“Your beliefs become your thoughts,  Who is ready to manifest their best life? Let's do everything the heart desires in 2026 -- being present and savoring our moments, basking in our glory & illuminating and uplifting others with our state of being. Whatever your goals and desires to live your best life are, a consistent yoga and meditation practice will help you set clear intentions and help you identify your personal life vision.
Give yourself time and space to contemplate your desires. Connect with your heart. Get into a state of flow with heart-brain coherence. Allow yourself to think big. And most importantly … Set an intention! The power of your intention and your consistent diligence cannot be underestimated. Setting an intention for yourself each day as a part of your morning routine will raise your vibrations to attract more love and positivity and inspire you to channel that positive energy into action. Intention setting is a loving commitment to oneself that joins the heart and mind on a journey to one’s highest calling. Simply put, it is to clearly state what you want to experience and achieve through your actions. Setting an intention can be done in all aspects of your life, from relationships and personal life to your work life. Spend some quiet time and reflect on the experiences, relationships, the feelings, the things that you wish to experience in your life. Take some time to feel the emotions you may feel when you experience your intentions in your life. From there, write down the intentions you want to set. Then, spend time thinking about how having these intentions come into your reality will feel, what does it look like, feel like, what will you be doing? Get as vivid and clear as you can in these steps as feeling the emotions will activate the intentions and allow for them to flow easily to you. Your thoughts that turn into emotions, which inspire actions, are all used to manifest your intentions. Intention Setting Examples:
At Vicyasa™, we support our community in harnessing the power of intention to infuse the mind, body, and spirit with confidence, positivity, and a boost of well-being. COMING SOON... Weekend intensives!!! Want to practice sequence building? Want to learn functional anatomy and how to apply it to your yoga practice? Want a small intimate group to get feedback on how to teach clearly, concisely and with command? I'll be hosting small groups of 2-3 students for weekend intensives with lectures, and workshop style exercises for you to sharpen your practice and teachings. EMAIL or contact me directly for involvement and tuition/enrollment info. MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! SINGLE CLASSES We've added single class purchases to our on-demand offerings. How does it work? A $17 payment will give you access to a single pre-recorded class with Victor or anyone on his staff. The private link with unique access code will give you entry to that class, which you can load anytime you want. You'll have 24-hours of unlimited access to that class. No refunds, returns and you must use that class within 24-hours of receiving it before it expires. You can request a teacher on our on-demand options... featuring Demetra Kentrotas (@d_meetch), Leanne McDermott (@leannerays), Elinor Cohen (@elinorraerigby) and others. REGULAR RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™
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"Slowing down is the precursor to Yoga practice because this simple act allows us to consider our thoughts, feelings and actions more carefully in the light of our desire to live peacefully." -- Donna Farhi  Slowing down is easier said than done. Our holiday schedule is filled to the brim with activities; work, school, cooking, cleaning, organizing and preparing to make the season a joyful experience for others… Most days are planned in advance and are busy. So when the pace changes, we have a natural hesitance to shift down a gear.
Taking a step back just for a moment, pausing to practice... can help you enjoy every minute of the holiday. Find a quiet space in the house where you can reset. Remind yourself of the things that are blessings for you on and off the yoga mat. Then remind yourself it doesn’t matter if things aren’t done perfectly; embrace falling out of a pose, be ok with where you meet your true self on the mat for that moment and bask in your yoga. There are many studies that show that gratitude itself is extremely effective in combating depression. The holidays have the potential to deliver; the love and joy experienced with cherished family and friends, and the crushing seasonal depression that many fall prey to. Take the time, before you are caught up in your own holiday hustle and bustle, to simply identify what you can be grateful for, to reflect upon it, feel it, and maybe even express it. Then we can remember to take a step back, slow down, enjoy the pace of gathering with friends and family, and be right there, in the moment, together. COMING SOON... Weekend intensives!!! Want to practice sequence building? Want to learn functional anatomy and how to apply it to your yoga practice? Want a small intimate group to get feedback on how to teach clearly, concisely and with command? I'll be hosting small groups of 2-3 students for weekend intensives with lectures, and workshop style exercises for you to sharpen your practice and teachings. EMAIL or contact me directly for involvement and tuition/enrollment info. MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! SINGLE CLASSES We've added single class purchases to our on-demand offerings. How does it work? A $17 payment will give you access to a single pre-recorded class with Victor or anyone on his staff. The private link with unique access code will give you entry to that class, which you can load anytime you want. You'll have 24-hours of unlimited access to that class. No refunds, returns and you must use that class within 24-hours of receiving it before it expires. You can request a teacher on our on-demand options... featuring Demetra Kentrotas (@d_meetch), Leanne McDermott (@leannerays), Elinor Cohen (@elinorraerigby) and others. REGULAR RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™ “We need much less than we think we need.”  What does Thanksgiving mean to an aspiring yogi? We can refer to the Sutras of Patanjali and focus on the Niyamas, specifically Santosa.
Santosa, (pronounced often as “san-toh-sha"), means contentment & the practice of this Niyama involves finding inner peace by accepting the present moment without being consumed by external circumstances, desires, or the need for what others have. It is not about stagnation, but about appreciating what is, while still being able to work toward goals from a place of abundance rather than lack. The Sutra we can look at 2.42; santosha anuttamah sukha-labhah, states that from contentment, unsurpassed happiness is gained. This Sutra emphasizes that true joy comes from inner satisfaction and gratitude for what you have, rather than from pursuing external desires or possessions. In a culture of excess, we seldom stop to just be content. We are always searching for the next best thing, the newer gadget, the "better" job, the bigger paycheck. One thing we can practice as yogis, and pass along to our family is the practice of mindfulness and awareness; slowing down to observe and recognize the beauty of provision. To distinguish the difference between a need and a desire. Practicing contentment will bring joy. Joy will awaken one’s heart to love. This love creates and reminds us of the unity we can experience with our fellow humans. Unity and togetherness ... that's called Yoga. COMING SOON... Weekend intensives!!! Want to practice sequence building? Want to learn functional anatomy and how to apply it to your yoga practice? Want a small intimate group to get feedback on how to teach clearly, concisely and with command? I'll be hosting small groups of 2-3 students for weekend intensives with lectures, and workshop style exercises for you to sharpen your practice and teachings. EMAIL or contact me directly for involvement and tuition/enrollment info. MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! SINGLE CLASSES We've added single class purchases to our on-demand offerings. How does it work? A $17 payment will give you access to a single pre-recorded class with Victor or anyone on his staff. The private link with unique access code will give you entry to that class, which you can load anytime you want. You'll have 24-hours of unlimited access to that class. No refunds, returns and you must use that class within 24-hours of receiving it before it expires. You can request a teacher on our on-demand options... featuring Demetra Kentrotas (@d_meetch), Leanne McDermott (@leannerays), Elinor Cohen (@elinorraerigby) and others. REGULAR RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™ “Your mind is a garden. Your thoughts are the seeds. The harvest can either be flowers or weeds.” — William Wordsworth  I love talking about planting seeds when we practice. Often, we do so with fierce intention and clarity. We cultivate a plan and things work out. The harvest is bountiful and all is coming.
But because it is life... regardless of how many crops are planted, there are obstacles to fertilizing those seeds. We’re still open to the process and looking optimistically to the harvest but we know our methods need to change or be refined. We can avoid harvest failure with the right inputs. Other times, we are just stuck in a muck, unsure of either what to plant, where to plant it or how to take care of it. These times are often precipitated by big transitions that may be planned or unanticipated. Leaving home, getting married, starting a family, a job change, starting a business, closing a business, moving, divorce, retiring, the death of a loved one or friend are just some examples of things that get us stuck in a "rut.". There may be a sense of indecision, a torment, an inner discomfort, a disconnection from what feels like an inner alignment. These times of uncertainty will always be part of the journey. When we are in the muck, uncertain of our direction, but knowing that we need to do something different or make a change, the ancients guided us in a few ideas about what to do. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are an influential philosophical text of yoga that lay out teachings on the mind and how to cultivate mental clarity and discernment. They had ideas about how to dig our way out of the mire. Yoga Sutra 1.32: Commit to the practice of a single principle/discipline Give yourself 5-10 minutes just to meditate; committing to daily journaling to gain clarity when things are not clear. Yoga Sutra 1.34: Practicing pranayama that involves forceful exhalation or retention of breath, one acquires a pristine state of mind We gain mental clarity by working with our breath to reduce the stress responses and quiet the mind and emotions so that we have clear discernment in making decisions. Yoga Sutra 1.39: Meditate on something that is meaningful to you What resonates for us will be something very deeply personal. We have to do the work. Once new habits are built and ingrained into our neural pathways and routines, less focus needs to be put on sustaining the desired result. Keeping 10lbs off is easy with good habits because we essentially reap what we sow. Physically and mentally. If you don’t have a crop harvest right now, it is only because you didn’t plant seeds and nurture them. Yoga helps us to create the harvest we want by cultivating a healthy mind-body-spirit connection. Mind your thoughts, as they can and will create the life and harvest you have. COMING SOON... Weekend intensives!!! Want to practice sequence building? Want to learn functional anatomy and how to apply it to your yoga practice? Want a small intimate group to get feedback on how to teach clearly, concisely and with command? I'll be hosting small groups of 2-3 students for weekend intensives with lectures, and workshop style exercises for you to sharpen your practice and teachings. EMAIL or contact me directly for involvement and tuition/enrollment info. MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! SINGLE CLASSES We've added single class purchases to our on-demand offerings. How does it work? A $17 payment will give you access to a single pre-recorded class with Victor or anyone on his staff. The private link with unique access code will give you entry to that class, which you can load anytime you want. You'll have 24-hours of unlimited access to that class. No refunds, returns and you must use that class within 24-hours of receiving it before it expires. You can request a teacher on our on-demand options... featuring Demetra Kentrotas (@d_meetch), Leanne McDermott (@leannerays), Elinor Cohen (@elinorraerigby) and others. REGULAR RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™ THE GIFT OF YOGA: WHO’S GIVING, WHO’S GETTING, AND HOW TO TAKE IT BEYOND THE MAT  (This week's newsletter was composed by our dynamic on-demand teacher and full time writer Elinor Cohen. Check out her Instagram HERE and her amazingly empowering advanced & intermediate sessions on our on-demand archives.) Every year around the holidays, the topic of gift giving creeps up. While the holidays are about so much more than presents, it would be remiss to say that gifts don’t play a role in the festivities. After all, look around you. The endless supply of ads and promotions for sales, discounts, deals, and specials all promote the same message: BUY, GIVE, GET! That’s consumerism for you. Alas, it doesn’t all have to be so material.
Let’s introduce yoga into the equation and explore the idea of yoga being a gift. First things first, can yoga be a gift? Of course it can. In the literal sense, you could buy or receive a class pack or membership to a studio, but the actual yoga practice could also be a gift in and of itself. The yoga practice is special. It teaches us to reorganize and reframe our thoughts, principles, and priorities. It emphasizes a connection between body, mind, and breath. It encourages us to slow down and appreciate the present that is presence. It allows us to get lost in the flow of movement and connection; to do the dance of simply existing and to witness that beauty. Yoga is a gift for the students as well as for the instructors. Both are simultaneously gift givers and recipients. The teachers and studios give students space, grace, and guidance. The students reciprocate by giving teachers the opportunity to express their creativity and share their wisdom with hungry, earnest, appreciative minds. In that sense, it is a beautiful symbiotic relationship and one that poses the question who is giving and who is giving? Can it be both at the same time? Can all gifts work that way? Absolutely. Think about it - while it’s fun to get a new sweater, isn’t it just as fun and fulfilling to present that new sweater to your friend who you know has been eyeing it for months? Doesn’t the act of giving it to them fill you with a warm sensation inside? No, that’s not the Mongolian cashmere nor is it the external heat of the 105 degree yoga room. It’s the knowledge that you’ve given someone something they wouldn’t otherwise have. It feels fantastic to receive something from someone who you know put time, energy, thought, care, and effort into it; it feels just as amazing to give that to someone who you can see appreciates and values it. When you think about gifts in this way, you see that they always go both ways as long as the manner in which they come about is done with integrity and non attachment, or a lack of expectation to receive in return. This holiday season, I invite you to rethink how you experience gifts. Focus on the feelings, both the ones that come from receiving gifts as well as those that come from delivering them. MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™ "Gratitude has a way of bringing us into the present moment, allowing us to be with what is. Our mind is no longer chasing after something in the future or lingering somewhere in the past. We are content." — Birgitte Kristen  Many of my teachers speak about cultivating the qualities that nurture us. There are infinite qualities that exist within us—such as courageousness, empathy, creativity, anger, hurt, pain, excitement, jealousy, hope, peace, understanding—and each one may arise throughout the day.
Which qualities can you cultivate to find peace in our lives this holiday season; the qualities that allow us to be present and fully engaged in the moment. Cultivating, focusing on, to read about, to listen to, to observe, to foster those qualities of appreciation, gratitude, understanding, and compassion within us, allows our mind to be at peace. I am grateful to be teaching. I am grateful for all that Yoga has taught me, and is teaching me moment to moment. As a teacher, I'm always yearning for wisdom in order to articulate and be clear in conveying this tangible, yet not so tangible thing called yoga. As a person, we are always striving to be happy, to be content with who we are as a person. I am grateful for who I have become as a person. I have work to do—I am still working on relationships with others—but, so far, I like me. Many blessings to the yoga community. May we all grow together. MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™ YOUR BASELINE IS ENOUGH  (This week's newsletter was composed by our dynamic on-demand teacher and full time writer Elinor Cohen. Check out her Instagram HERE and her amazingly empowering advanced & intermediate sessions on our on-demand archives.) Oftentimes we think we need to do something extraordinary to be deemed worthy of existence. We believe the (untrue) narrative that we must win an award, accomplish a feat, or be the best, but that simply isn’t true. The truth is that just being is enough. Your baseline of simply existing is more than enough. Anything extra is truly that: extra. We’ve been taught that ordinary, average, mediocre, good, and even acceptable are unacceptable. What a shame that is. Society has taught us that middle of the road won’t get you anywhere; no, you need to be excellent. Coasting is a curse. Status quo equates to stagnation, which equates to a dying off of creativity. The world pushes these competitive lies all the time and it would be silly to think we should be above believing them. Still, we don’t need to succumb to them. It’s fun to be excellent. It’s exciting to win. It’s rewarding to accomplish a feat for which you’ve worked hard. At the same time, there’s value in having a solid baseline. Owning your place in life means knowing who you are. It means having a strong foundation off of which you can build and expand but always come back to. It’s a home base. When you have a strong baseline, you establish consistency. You become reliable, dependable, and the kind of person people know they can trust. The rare times in which you deviate from that norm may cause others to take a second look before they settle back in; that’s not a bad thing, but neither is your steady state. There’s something to be said for having a steady state. After all, a little up and down is fun every once in a while, but we wouldn’t want the boat ride to be full of rocky waters the whole way through. That would be simply exhausting and nauseating. Calm waters with the occasional breeze are generally preferred. The idea of coming back to your baseline rings true especially during this time of year. Vata season, the transition from fall into early winter, is characterized by erratic, windy energy. If lots of change seems to be happening right now, that’s normal. The wind isn’t something to fight but still, we must find balance in the midst of it so we don’t get swept away. The way to do that is to find grounding. In your yoga practice, look for opportunities where you can ground down and get steady. Perhaps you use the times when you’re low to the mat (malasana, child’s pose (balasana), humble warrior, etc.) to pay extra attention to your foundation. Perhaps you take an extra breath in between transitions to make sure you’re solid before you advance forward. For instance, before reversing your warrior two, make sure both your front foot and your back foot are firmly rooted and your quads are fired up enough so when you flip your palm and reach back, you don’t have to compensate by straining the lower back or straightening the front leg. Once you have an understanding of your baseline, you can do anything. A solid foundation frees you up to get expressive, playful, and experimental. There’s a saying that rules are meant to be broken, and while that’s not always the case, those words are valuable. You have to know what the rules are and have mastered them in order to deviate from them. As kids, we’re told to color within the lines. As adults, we’re told to draw free form. We learn the guidelines, we establish a baseline, we identify our sense of selves so later on, we’re free to create even more than we knew was possible. This season, be solid and grounded in your foundation. Establish your baseline. Own your mediocrity. From there, you can do anything. MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™ “On Halloween you get to become anything that you want to be.”  It is spooky season; where we frolic and costume during Halloween and striking fun fear on "All Hallows Eve" is tradition to remember the dead and a time when the veil between the living and the dead was thought to be thin.
The mudra [hand gesture] to practice during this time - Abhaya - translates directly to “fearlessness,” and this mudra has historically been used to invoke courage, confidence, and safety. Often seen in depictions of Ganesh, Nataraj, and other deities, this gesture is a sign of divine protection and reassurance to followers. The upward-facing palm in abhaya mudra acts as a shield, a powerful reminder of strength and ahimsa (non-violence). In yoga and meditation, abhaya mudra serves as a tool to release internal fears and anxieties. It helps the practitioner cultivate inner courage and self-confidence, making it an essential mudra for those experiencing doubt or unease. The spiritual significance of abhaya mudra lies in its ability to channel energy toward emotional resilience and fearlessness. The raised right hand symbolizes active energy and the outward projection of protection and reassurance. By directing prana outward, abhaya mudra creates a shield of fearlessness around the practitioner. Hand Position: Raise your right hand to chest height with your palm facing outward and fingers pointing up. Keep your left hand relaxed on your knee, in your lap, or in another mudra. Ensure your right palm is open and slightly relaxed rather than rigid. Posture: Sit comfortably in a grounded position such as sukhasana (easy pose) or stand in tadasana (mountain pose) if preferred. Breathing Technique: Pair the mudra with deep, rhythmic breathing. Inhale through the nose, allowing the belly to expand, and exhale slowly through the mouth, releasing any tension or fear with each breath. Duration: Hold this mudra for 5-15 minutes while focusing on feelings of safety and courage. You can also practice it during meditation or pranayama. It is believed that when people sit in a calm environment and raise their hand in the Abhaya mudra, they feel a sense of achievement and empowerment, and have a wave of confidence rush through them. Many people also perform the Abhay mudra along with saying affirmations and visualising that the fear is leaving their body from the palm. So, next time you feel scared or afraid of a certain situation, sit down, raise your hand in the Abhay mudra, and say things like ‘I am fearless’, "The fear leaves my body through the hand." MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™ “Whether we’re eating or working or meditating or listening or talking, the reason that we’re here in this world at all is to study ourselves. In fact, it has been said that studying ourselves provides all the books we need.” ― Pema Chödrön  Svadhyaya translates to “self study,” and it’s the fourth niyama listed in the Eight Limbs of Yoga.
To fully understand the application of this practice of awareness and self examination into your daily life, it’s important to recognize that svadhyaya meant studying the ancient philosophical yoga texts -- reading the texts, reciting them, committing them to memory — embodying those philosophies. So how can you incorporate the practice of svadhyaya while practicing asana [poses]? Listening to your yoga teacher during class is part of the practice, but what happens when a teacher instructs you to move into a pose that feels really uncomfortable or asks you to stay in an asana longer than you can stand? Chances are your internal dialogue kicks into high gear: begging, sometimes demanding, that you provide your body with some relief. If that’s the case for you, then that inner dialogue is what you should be paying attention to if you want to practice svadhyaya. Svadhyaya on the yoga mat means studying the “what”, “how” and “why” to your thoughts and feelings while flowing from pose to pose and then comparing that to your daily life. Consider asking yourself some of these questions:
There's loads of questions and answers you can constantly explore in your practice; notice if it really is an exploration or a judgemental take. Not only can doing this form of self observation improve your asana practice during a yoga class, but gaining this self knowledge can change the way your mind deals with self judgment and expand your capacity for introspection both on and off the mat. MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™ "Truth cannot be interpreted – it can only be experienced." - Sadhguru  The Yamas, a series of "right living" or ethical rules within Yoga philosophy - "reining in" or "control" - restraints for proper conduct that can be understood as ways in which we interact with the world around us, guide a practitioner's conduct and relationships with others and themselves, promoting a life of greater integrity and grace off the yoga mat. Essentially, things we must observe to be good, solid people. There's no surprise that telling the truth makes the list & it is called SATYA; the second of the Yamas. It literally translates to honesty and is about being truthful to the world and to yourself, but without forgetting our other goals of being kind and compassionate that we looked at in Ahimsa [non injury/harm]. Sometimes being truthful is not about what you say, but how you say it & how we live it. In order to check if what we want to express is following Satya, we can ask ourselves these four questions: Is it true? Is it REALLY true? Is it necessary? Is it kind/can you say it in a kind way? In our yoga practice, we must be honest with our students when we are teaching and we must be honest to ourselves as practitioners. We can't let our ego take over and tell us we can do a pose when we can't or shouldn't. In the same way, we can't let fear tell us we can't do something if truthfully we can. These are all things to consider when practicing - decide what is the version of the practice that is truthfully right for you. The benefits of SATYA? Healthier relationships with others and yourself. A clear conscience. Trust in yourself. Inspires others. The benefits of continuously choosing the truth and bringing satya into your yoga practice will benefit so many aspects of your life it will be truly worth it! MENTORSHIP WITH VICYASA™... Yoga with Victor's mentorship program... for teachers looking to sharpen their tools and hone in on varying skills that will make you more proficient at sequencing, teaching anatomy, or widening their skill set to become a successful instructor and craft your own business model. What if you're not a teacher and would like to prepare for training or enhance your ever-hungry-desire to absorb all things yoga? Holla' at me. Feel like your 200 hour training ended with you needing more questions answered? Want to expand on those teachings? Do you feel like there are areas of your teaching repertoire that need enhancing? Contact me for more info and enrollment. PRIVATES: ONE-TO-ONE WORK! If you want to set up any private sessions or events, please contact me through email. You can learn more about privates: CLICK HERE! RATES:
PAYMENT: VENMO -- @Vicyasa Paypal -- [email protected] NAMASTE, Victor Cotto www.YogaWithVictor.com Instagram: CottoVic Facebook: Yoga With Victor - Vicyasa™ |
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