in this, I can feel my connection to God.’
I hear what you are saying Harryjwhite, I would cringe when I said or heard the word God, that was until I heard Serge Benhayon say it and with this came a familiar knowing.
Nowadays saying God is much more easier and as I claim God’s love in me in I also see it in everyone else. For too long God’s name has been used for others own gain. When you hear the word said in truth there is no mistaking the almighty love we are all held in.
Love this Mary, “as I deepen my connection to me I deepen my connection to God”. So true and the connection with God is Love.
I too have done the traditional Yoga and found it hardened my body as I had to get into these twisted positions resulting in the end a feeling of exhaustion. Once I experienced Esoteric Yoga there was no going back as I felt the connection with the body, the stillness and Love which was present which I had never known before. A beautiful modality that supports us in our return to ourselves.
Having practiced many forms of yoga and taught for a while I can honestly say that nothing compares to Esoteric Yoga in that it gives you no empty promises, no carrot to follow. Esoteric yoga simply offers reconnection back to yourself.
For me the biggest difference with other forms of Yoga and Esoteric Yoga is that we get to feel what’s happening on the inside – in our whole body and and in our mind and heart allowing us to feel connected from a stillness deep within.
Gorgeous Fiona! I can so relate to what you’ve shared here of your experience with yoga. For me too what I found with my experience of mainstream yoga was of such identification, I can see now reflecting back on the 3 years of intensive dedication as a student, how comfortable I was in hiding behind the term, yet burying me deeper in all the myriad of ways I was using to not truly feel my body. Esoteric Yoga is everything that mainstream yoga is not, and yes a truly divine union it is.
Yes Giselle I understand what you mean about identification, I did an intense kundalini yoga course and that was looking back, all about making yourself better then another – Yuk! No wonder my periods stopped for 6 months while I was doing it. – it was completely harmful for my body, mind and emotional being.
This is such a huge topic. Where has all the yoga disciplines lead us? I never knew the word yoga meant “union” until I came across Esoteric Yoga. I first started to attend yoga sessions because I wanted to stretch and allow more flexibility in my body. I chose a gentle form of yoga for this purpose and never felt drawn to all the others as they seemed more about pushing the body and I knew of many that suffered injuries from their practise. Esoteric Yoga offers the possibility of connecting to stillness and really feeling each and every part of your body. It expands your awareness and in that one can surrender with the body not push. Often it shows me how exhausted I am which I often push through to get on with my day. When one pushes through this exhaustion we can then make choices that are not so great for the body. When I surrender to my body I honour it more and feel the joy of finding the stillness within, which as Fiona shares can be connected to at any point in the day. There is no posing in Esoteric Yoga!
I find Esoteric Yoga a truly exquisite modality that allows you to truly come back to yourself and your body, reminding you of the stillness within and when the connection is honoured and held, can be taken into your day and lived in everything you do. Practical, powerful and deeply, deeply beautiful.
Thank you for sharing your experiences Fiona. I did yoga teacher training years ago and it was a really awkward and unenjoyable experience.Like you mention, more poses etc but never a feeling of connecting to the self because there was so much ‘doing’ in it.
I believe Yoga itself has very genuine origins ,do we need to let it evolve like everything else on earth does ? ………this way we honour the true expression esoteric yoga offers us because it brings ‘stillness’ as the perfect union in today’s fast paced world of motion.
You are right Fiona, Esoteric Yoga is available anytime and are like a mini session we can give to our selves. I realised as I was reading your blog that I can choose to do this more often – a loving embrace, a moment of appreciation and connection. Thank you for your beautiful blog and reminder of what we can all choose.
Thank you Fiona for your beautiful expression and gentle reminder of how absolutely gorgeous Esoteric Yoga is; like yours, my body loves it.
“It is a relationship with me. And in this, I can feel my connection to God”; What you have written here is very profound for me.
The word “Yoga” has been so bastardized that few people really know what it means. I have been a so called “yoga teacher” as well, well studied with a so called “yoga master”. In truth I was not a yoga teacher, I was a teacher for how to disconnect yourself from your body. Therein I was a master… Today I call myself a student of yoga, I know how to connect to my body and learn from what unfolds from there.
Thank you for your honesty, felixschumacher8. Beautiful to be a student when this is what we are. And sometimes we are able to present and share our livingness.
Exactly felixschumacher8. When I did yoga it was always about the body on the outside and the positions you could get it into. Esoteric Yoga is a totally different feeling as it is about connecting with inside the body which is the true marker of how the body is living.
Yes Fiona I too find Esoteric Yoga to be a practical and handy part of my daily routine that can continuously re-connect me back to my glorious self and that is pure magic.
“It is a relationship with me. And in this, I can feel my connection to God” – this is so beautiful, and having experienced Esoteric Yoga I know it’s true and possible.
Yes, Fiona, it is truly divine 🙂 You have said something that I would love to expand on “if I wanted to override any uncomfortable feeling, I could always do a pose or a breathing technique to make it go away.” I can see this is how we have been taught to deal with things that make us feel uncomfortable, find a technique to make it go away. But the Esoteric Yoga has taught me that it is actually that I am absorbing that emotion and that is why it feels so yuck in my body. If I connect to my body I can feel there is a stillness in my body that is not the uncomfortable feeling I was identifying with. It is almost like dropping down one layer. Thank you for your blog which has helped me to appreciate all that I have learnt from my esoteric yoga practice.
‘If I connect to my body I can feel there is a stillness in my body that is not the uncomfortable feeling I was identifying with. It is almost like dropping down one layer.’ So true Lucy and I too can feel how this blog has supported me to appreciate the amazing modality of Esoteric Yoga more deeply.
Beautifully said Lucy and Helen. By ‘dropping down one layer’ this effectively allows us to let go of and discard something that is not true, just like the proverbial peeling of the onion does.
Fiona what you describe in your awesome blog about yoga is very revealing. I could feel that the union in esoteric yoga is the union with the body. And it seems that the other yoga is a union with something what is not clearly mentioned – so my question – to what are the people in the other yoga are connecting??? I like the esoteric yoga because for me there is a clarity in what a true connection is.
Your honesty is awesome. I also deeply connected to what you shared “I can feel what union truly is; it is a relationship with me. And in this, I can feel my connection to God.” This is quaility I have found when practicing Esoteric Yoga a true Union, I can feel how my body is part of the whole universe and not in isolation.
So true Samantha and I know that too, when in true union I feel confident and connected with the all and with all people around me. It feels so natural to be in union with God and for me this is because I am from there. The only question is why have I walked away from that?
Fiona I too have felt the true connection that comes from practising esoteric yoga, nothing else before it has brought me into my body in the way that it does. I feel esoteric yoga offers us that true Union as we connect to our body and can feel every choice we have made. It is such an amazing and supportive modality.
Agree with all you said Fiona, having practiced yoga for many years searching for union and love – always feeling the emptiness within myself, the teachers and the yoga. Since I have experienced the Esoteric Yoga, I finally feel the true union of yoga and connection with God and myself – it’s beautiful!
Beautifully expressed Fiona. Esoteric Yoga offers the opportunity to re-connect to our body and our stillness within. And I love what you have shared here – ‘I can feel what union truly is; it is a relationship with me. And in this, I can feel my connection to God.’ – Yes I agree, that this feeling is something I could and want to live with every day.
Me too Carola, and the thing is we can be living with this amazing connection every day, Esoteric Yoga can support us to do this and because it is so simply, applicable and accessible it is only a simple choice to connect or not. So, thank you for reminding me that yes, I can connect to stillness, to myself and to God every day in every moment too.
What I love is how this connection offers an ever-deepening discovery within of the more that is waiting to be lived.
Esoteric yoga is a wonderful marker of truth and how we live our lives. It can show us so much in such simple, gentle movements. Now that’s simply divine. Thank you Fiona.
I tried yoga a few times and did find it could be quite competitive, even a competition with myself as well as comparing with others and the poses that I would strain to try and get in. None of this felt to me like something I would want to pursue, as I was basically attending a competitive stretching class. I have found esoteric yoga to be much more a focus on connecting to how my body is feeling and not shutting off to any pain or discomfort, creating that union that is what yoga is, I believe from my limited understanding is all about.
Fiona, what an appreciating post this is on true yoga versus the “wishy washy” mis-interpreted kind that strives exhaustedly for perfection and holds one tight in a pose, tight in life, tight to God. I completely love the modality, Esoteric Yoga for the space it offers to connect to the body and feel the beauty of stillness that is us with God.
I love reading lines like these from students….” I went to a talk by Serge Benhayon and I felt for the first time a deep knowing that there was indeed another way which felt more true”. It is so true, it is a deep knowing and something that is felt – not forced upon us, no brainwashing, no cults, none of that. Just Serge (well not just, but you know what I mean) presenting the Ageless Wisdom and us re-connecting back to it – a deep knowing of it to be true.
I love Esoteric Yoga and I have just started a 6 weeks online course. I had my first session this week and I already feel the difference. It is a shift in my awareness, a deepening of the connection with my body and my stillness. It is the only form of yoga that I know is true.
We have made yoga into such a complex form with all the different types of yoga, asanas and meditations which I also was caught up in for many years and like you Fiona it always was something I was searching for from outside of myself. Now after doing Esoteric yoga, I realise there was no union in the way that I used to do yoga. Connecting to that stillness within myself, the union of the mind and the body. “I can feel what union truly is; it is a relationship with me” yes union through yoga is simply divine.
“in Esoteric Yoga, I can feel grace and the healing of truly listening to my body.
So simple yet so divine, thank you Fiona.
Divine indeed Fiona. This pops the lid on the true meaning of yoga.
Thankyou Fiona. This blog was a great reminder for me that our true connection to God can only be found through stillness.
Esoteric Yoga is simply diviine. I don’t think I ever really knew what it meant to be still until being introduced to this form of yoga. My mind and spirit still try their darndest to take me away from this stillness but this is such a good way to feel where I am at.
Esoteric Yoga is so simple and easy, we are just connecting with what we already are, and allowing our body to be in its most natural state. That is something that I would participate in. And I like how you said you have mini sessions everywhere now. It means that we can choose to be with ourselves wherever we go and choose the quality of how we are all of the time.
Awesome Fiona, very beautiful blog. I did attend some combination of dance, Tai Chi and yoga classes called Body Balance many years ago. I found it too intense to just do conventional yoga classes. I went to Body Balance to meet people and as a form of stretching my body for a bit of exercise. I always found it difficult to motivate myself to attend those classes but I did enjoy them. Esoteric Yoga is entirely different, at first I found it difficult to connect to my body but once I learnt how to, I was able to practice anywhere at any time. It is amazing stillness I was able to connect to in my body. There were no poses or stretches. I can be practicing Esoteric Yoga anytime of the day. It enables me to truly connect to my body.
Well said Fiona – the dangling carrot syndrome in the Yoga industry is a theme that I found was running in most Yoga teachers when I was managing a Yoga school. Everyone I met that was really into doing Yoga postures was also looking for that next guru, the next teacher training course or trip to India as if the practice itself was promoting this deep level of dissatisfaction that kept its adherent constantly looking outside of them as they were never enough and had to keep striving.
The striving was often physical- as if getting two legs behind ones head would deliver one closer to God…….
Esoteric Yoga was the first kind of Yoga – and I pretty much had tried them all – that delivered the union I was looking for.
I have practiced many forms of yoga and none are as powerful as Esoteric yoga for helping develop that true connection back to oneself. I have found that Esoteric Yoga is a deeply divine way to help deepen that relationship with myself and God.
I was never really into yoga, I tried it for a bit and found it difficult to breath and straining on my body, therefore I felt it wasn’t something for me. I have just been introduced to Esoteric Yoga recently and I love how easy it is to deeply connect to my body and to God. It is such a simple yet very power technique.
Thank you Fiona, I have shared your experience. I had done yoga years ago too. But the level of stillness and depth and understanding that comes from esoteric yoga is like no other I have experienced.
It’ is alarming to hear how far from the truth a technique such as Yoga, that has the pure intentions to reconnect to the body has been distorted and used against our bodies to override what it is really telling us.
I totally agree Jaime. Yoga is on sale to us world wide as an activity that can reduce stress, help us to focus our mind and lengthen and open our body, when all along it doesn’t do any of these things fully or long term unless we are deeply and genuinely connecting to who we really are. I have found that Universal Medicine is the only organisation that has shown me how I can not only connect to my inner-self, but live from here.
I can relate Fiona to the “carrot dangling” that most yoga out there offers. I too practised, studied and taught yoga for over a decade, always searching for union, but never experienced it until I practised Esoteric Yoga. My first Esoteric Yoga class felt like I had come home. I finally experienced the true meaning of yoga and it has been such a delight to discover that it is with us all of the time, within. It’s not in any posture or breathing technique, it is in the choice to be with ourselves.
Thank you for simplifying Esoteric Yoga, and how it can be a normal everyday activity that can be easily implemented into our lives to greatly support anyone
Esoteric Yoga was a whole new experience for me as well. After hearing about conscious presence for a long time, I experienced it for the first time during Estoeric Yoga – to have the body and mind doing the same thing at the same time. Oh it was challenging – and it sometimes still is – but I have a marker now of what it feels like to be in true union with myself, and this I will be forever deepening.
“a beauty of simply being there with no need to try and nothing to reach or gain.” – This feels lovely when you can allow yourself to just be.
Thank you for exposing the important difference between the common yoga and the yoga of stillness. I relate to what you are saying a lot – thank you.
Union with my body, something I would very much love to practice more of. As I read of people’s experiences with it, I’m inspired to keep working with my connection. I’m very good at connecting for a very short time and then moving on to the next thing without connection, as if it’s a little something I need to do, rather than have with me all of the time. I can absolutely see the benefit, but am also aware that with that comes responsibility to feel where my body is at all of the time. A big one.
Beautiful sharing Fiona. I will never do any other form of yoga again, I’m certain. I had really liked the idea of yoga for some time and found different classes, but nothing seemed to gel for me, so I would lose interest, and could not understand why. When I then found Esoteric Yoga, I understood; this is like day and night to any other Yoga practice; and truly supportive and regenerating.
Gosh what a beautiful blog and sharing of your experiences with yoga. I felt the breath of God when I read your words, I relaxed and re-connected to myself and my own breath just reading this. Esoteric Yoga is such”…a beauty of simply being there with no need to try and nothing to reach or gain”. To connect to that has been a life changer for me as I have spent so much of my life trying to do something, be someone, reaching for something and through the wisdom of Universal Medicine teachings and therapies – Esoteric Yoga being a key one – I have reconnected to the simplicity of just being there, with no need to try or do. It’s super challenging to start with, but with practise and dedication it gets easier….and also pretty divine.
Fiona, your words “… I can feel what union truly is; it is a relationship with me. And in this, I can feel my connection to God.” offer a graceful healing. Wonderful!
Those words stood out for me too Helen. They make me deeply feel what true yoga is all about instead of the yoga of intense body stretches and postures I saw around when I was young. It is really beautiful to feel the truth of yoga again and it is indeed a graceful healing to read these words.
Well said Helen, our commitment to this union with ourselves not only allows us to constantly evolve our relationship with ourselves but graces us with the support to heal our hurts and clear our issues in a way that allows us to let them go while in the same process nourishes and supports all others to do the same.
I really appreciated this blog, coming from a teacher of yoga. My experience with yoga was always different and interesting, yet like you Fiona, it never gave me a sense true union with anything. Yes my body liked being moved and stretched if I kept within my own capabilities, but it never gave me a lasting sense of what yoga actually was. When I first did esoteric yoga I realised how disconnected I was from my body – it was quite extroaordinary! With some dedication to the process, I stayed with it, because what I felt was union for the first time and I loved it when I had the ‘aha’ moments of feeling all of me. Now it is something I can do just with a gentle breath and laying my hand tenderly on my leg, just enough to bring me back to me.
Thank you for this mini session your blog allows for! ‘The grace and healing of truly listening to my body.’ Divine indeed.
I really appreciate your explanation of the difference between yoga and esoteric yoga. My first experience with esoteric yoga was difficult as I wanted to get up and go and do something else, such was the motion in my body. Gradually the motion eased and I was able to connect to myself in divine stillness.
Thank you Fiona for this true inspiration , I too practiced so called yoga and hurt my body daily in the name of union. Esoteric yoga offers true union, no pain, no contorted twisted body poses, just a tender warm connection with the divine, our true being filling the body with yumminess.
Fiona – it is powerful to hear your story as someone who previously was so involved as a teacher of mainstream asana-based ‘yoga’ and how you had experienced that, as compared to what you now experience with Esoteric yoga.
Really insightful to read of your experiences with ‘yoga’ and your discovery of ‘union’. I have struggled to use the name ‘God’, I have always felt a strong connection to something still within but have had some issues expressing it. Esoteric Yoga supports this connection and its expression. I love what you say “I can feel what union truly is; it is a relationship with me. And in this, I can feel my connection to God.” And as you say it is available at any time.
Esoteric Yoga has been a game changer for me. I too used to feel unpleasant feelings and emotions in life and did not know how to deal with them so I would ignore them and pretend they were not there. I became so skilled at this particular form of burring my issues that I started to not even realise they were there, underneath, simmering, waiting for a situation to arise where they could explode. I would blame the explosion on the situation without realising the situation was just triggering those old issues I had buried. Esoteric Yoga gave me the space to allow these issues to come up and simply feel them, this simple technique of feeling them has supported the healing and clearing of these issues. When I first did Esoteric Yoga I squirmed in my own skin, but when I let myself drop into myself it became one of the most beautiful exercises I did for myself. I highly recommend Esoteric Yoga.
What a beautiful description of esoteric yoga and your union with self. This coming home, this connection within is so powerful and real.
What you describe is real. I have tried that old yoga you describe and also the one that was introduced by Serge Benhayon. The latter is so simple and so wonderful to do and it truly connects with inside and with god 100%.
If you never found union in other forms of yoga, although the word may have been known to the presenters, the understanding of what that actually means or how to live it in a practical way may not be clear to them. With Esoteric Yoga the practical experience and knowing of union is foundational to the modality.
“Union through Yoga” – how amazing is that :o)
Esoteric Yoga for me has been the key to unlock the cage to which I had confined myself as it enabled me to feel my body and myself again.
Esoteric Yoga is so empowering for me in the connecting with my body. I have learned that my body is bringing me the truth and therefore I have to treat it as such, being in constant and conscious connection with it as it will always show me the way forward I have to go.
As I read your blog on your yoga experiences Fiona, I could feel all the striving and pushing of the body in the pursuit of the ideal of union, yoga. It felt exhausting just to read it and I know well what you are speaking of from my own past yoga experiences. Fast forward to esoteric yoga which as you say starts from the point of just allowing myself to be with my body with whatever is going on, no need to change anything. With this apparently simple technique I have experienced a profound stillness within my body, and felt my body go through shifts and changes on it’s own accord without my having to do anything except show up and be as consciously present as I can be. Esoteric yoga is an immensely powerful modality.
I had practiced different kinds of yoga for a few years before I came across Universal Medicine and can relate to the pushing. For me it was all about perfecting the postures in a pursuit to have a ‘toned’ body and an empty feeling of wanting to be recognized. It took me a while to truly appreciate Esoteric yoga but now I absolutely love it and couldn’t agree more with you josephinebe2012. in that Esoteric yoga is an immensely powerful modality.
I remember the push too, Caroline from old yoga days, and the first time I did Esoteric Yoga, I found the repeated bending of the knee a bit tedious and uncomfortable without any of the relief afforded by traditional yoga poses. And although I enjoyed the stillness offered In Esoteric Yoga I would often fall asleep. However, I have grown to love this amazing modality and am constantly surprised how the body can reconfigure itself with apparently doing very little, and also the depth that is on offer through this very simple practice.
This felt so right for me to read today Fiona. Going into the Universal Medicine retreat today, and doing Esoteric Yoga as part of it is something I have been really looking forward to doing again. It is something I have resisted and even hated in the past for what it brought up and exposed to me – how I was really feeling in my body (exhausted). This time around I am looking to embrace it with open arms and welcome whatever comes with it. I know it will be profound healing for me. Thank you for your sharing on it, and allowing me to reconnect with this modality once again.
Thank you Fiona, yes union through esoteric yoga is simply divine.
There was a depth and simplicity that resounded somewhere deep within me – a beauty of simply being there with no need to try and nothing to reach or gain. I had this same feeling, after years and years practising yoga always reaching for the perfect pose, the esoteric yoga brought me back to my body, to me, to God.
“In these sessions I have met me and I have felt the wonder of what lays within the inner heart” truly beautiful.
Thank you Fiona for your blog. It brings to me the awareness of my body as I am sitting writing this post, the union of my body with my inner self.
“I can feel what union truly is; it is a relationship with me. And in this, I can feel my connection to God” Awesome bringing the truth back to what yoga really is.
Wow – Fiona what you wrote about Esoteric Yoga in your blog is something that would make me curious!!!! The way you wrote is so full of yoga in every word – how wonderful. I do this yoga by myself and I agree in every word you wrote.
I did an esoteric yoga session today. I felt agitated and resistant to start it and after the first ten minutes I was in love with the power of the practice. It is so simple – it offers a space to stop, feel and be with the body. Even when my body feels lopsided and hard in places I can be aware of it and still revel in the bigger feeling which is a connection to the me that is much more than just how my body feels.
It is very true that words such as ‘Union’ get thrown around but remain just concepts that we don’t truly understand. We cannot truly understand it until we experience it energetically in our bodies, and this is what Esoteric Yoga invites and helps us to do.
Thank you Fiona, the part where you said:
“Previously, if I wanted to override any uncomfortable feeling, I could always do a pose or a breathing technique to make it go away. I realise now that I was storing my feelings up, burying them deeper in my body, and choosing to ignore what my body was showing me. I was in fact dis-connecting from my body.”
This spoke loud and clear to me as I used to (and still do find myself) doing activity’s to override what I’m feeling.
It is so common to think that if we make a feeling go away, by a posture or breathing or eating it is fixed. Yet we know we need to keep doing those things to make it ‘go away’. We don’t want to know that a feeling is coming up as a way for our body to say ‘something isn’t right’. When we do something to change that feeling we are saying, “I don’t want to know, I just want you to go away”. It is then squashed back into our body where it doesn’t belong. This will keep creating tension and will eventually have to come out again.
Hi Fiona, what you say here makes so much sense and you’ve described and explained it so clearly. Thank you. We can spend so much time fighting ourselves, but knowing that feelings are coming up for a reason really changes how we can view them. I will definitely take this into my day today.
Thank you Fiona. I remember attending my first Esoteric yoga session, I felt sooo beautiful in a way that I had not experienced before and the beauty felt very fragile and coming from inside of me. I shared this with one of the participants how beautiful ‘it’ the feeling was. She reminded me that that beauty is me. Today when I move without needing to rush I feel that same exquisite beauty inside of me and then that’s when I know I am at one with God. I always believed one had to try hard, work hard and be good to be with God, now I know it’s as simple as building a connection every day with what’s within and living with that.
Beautifully expressed Shevon. Loved your example of being at one with god.
True Shevon, and I find esoteric yoga really supports building the connection with my body and what is within me.
Woao Shevon, what you write is so beautiful! It truly is so simple to be one with God and it is so amazing to build that connection with oneself. If it wasn’t for the part that always likes to make things complicated and is so invested in the dramas and stimulations of life.
Beautiful shevonsimon, what a lovely reminder that the feeling of absolute exquisiteness we can feel is actually us and how yoga is an amazing tool to help us reconnect to that.
Your beautiful blog is inspiring Fiona. The simplicity of esoteric Yoga. Thank you.
Yes very much so and what I love about Esoteric Yoga is how it is “a beauty of simply being there with no need to try and nothing to reach or gain.” Just being in your stillness.
This is beautiful Fiona and you describe what I have also felt –
“In these sessions I have met me and I have felt the wonder of what lays within the inner heart. It feels like I have re-opened a window long closed and allowed streams of light to pour out from it. Union through yoga – Simply Divine!”
So true, Esoteric Yoga is so simple and very practical in its daily application. When I did Hatha yoga for a short time, I found the accepted mysticism about union and what yoga was really about, or where it could take you (enlightenment etc), was all just a smoke screen for not really knowing the answer. We never got any true clarity on that topic as there was none. Esoteric Yoga is so simple because it takes you to you, not just to the body but to the divine essence. I love how practical it is (not mystical, hidden or shrouded) and that it’s something you can practise in session, deepen, and then take into your day to day moments. No one is better at it or elite because it’s just about connecting back to you. No one can compete with us on that point since we are the only one that can connect to ourselves!
” I can feel what union truly is; it is a relationship with me. And in this, I can feel my connection to God.” Such a beautiful and profound statement. Esoteric Yoga is an amazing modality, bringing stillness to my body which I can then take out into everyday living.
Fiona, thank you for making it so simple. I loved your realisation that you can have ‘mini sessions’ anywhere, that opportunity to be in connection with ourselves and divine union is ever available – we just have to choose it.
“a beauty of simply being there with no need to try and nothing to reach or gain.” this is what sums up being with yourself completely, whether it be in a esoteric yoga session or walking down the street, its that beauty of just being with your body.
I never thought about this: what does union mean? And I never realised until now that you can have different interpretations/versions based on the fact that you can think of different things put together. I also really like the way you write about what union means. Thank you for this Fiona! This is a great reading!