by Lyndy Summerhaze, Crabbes Creek, Australia

When I sat down to write about Esoteric Yoga and stillness the question naturally arose: “If we don’t know stillness how can we know true movement?” This almost felt like a basic tenet of what yoga is all about. We move and speak using the energy that is already present in the body – and if that energy is in disarray, then our movement and expression will be of that same quality. I have come to realise that to know and connect to the stillness within the body is first essential if I want to move and speak in a true way. 

Coming into that stillness at yoga has enabled me to become aware of the levels of stress, anxiousness and nervous energy that I was employing to function within life. And it has helped me to feel the disharmony and disarray this way of living brings and how it leads to illness.

• Experiencing the stillness has helped me to observe the constant static of mental activity that I was using to overlay the true feeling that came directly and clearly from my body.

• It has brought into focus for me the relentless driving of mental activity I lived by – ticking off lists to be done, constantly being on the alert as a way of dealing with the world, or ever on the ready to achieve endless outcomes which only bring momentary glimpses of satisfaction – then onto the treadmill again.

• Through the beauty of this stillness I have been able to feel myself again. I have been able to hear what my body is communicating to me – what it feels and how it feels. For example, it was the tension in my arms and the way I was holding them that told me that I was in a constant state of bracing against what the world might bring. What a powerful reminder of how I have been living – always in apprehension of what might happen.

• Now that I can feel my body I can appreciate it so much more. It now makes sense to choose to nurture it instead of neglecting it and running it ragged. This body has turned out to be like a precious lighthouse that reveals the dangers and rocks I can get caught on, instead of being a nuisance of a thing I thought I had to drag around with me and feed and put to bed.

I have found that as I’ve grown in awareness of the quality with which I meet the varying situations of daily life now, it has become ever clearer that I have a choice in how I respond to those situations. I can choose to react, resist, hide or be a victim of what presents, or I can align to and offer harmony, humour, observation and love to the situations I encounter. What comes to me in life may not always be pleasant or easy but what I’ve discovered is if I carry a known space from my body out, I remain knowing who I am and what I stand for. This feels like true liberation indeed!

I have attended yoga groups, inspired by Universal Medicine, facilitated by Jennene Greenall and Victoria Carter. These groups are very beautiful and have had the beneficial effect of a ripple out into every sphere of my life.

The group energy, along with the loving and skilled facilitation, is helping me to build a strong foundation of stillness and harmony in my body from which I can bring all that I am to the world. I can take what I have learned and felt in Esoteric Yoga out into the world in a most practical way.

I have found that living in the presence of my own stillness is by far the most practical way to live life as it has greatly improved the power of my observation, and I now have a clear perspective of what is going on. No time or energy is wasted on drama. When I am being truly present I notice that no energy is squandered and I feel more vitality coming back into my body.

Through conversation and sharing with each other in these groups I am learning so much and have been able to deepen my awareness of my true being and purpose here. The shared presence I experience with the group assists me in strengthening my confidence and commitment to staying with the bodily stillness when I am out amongst the tension and stress that can be there in daily life.

Esoteric Yoga has been the most valuable tool to assist in expanding my awareness of the kind of energy in which I am living my life. This has been a crucially important awareness to cultivate since it has brought to my attention that the way I live is constantly impacting not only on my own wellbeing and bodily health, but also other people’s wellbeing and the environment around me. It has helped bring universality into my approach towards life that is very practical and real. I am starting to understand that everything that I am, do and think is not just about me, but also about all of us.

The stillness I have found through Esoteric Yoga has been to me a true medicine. This medicine feels like a powerful preventative medicine – it has brought a deeper and richer sense of health and wellbeing than I have previously known.