Mantra – “I am a light—steady, radiant, and growing. I honor my imperfections as reflections of beauty and growth. I release resistance, flowing with life’s changes. Grounded and expansive, I respond with patience and grace, allowing my inner flame to shine brightly.”

Yoga… Dreaming while awake

Topic 1: Cultivating Inner Light

Like a candle’s flame, our inner light requires attention and care. Through mindful yoga practice, we nurture this light, allowing it to shine brighter and guide us through darkness. As B.K.S. Iyengar said, “Yoga is a light, which once lit will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter your flame.” Let us approach today’s practice as fuel for this light, embodying wisdom and compassion, illuminating both ourselves and others.

Metaphor: A candle flame—steady, bright, and nurturing when protected and tended.

Supporting Quote:
“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.” – Buddha

From the Gita:

[of yoga] “On this path no effort is wasted, no gain is ever reversed; even a little of this practice will shelter you from great sorrow.”

“Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory.” – Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois

Yoga practice is a lot like dreaming while awake

Topic: Honest Self-Reflection and True Transformation

Opening Talk:”If we truly want to grow, we must be willing to look inward—not with judgment or shame, but with honesty and compassion. Self Observation without judgement. Too often, we cover our flaws with idealism, hoping to appear perfect to the world, but real transformation requires us to confront what holds us back.

“You’re not too old to start over, You’re too old to keep doing what is not working.”

Buddhist teachings remind us that awareness is the first step to change. When we acknowledge our imperfections, we stop resisting them and start working with them. Only then can we create lasting growth and healing.”

Metaphor:

“Imagine carrying a cracked mirror. At first, you avoid looking at it, afraid the cracks will highlight your flaws. But then, you realize the cracks don’t define you—they are in the mirror, not in you. The light that reflects through the cracks isn’t broken; it’s refracted, scattered, and beautiful. In the same way, your imperfections don’t diminish your light—they shape and enhance it, revealing depth, character, and resilience.”

Quotes:

‘The wound is the place where the light enters you.’ – Rumi

‘Rather than being disheartened by the uncertainty of life, what if we accepted it and relaxed into it?’ – Pema Chödrön

‘To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.’ – Thích Nhất Hạnh

‘The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.’ – Nathaniel Branden

‘Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.’ – Rumi

Practice Prompt: “As you move through today’s practice, notice any tension, doubts, or fears that arise. With each inhale, breathe in compassion. With each exhale, let go of judgment. Trust that growth begins when we face ourselves honestly and allow space for transformation.”

Topic: Responding, Not Reacting—Transforming Your Relationship with Challenges

Opening Talk:
“The goal isn’t to get rid of all your negative thoughts, feelings, and life situations. That’s impossible. The goal is to change your response to them.

Life will always have challenges—stress, frustration, and uncertainty. But what if these moments aren’t obstacles, but opportunities? Buddhist teachings remind us that our suffering isn’t caused by what happens to us, but by how we respond to it. Transformation begins when we step out of reactivity and into awareness, allowing us to respond with clarity and grace.

Today, let’s practice noticing our reactions—whether it’s resistance, tension, or fear—and replacing them with responses rooted in patience, compassion, and strength.”

Metaphor:
“Imagine being caught in a rip current at the beach. Your first instinct might be to fight against it, but resisting only drains your energy and pulls you further out. Instead, the way to free yourself is to relax, stop struggling, and swim parallel to the shore until you find calmer waters. Similarly, when we face emotional currents, responding with awareness instead of resistance allows us to move through challenges without being swept away.”

Quotes:

‘You can’t stop the waves, but you can learn to surf.’ – Jon Kabat-Zinn

‘Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.’ – Viktor Frankl

‘Feelings are just visitors, let them come and go.’ – Mooji

‘Rule your mind or it will rule you.’ – Horace

‘Nothing can harm you as much as your own thoughts unguarded.’ – Buddha

“When we seek to discover the best in others, we somehow bring out the best in ourselves.” – William Arthur Ward

“When we feel bad inside emotionally, it is human nature to want to blame others for our feelings and say “she made me feel that way.” Truth is, no one makes you feel a certain way. Only you allow your reaction to make you feel a certain way.” David Scott

“It is a lot easier to tell others how to live their lives, rather than first walking the talk ourselves and living the ideals we expect others to live.” David Scott

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” —George Eliot

“The secret to living longer is to eat half, walk double, laugh triple and love without measure.” Tibetan Proverb

“Someday you will look back on your life and realize that everything worthwhile you’ve ever accomplished initially challenged you.” MarcandAngel

“Never go in search of love, go in search of life, and life will find you the love you seek.” – Atticus

Topic 4: Embracing Impermanence—Flowing with Change

Change is the only constant. Like the breath, life ebbs and flows, teaching us to release attachments and embrace the present. In yoga, we learn to flow through transitions with grace, honoring impermanence as a source of renewal. As the Buddha reminds us, “You cannot step into the same river twice.” Today, let’s practice staying present through every shift, trusting that even endings are beginnings in disguise.

Metaphor:
A river—always flowing, never the same, yet always whole.

Quotes:

“Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.” – Buddha
“Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.” – Rumi
“If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.” – Unknown
Practice Prompt:
Notice each transition between poses today. Instead of rushing or resisting, breathe and honor the change as part of your journey.

Topic 5: Grounded Yet Expansive—Rooting Down to Rise Up
Talk (75 words):
Trees teach us balance—roots grounding deep into the earth, branches reaching toward the sky. Similarly, yoga invites us to ground ourselves through breath and movement, creating stability so we can grow and expand. Just as a tree cannot stand tall without strong roots, we too need inner steadiness to thrive. Today, let’s focus on grounding through the body, allowing us to rise with confidence and freedom.

Metaphor:
A tree—rooted yet expansive, stable yet flexible.

Quotes:

“Stand firm like a deeply rooted tree, and let the wind of life move around you without uprooting your soul.” – Unknown
“Yoga is the journey of the self, through the self, to the self.” – Bhagavad Gita
“As a lotus rises from muddy waters, we too can rise above challenges with grace.” – Buddhist Proverb
Practice Prompt:
Focus on standing poses and balance today. Feel your connection to the earth, steady and strong, as you rise toward your fullest potential.

Mixed Bag

“As gold purified in a furnace loses its impurities and achieves its own true nature, the mind gets rid of the impurities of the attributes of delusion, attachment and purity through meditation and attains Reality.” – Adi Shankara

“The nature of illusion is that, when you see through it, it disappears.” – Mooji

“We are made of all those who have built and broken us.” Atticus

“We are all born free and spend a lifetime becoming slaves to our own false truths.” Atticus

“I would rather have a body full of scars and a head full of memories than a life of regrets and perfect skin.” Atticus

“Life is about change, sometimes it’s painful, sometimes it’s beautiful, but most of the time it’s both.” —Kristin Kreuk

“Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.” —Benjamin Franklin

“Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending. Remember, you are not starting from the beginning this time, you are starting from a place of wisdom, learned from past mistakes and successes.” – David Scott

“We must be willing to get rid of the life we’ve planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us. The old skin has to be shed before the new one can come.” —Joseph Campbell

“As we grow older and wiser, we begin to realize what we need and what we need to leave behind. Sometimes there are things in our lives that aren’t meant to stay. Sometimes the changes we don’t want are the changes we need to grow. And sometimes walking away is a step forward.” —Unknown

“You do not become good by trying to be good, but by finding the goodness that is already within you.” —Eckhart Tolle

“Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.” —Albert Einstein

Part B – Meditation

Study on the effects of Yoga:

The review, published in the journal Brain Plasticity, focused on 11 studies of the relationship between yoga practice and brain health. “We see increases in the volume of the hippocampus with yoga practice,” Gothe said. The hippocampus is involved in memory processing and is known to shrink with age, Gothe said. “It is also the structure that is first affected in dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.”

The amygdala, a brain structure that contributes to emotional regulation, tends to be larger in yoga practitioners than in their peers who do not practice yoga. The prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex and brain networks such as the default mode network also tend to be larger or more efficient in those who regularly practice yoga.

“We found that those who had done yoga for eight weeks had an attenuated cortisol response to stress that was associated with better performance on tests of decision-making, task-switching and attention.” Yoga helps people with or without anxiety disorders manage their stress, Gothe said. “The practice of yoga helps improve emotional regulation to reduce stress, anxiety and depression,” she said. “And that seems to improve brain functioning.”

“The prefrontal cortex, a brain region just behind the forehead, is essential to planning, decision-making, multitasking, thinking about your options and picking the right option,” Damoiseaux said. “The default mode network is a set of brain regions involved in thinking about the self, planning and memory.”

Like the amygdala, the cingulate cortex is part of the limbic system, a circuit of structures that plays a key role in emotional regulation, learning and memory, she said. The studies also find that the brain changes seen in individuals practicing yoga are associated with better performance on cognitive tests or measures of emotional regulation.

“If you constantly seek the Buddha in others, you will never find the true Buddha within yourself. Would you investigate a mirror that was broken, and distorted, trying to observe your true reflection? Why then would you look towards others, with their broken, wounded illusions about reality, for their approval and validation of your self-worth? The true guru is within.” – David Scott

Spend time with those that love you unconditionally and not just to get what they want.

I don’t want other people to decide who I am and what I stand for, I want to decide that for myself.

Change your thoughts and change your day.

It is not your responsibility to like me, it is my responsibility to like me.

“Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.” – Sigmund Freud

Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.

What you wish for in life, someone else already has, what you already have is what someone else needs, what you already take for granted, is something someone else only dreams of finding.

Make sure your worst enemy is not living between your own ears.

When your heart is fractured and broken, it is the cracks that allow the light to enter.

Do you ever find yourself trying to justify yourself to others that in the end truly don’t matter?

When you start looking at people’s hearts instead of their faces, life becomes clear.

Sometimes when I am not feeling happy, I do something to make others happy, and then suddenly I feel happy again.

Do you drown in a drop of water?

“If you surround yourself with people who are strong and positive, you are much more likely to see a world of opportunity and adventure.” – Jack Canfield

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” – Confucius

“It takes a strong person to do their own thing and not validate their existence.” Steven Aitchison

“Sometimes the dreams that come true are the dreams you never thought you had.”

Four very powerful words you can say to your child “I believe in you.”

“It is in the quiet moments of your practice, that you prepare yourselves for the exciting moments.”

Sometimes we have to just stand back and let life happen. Don’t hold together what must fall apart. The familiar fades away to create space for the new.

You are not truly rich until you have something money cannot buy.

“The word happiness would not be understood if not balanced by the meaning of sadness.” David Scott

If you do not like where you are in life, move you are not a tree.

Kindness towards others begins with compassion for ourselves.

“Kind words are short and easy to say, but their echoes are truly endless” Mother Teresa

“Misery loves company, so if you find yourself surrounded by drama and negativity, change you situation quickly because bad energy is highly contagious.”

“Friendship is not something to be written on paper, for paper can tear and fade. Friendship is not something to be written in a stone, for a stone can shatter and break. True friendship should be written in the heart where it can last forever.”

You can’t force someone to respect you, but you can refuse to be disrespected.

“If you surround yourself with people who are strong and positive, you are much more likely to see a world of opportunity and adventure.” – Jack Canfield

We are who we are, when we begin to accept people for who they are and not who we want them to be, our relationship can blossom.

Side Plank – Vasisthasana

Vasistha was a revered sage who often counseled rulers, helping them find clarity through his teachings, symbolizing the need for focus and balance required to hold the side plank pose.

Wild Thing – Camatkarasana

The “Wild Thing” yoga pose, also known as “Camatkarasana” in Sanskrit, is a backbend that involves balancing on one hand while lifting the opposite leg high, essentially creating a dynamic, playful posture; the name is thought to reflect the sense of joyful expression and openness it evokes, with “camatkarasana” translating roughly to “the ecstatic unfolding of the enraptured heart.”

Plank Pose – Phalakasana

“plank” pose is called “Phalakasana” (falankasana) in Sanskrit, meaning “plank pose,” and while there isn’t a specific story directly tied to the pose itself,

Hurdler Pose – Eka Pada Koundinyasana II

The term, “Eka” refers to “one“, “Pada” is foot, and “Koundinya” denotes the name of an ancient sage. The sage mentioned above was a Buddhist monk who forecasted the destiny of Gautam Buddha at the time of his birth about reaching enlightenment. 

Side Crow – Eka Pada Koundinyasana I

Fallen Angel – Devaduuta Panna Asana

“Devaduuta Panna Asana” where “devaduuta” means “divine messenger or angel” and “panna” means “fallen down” – essentially translating to “fallen angel pose”

Compass Pose – Surya Yantrasana

“Compass Pose” is called “Surya Yantrasana” which translates to “Sun Instrument Pose” – “Surya” meaning sun, “Yantra” meaning instrument, and “Asana” meaning pose