I often get asked what is Dru Yoga? Dru Yoga has its roots in Hatha Yoga in that in this context Hatha means physical. Under the umbrella of Hatha Yoga there are many traditions and styles such as Iyengar, Ashtanga and Vinyasa. Hatha can translate to mean ‘force’ so Hatha Yoga can be considered anything that you might do with the physical body including asana (yoga postures). Another translation is that Ha represents the sun and tha the moon so yoga aims to yoke, join or balance these two energies. While Dru Yoga is the second largest yoga teacher training school in the United Kingdom it is not so well known in other parts of the world. Dru Yoga can also be considered Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and Kriya Yoga but these are worthy of a seperate blog post at a later date.
“Joy is not in things; it is in us.”
Richard Wagner
Each morning I shuffle my mantra cards and choose one randomly to contemplate during my morning meditation and for the rest of the day. Today the card that arrived was “I choose joy”. My immediate reaction and thought, given that I am beginning to manage my symptoms of depression, is well it is just not that simple. Can there be joy when there is pain and suffering? Can there by joy when life sucks? I have found it hard to write or say the words “merry” and “happy” that go with Christmas and New Year this season. I have been wishing people a safe, restful and peaceful holiday instead.
The Christmas and New Year holidays can be a challenging time for some people and experiencing a pre-Christmas slump is a thing for some people. As we come to the end of another year it might feel like it is a sprint at the end of a marathon and there is just not that energy left to sustain you to the finish line. So I had begun to notice my own mental health and well-being had been neglected a little. I have been doing all the usual practices that sustain me, yoga, meditation, walking in nature and keeping my gratitude journal. I kept telling myself and others that I just need to get through the next few weeks to have a holiday from work and teaching. I work in the area of mental health prevention, so I told myself surely I would recognise if I was just feeling depressed or have depression?
As we come into spring I am starting to see more ‘challenges’ on social media, particularly ‘yoga challenges’. I am just not a fan of them so you won’t see me participating in one anytime soon. There is nothing inherently wrong with them and if they assist you to get started with yoga or meditation or back to a regular practice then no harm done. They say it takes 21 days to establish a new routine and maybe more like a few months to form a habit. But I just don’t feel the word challenge along with all its definitions really fits with the philosophy of yoga.
So maybe you have tried a few types of mindfulness or meditation based practice and enjoyed the benefits. Maybe they did not work for you? What makes Dru Meditation different from other styles of meditation?
Dru Meditation combines the ancient wisdom of the yogic tradition along with the science of meditation to make it relevant for our modern world. Dru is a kriya, or action based, style of meditation with a typical class starting with mindful movement, breath work and a deep relaxation before sitting for meditation in a chair or on the floor. Other styles of mindfulness and meditation may bring a sense of peacefulness however Dru Meditation has the potential to be transformational in your life.
I am a Dru Yoga teacher and thus teach meditation from the perspective of a yoga teacher. As I wrote in a previous blog post the eight limbs, or facets, of yoga include asanas (postures and sequences) and works towards dhyana (meditation). My view is that there is no separation of yoga and meditation, as it is all yoga. That said I will soon qualify as a Dru Meditation teacher and be eligible to join as a member of the Meditation Association of Australia separate to my membership to Yoga Australia. I also facilitate Mindfulness Works Australia 4 week “Introduction to Mindfulness and Meditation” courses which approach meditation from a different and non-yogic way.
There is nothing more essential to our health and well-being than breathing. We take over 25,000 breaths in a day and in the last couple of days wearing a mask at work and other indoor public venues I have become even more aware of my breath. The last time I was wearing a mask I became very aware that I breathed through my mouth and not my nose more frequently than I thought. This motivated me to take a deep dive into the book “Breath: The New Science of a Lost Art” by James Nestor. I can highly recommend reading this book to any human being that breathes!
There are many definitions of mindfulness and meditation. There are also many and varied methods of mindfulness and meditation practices. Sometimes mindfulness and meditation are terms used interchangeably and in some ways they mean the same thing and in other ways they are quite different. There are “sound meditations” offered where participants lie down to be bathed by sounds. I would say these are more sound relaxations however some forms of conscious relaxation could become meditation. In fact practicing a progressive muscle relaxation and/or body scan done seated or lying down is a technique that combines the benefits of relaxation and meditation.
Goals are external achievements. Intentions are about your relationship with yourself and others.
As 2021 comes to an end it is a time for new beginnings, making plans and setting goals. Many of you will make or consider making New Year resolutions. As an alternative I invite you to consider focusing more on your core values and intentions rather than setting specific goals. Goal setting is still a very valuable practice particularly for the completion of tasks and they can motivate you. It is particularly helpful if you make those goals S.M.A.R.T – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and timely. But setting large, unachievable goals can set you up for failure and this is why so many New Year’s resolutions are not fulfilled or not even started.
