Virtual Yoga Retreat Part 1

Transcript

hi i'm naz and i'm co-founder of tonic retreats and i'm delighted to introduce you to this radiant heart video series which is designed to give you a mini virtual tonic yoga retreat experience the series is being filmed at sculpture by the lakes a stunning tranquil sculpture park in the heart of the dorset countryside this location is the stunning venue for many of our day retreats as it is the perfect escape from the noise and the hustle and bustle of everyday life the park is peppered with beautiful large-scale sculptures landscape gardens it has lakes a fast flowing river sculptured by the lakes is truly unique this radiant heart series has three parts and can be used back to back or standalone firstly i'm going to give you a short talk or a lesson on what it means to me to live with an open heart secondly pip co-founder of tonic retreat and our yoga teacher will lead an expansive yoga flow and lastly pip is going to lead a guided meditation that will leave you feeling fully connected to your radiant heart we'll also make available some additional resources such as recipes and a video guided tour of the sculpture park to really enhance your experience so let's begin this first lesson is my thoughts my learnings over the years and teachings that i have passing on to you from spiritual leaders from formal trainings that i've had and also inherent wisdom from this talk i merely hope to give you an understanding of what i believe it means to live with an open heart so that you can live your truth to live in alignment of who you really are to be authentic for authentic living i mean what does that even mean is authentic living when you are living a fulfilled life rich an experience when you are fully expressed how do you know when you're living authentically does it come when you've landed the job of your dreams or when you finally look at one of those beautiful people on instagram do you know you're living authentically because you feel happy or content most of the time or because you have a strong spiritual practice before we dive into what i really believe it means i want to talk to you a little bit about why we do the things that we do because as human beings we do have some very fundamental needs we need to feel safe and we need to feel secure and yet we also need variety and spontaneity we need love and connection to feel as if we belong we also want to feel significant and important as if we matter we need to feel like we are expanding and growing as a person and in fact contributing to something bigger than ourselves as individuals we fulfill these needs in a huge variety of different ways these can be constructive these can be destructive or they can be neutral but these needs drive us to do the things that we do from mastering a skill such as playing the violin to building a successful business competing as an athlete or having a unique sense of style to things like comfort eating substance abuse even causing arguments in a relationship these can all meet our human needs in some way so our desire to fill these needs can also radically over complicate our lives we twist ourselves into knots we put rules in place like my happiness my truth depends on being able to be better at something to master a headstand or to project a certain image we hold ourselves hostage to this complicated set of shifting rules that we have created and i bet that each and every one of us has a different answer to the question what does living authentically mean to you what's your alignment so i want you to consider this that living in alignment with who you really are is not a destination it is not somewhere that you reached a magical place over there where life flows easily because you have put all the right pieces in place consider that living your truth is simply a decision a decision to let yourself be guided by your own inner wisdom by your radiant heart your heart center is a place of deep consciousness i'd like you to do this exercise with me now just close your eyes and ask yourself where am i are you located in your head maybe behind your eyes is that the center of who you are peel back those layers go right back into your head is there a little version of you a little human being inside now i just want you to connect to your breath feel your lungs expanding fill up your body with oxygen and now put your hand on your heart and drop into that heart face feel your heartbeat breathe and connect that's where your truth is that's where your deepest wisdom is an infinite source of love a powerful compass to help you navigate to navigate life so that you are always living your truth because the language of your heart is love it is your higher self it cannot speak in fear or darkness only love and light courage compassion joy and bliss if you haven't already you can open your eyes if this is the truth then you are already perfect as you are who you are now is enough and what that means is that you are already perfectly aligned and exactly where you are meant to be so the truth is if it's simply a decision to connect to that truth what gets in the way if it was so easy then why aren't we all doing it all the time and because simple doesn't mean easy and as human beings of course we complicate things and we make meanings from all sorts of things so what can get in the way is our head living in our head the endless chatter of thoughts the questions what if i did this how can i be more why can't i it's the stories that we tell ourselves that stop us connecting also our clinging our expectations i'll be happy when life will be so much better when or simply resistance to what is it causes so much suffering to ask why is this happening to me and it's possible that you've experienced so much pain that you don't even feel like it's safe to connect to your heart so what's really going to help you to build trust to continue to stay connected is more than a decision of course because we're human beings and we've got so much other stuff that can get in the way some really great ways for you to cultivate that connection so that it's super strong is to build deep self-awareness and that is why practices such as yoga meditation mindfulness journaling these kinds of self-care will really support you to develop that awareness to build consciousness to build that emotional intelligence so that you can come at life with a curious mind as opposed to judgmental or self-critical and when you build that self-awareness you can take a step back from those reactive emotions that cause you to disconnect from your heart your wisdom you can actively choose to come out of the mind where you're thinking and you're trying to find the solution and simply drop into your heart now in reality what that looks like is this you can take a beat and you can breathe in and you can connect to your source and ask a more powerful question is this decision coming from a place of love for myself what would i choose to do now if i fully loved myself and simply wait for the answer you will know that you're living in alignment and living your truth if your answers are coming from that place that you can senses without judgment without expectation without guilt or defensiveness or any of those lower vibrations if they come from a place without suffering that accepts others truly so that you see their light then you're on the right path then you're really connected and you can continue to live your life and pursue your dreams and your interest from that place of freedom and sheer joy you can grow your business you can decorate your home however you want you can learn new skills you can travel the world but from a place without attachment because you don't need any of that to live your truth imagine what life could be like what could be possible in a world where everybody lived that same truth where everyone was connected to source but it has to start with you you're already perfect you are already enough thank you for listening i hope this has inspired you should you wish now you can come and take quiet and trip's radiant heart yoga flow to connect and expand into that source of all of this love and truth before then absorbing it into your body with a beautiful guided meditation namaste