The incredible lightness of your being

by Adrienne White, 300 hour yoga teacher training student

I fell hard for Seane Corn the first time I heard her personal definition of God. "God", she proclaimed, "is that which exists within, that is of truth and love". What could be a more perfect synopsis of that big concept? It's one that works universally, regardless of faith, religion, or secular beliefs. 

This word, and this explanation, came full circle back to me this week when I was given my dharma (life's purpose) statement. To be accurate, the statement wasn't given to me, as much as I feel it chose me. I will keep the actual words themselves just for myself - it's deeply personal, but I can say this mantra is lit from the fire that lights my soul. 

We've done a lot of work to get to this point, and week three of this 300 hour yoga teacher training was no exception. We kicked it off with a heating Agni practice meant to ignite the fires of transformation. The soil had been tilled, the seeds had been planted, and now we used the alchemy of heat to burst the seeds of intention open to grow into our true purpose. We were on a mission to find our mission statements, the very essence of who we each are. This is the truth from which we can measure our decisions and which will inform our entire lives. From this moment forward, the things we choose and do either move us closer to our truth or take us farther away. The choice is ours. 


We balanced the heat of this alchemy with restorative classes that we prepared and shared by teaching them to each other in the afternoons. We relished in the healing rest that invited deep and peaceful stillness in our evening meditation sessions. We also went deeper into yoga nidra (yogic sleep) practices, designed to take us into our sub- and unconscious minds, to uncover the treasures of ourselves hidden there that would guide us to our true purpose. 

The week ended with me teaching a three hour inversion class, the culmination of what I'd learned from Zuna Yoga while here. Under the expert guidance of our assistant teacher Anna, I built a class intended to be a celebration, a love letter to our group, and a recognition of the container we had made here together as a safe space to learn and grow. It was a time to relish our experience here together and sweep away any remaining skeletons or ghosts that might have been holding us back, and recognize what I named the class: "The Incredible Lightness Of Our Being". It was the perfect ending to a very long week. 

We've swept away the last of the cobwebs and ghosts, even the ones we hold onto so tightly in the hopes they will protect us from further hurt. We've chosen love over fear, and I'm creating my own definition of the Divine. It is that which exists within, that is of truth and love, but it's more than that for me now. It's all of it, the whole of life. The flowers, the trees, the inevitable moments of darkness, chocolate ... it all has the the element on the Divine if we choose to see it that way, an opportunity to teach us something greater about ourselves. It's all god. 

~Namaste

Seeds of intention: how does your garden grow?

by Adrienne White, 300 hour yoga teacher training student

When I was about 10 years old, I used to quietly slip out of the house in the pitch black of night and lie in the field next to our house. It was amazing to lie there, gazing up at the night sky, just thinking, and counting the shooting stars. There was no fear of the night. It was a feeling of complete freedom. I have another memory from this time of that same field. I would jump on the back of my slightly crazy horse - no saddle or bridle, just us. I could feel her power as she went into a full gallop around the field until she decided to stop. I was fearless. We were like one, completely wild and free. 

Somewhere along the way, I started to live my life more from a place of fear, managing the down side of life. So many of us worry: I'm not good enough, pretty enough, smart enough, rich enough. It's a culture of fear, and the advertisers love to use that to sell us the next magic pill for "happiness". Then there is the granddaddy fear of them all: the fear of death. It turns out there is a fate worth than death, and that is not living the one life you have now. 

If our first week of yoga teacher training was spent cleansing and creating a fertile soil to grow new things, our second week was about planting seeds of intention and watching them grow. Without intention, how will you know what kind of fruit you will get?  If you don't consciously point your arrow, how will you hit your target?  As Gabriel Halpern, one of my favorite yoga teachers back home in Chicago, says of karma: you will never get an apple if you plant a tomato seed.

So how do we move forward into the empty space of a new path when there is fear of the unknown? Part of it is simple faith that life is not random. If you believe that life is only random and chaotic, you will operate in that space. If you believe in beauty and mystery, that will be your truth. Where you point you mind, the energy goes. In short, what will you do to plant and grow your apple, so you can taste the sweet fruit?

It's key to get to know yourself deeply, honestly, so you can find your true purpose and your reason to live. What do you burn for? This past week on Gili Meno, we spent time and practice studying the chakras and the koshas (energy fields in the body), which provide road maps to look at our more subtle energy, and as a way to get to know ourselves - our strengths and our challenges. We can then work from the more gross layers (the physical) to the subtle energies of Purusha, or our Divine essence, where all is possible.

We can understand where our fears are rooted in the body. We can understand that identifying with only our physical self keeps us weighed down, mired in a culture that places so much value on how we look, thinking we somehow lessen in value as our body and face age. We can begin to move towards our subtle energy body, where we are limitless. With pranayama, meditation, and when living our purpose, this "body" will never grow old. 

The topic of fear has come up quite a bit in the group this week. It's important to face these fears as we build more shakti (energy) in longer and more complex pranayama and meditations, so this strong new energy doesn't fuel these fears, but instead fuels our seeds of intention. We luxuriated in a much needed Yoga Nidra (yogic sleep), where in a deep state of relaxation, we were asked to exchange a memory of fear with a memory of something beautiful. We are pointing our thoughts where we want the energy to go, and literally changing our minds. 


Thinking about all this, I realized I've been fearful for much of the last 40 years -  afraid of angering adults as a child, of not being pretty/liked/smart enough as a teen, fear of "failure" as an adult, and yes, that nagging fear that as the outer shell softens and wrinkles, I am somehow less worthy. I'm setting a new intention to point my mind to Purusha, pure consciousness, where we discover there is no separation between ourselves and that which is most beautiful. Because we are that consciousness. 

Awareness is the first step to planting new seeds of intention. Lovely for us that in yoga, we have our energetic maps and our teachers to help guide the way. We focus our attention unwaveringly on where we want to go, and let go of the things that do not serve that intention. 

Prana is our bow.
Karma is our arrow. 
Purusha is our target.  

May our aim to be true. 

Glimpses of Gili Meno

by Susan Holmes, 300 hour yoga teacher training student

A few months before the Zuna Yoga 300 Hour Yoga Teacher training in Gili Meno, I couldn't wait to read each new Zuna blog to discover a little more information about the unknown place I was soon to be headed, and to flame a connection with the exciting experience on which I was soon to embark. I found myself feeling like part of the Zuna Tribe before I came face to face with any of the beautiful souls I've since met.  Now more than a week into my own training in Gili Meno, I have the chance to connect and share with yogis soon to be in the Zuna Yoga teacher training or considering this training. I am grateful.

With the wonderful yogis I'm blessed to share this experience with, our training began with a blood moon, and each night it ends by looking into the sky to see stars so bright that I'm sure I could grab them if I just reached a bit more. Yes, I know that I am forever connected to these souls and this place.

Our teachers - Katherine, Everett, and their assistants - have
created an opening for all of us to find our spaciousness and authenticity. maoMeno and Gili Meno support us in this endeavor. In our early morning meditation, which begins before sunrise, the sound of the waves breaking along the shore coaxes breath deeper, and the melody of a thousand birds leaves no doubt to the auspiciousness of each new day. Gaining great insight into our asana practice and pranayama energizes us to become sponges for each day's lectures and meditations. Everett's knowledge of yoga, both traditional and modern, and his ability to share it with clarity and joy makes every day move by too quickly.

Each day, with each new layer of understanding unveiled, Gili Meno also supports the space and clarity we've discovered.  My husband and partner in this adventure, Greg and I walk through town and see the beautiful simplicity (not to say there isn't a lot of hard work to be done for the people on this island) and an easy and pure kindness surrounds the island.  On Saturday, the men were playing a ballgame outside, and the kids came skipping back from the beach with their rafts or riding on the back of their brother's bike. A pure enjoyment of this lovely paradise.  For me, the people and the island invite what is possible to reveal itself with even greater depth.

The clutter in my head has emptied allowing space for wisdom, sharing and laughter. It's all possible!

Dispelling the darkness

by Adrienne White, 300 hour yoga teacher training student

It was a very auspicious beginning to my 300 hour yoga teacher training here on the beautiful island of Gili Meno: a school of about 50 dolphins on the boat crossing from Bali, a full moon (plus lunar eclipse) on first night of training, and beautiful island to call my home. Shortly thereafter, it seemed that the theme of our first week turned somewhat darker: or more precisely, to what lurks in the darkness. 

In a literal sense, darkness came in the form of the two day complete power outage we experienced over the entire island. No WiFi, and nothing to illuminate the shadows except the soft glow of candlelight, and the blazingly bright stars and moon above.

House gecko

In the darkness, the creatures and critters begin to emerge. And not just the ones who crawl on the island or across my bedroom floor. True, there are plenty of those: multiple varieties of (large) spiders, scorpions, lizards, and my house gecko, who I hear crawling and calling from my bedroom walls. We also have beautiful butterflies and birds, amazing sea creatures, and an endless supply of mosquitoes. We need plenty of bug repellent to fend off those pesky insects in our lovely open air yoga shala from the moment we start our 5:45am practice until we finish our final meditation at about 7pm. 

The mosquitoes make a wonderful metaphor for the other creatures we are facing this week. We’ve also been stirring up and swatting at the creatures that live deep in the tissues of our bodies and in the recesses of our souls. Everything that has ever happened to us in life is stored in there, and it needs to be cleansed before we can begin the journey to meet our higher selves.

Afternoon practice

Our teacher, Everett, is quite skilled and methodical with the use of asana (physical) practice to achieve this stirring of the demons. We have spent the majority of our nearly three hour morning practices doing LOTS of long holds in our postures to cleanse and purify our bodies. This is necessary, vital even, to get to know the literal, physical, and mental toxins we have built up and stored there over the years. He has supplied us with powerful practices of pranayama (breath work) and meditation to face these creatures with grace, courage, awareness, and I dare say even love.

It hasn’t always been easy, but the good stuff in life rarely is. We are climbing toward what Everett refers to as the “promised land”- a reunion with our true, highest, and most authentic self, and we need to clear, or sometimes make friends with the demons so they don’t get in our way.

We will continue in this next week to climb the ladder to meet this higher self as we begin longer seated meditations and more complicated pranayamas. Imagine sitting with one pointed focus for 60 or 90 minutes, breathing deeply and clearing the mind of the noise that distracts us from this authentic self. This is why I came here. This is the good stuff. This is the yoga.  

I want that meeting with Buddhi (my highest self), so the ladder I will continue to climb, one rung at a time, to find my true purpose and my most authentic self.

On our first day, we were given the challenge to “empty our cup” and become a beginner again. I have poured it all out this week - let go of what I thought I knew and surrendered to the (sometimes literally) painful process of cleansing and learning something new. After over 20 years of practicing yoga, I learned how to breathe anew.

Sunshine after the rain

I’m looking forward to filling my cup back up in the next few weeks with something different - hopefully something more realized, more conscious, and perhaps more beautiful. As I continue to refill my cup and polish my souI, I will also keep in mind the wise words of Lao Tzu that hang in our outdoor dining room where we share our meals: "Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill.  Keep sharpening your knife and it will dull."

Fitting then, that our first day off - filled with sea turtles, relaxation, and fun with new found friends - seemed to be nearly mosquito free.

~Namaste

Be your own student

by Sammy Garrett, Zuna Yoga 200 hour yoga teacher training graduate

Less than a week after the completion of our 200 hour yoga teacher training on Gili Meno, two Zuna classmates and I took part in instructed yoga classes. This was the very first experience of a group led class post teacher training. It was definitely an eye opening experience to go from what we had learned with Zuna Yoga to what was being taught out there in the ‘real world’. Up until this point, I could not fathom that in an a few short weeks, we could know more than many yoga teachers around the world. I put my doubts to the test and I’m glad I did. 

Sammy on Gili Meno

As Zuna Yogis, we walked away from the experience of a led yoga class with pride in our stride and a sense of confidence we didn’t have before. I now knew that by practicing what I preach, I was equipped to teach. Grabbing the bull by the horns in my usual fashion, that’s exactly what I did. Fortunately, following the yoga teacher training, I had planned a week’s break in a secluded coastal village on the west coast of Bali. I approached the reception staff to advise them I was a yoga teacher and would be more than happy to offer free classes to the guests during my stay. As you can imagine, they were thrilled at the idea and gave me ample space and promotion to get the ball rolling. Sure, it was daunting, but there’s no time like the present, and I was adamant to make the most of my newfound self-belief.

Bali yoga shala

I had three guests turn up to my very first class, all of whom had varying abilities. I had prepared the sequence and practiced in advance to make sure the recipe was just right. Thankfully, it was a small group, and I was able to tailor certain postures for each individual, offering variations. The whole experience was a huge learning curve, one I’m grateful for. Afterwards, I had positive feedback from a woman who had been practicing yoga on and off for a number of years. The Udan Vayu meditation was also a highlight.  Afterwards, I was on cloud nine. I did it -- I took the plunge! It definitely wasn’t perfect and there is plenty of room to grow, something which I am excited about. My favorite thing about this journey is that it’s never ending. The beauty of yoga is that it never remains stagnant, there is always discovery and development. 

On the path to Yoga

Will it ever be the same being a yoga student again? Probably not. With the knowledge acquired during my training with Zuna Yoga, a completely different awareness is applied during practice. The fine line between being a student and being a teacher is entirely altered post training. I know now that there is no going back. I have the Zuna tools in my belt for a reason and these tools are far too good not to share! I’m sure the Zuna Yogi’s out there agree that our tool belts are more than adequately operational to live fully and powerfully through yoga. Although I have left the paradise of maoMeno, I continue to follow the white coconuts and my heart on the path of Yoga. Bringing with me confidence and trust in my own abilities. From here on out, I will be placing importance on my own personal practice. As I evolve as a teacher, I look forward to sharing my learnings with the world.

The beauty and power of Pranayama

by Hannah Liot, Zuna Yoga 200 hour yoga teacher training student

Defining pranayama

Pranayama is a traditional practice that has always been used alongside Yoga and Ayurveda. It is one of the most important practices of yoga science. This ancient technique has made its way into modern day yoga classes. Beginning students generally focus their attention either on yoga postures or meditative techniques, without understanding the importance of pranayama exercises, which affect the whole of our being. After practicing basic breathing exercises for some time, we can realize that exercises in breathing are as important as any exercise of yoga. When this is understood, a serious practice pranayama can be pursued. 

To put it simply, pranayama is the conscious regulation of inhalation and exhalation. While Prana means vital force, yama means expansion. Pranayama is the expansion of the vital force, which moves through our breath and into our bodies. Breathing is not only what brings oxygen into our lungs, but it also allows Prana (energy) to move through our whole system. Pranayama is the practice of balancing energy within the body. 

Benefits of pranayama

A wide variety of effects can be achieved through different techniques of pranayama, which can be either invigorating, heating, cleansing, cooling or calming. Pranayama can be used to find calmness in the mind for meditation. It has also been found to aid diseases related to the respiratory, circulatory and nervous systems, including chronic fatigue. It can ease psychological and emotional disorders such as depression, grief, stress and tension. Pranayama stimulates the lungs and all the organs within the body. Breathing massages the internal organs and increases circulation, allowing the body to re-energize and detoxify. 

Stages of the breath cycle

Each cycle of breath has five stages, known as Pranagni. The first stage is called Prana, where energy enters your body through inhalation. The second stage is Samana, where there is retention of the breath, and oxygen is absorbed through the lung tissue. The third stage is Vyana, where oxygen is absorbed into the blood and carried through the rest of the body. The fourth stage is Udana: at the top of our exhalation, the breath creates positive feelings, while releasing tension. The fifth and final stage is Apana, where the end of the exhalation expels waste and carbon dioxide. Take in a deep delicious sip of air and notice all of these different stages. It’s amazing how much you can feel when you bring awareness to your breath. It is believed by ancient practitioners that the best time to practice pranayama is two hours before sunrise and sunset, or, as a gentle practice, just before falling asleep. 

Techniques of Pranayama

Under the umbrella of Pranayama, there are a number of different techniques to control the breath and expand prana. The most common among modern yoga classes is the Ujjayi breath. Often in Hatha yoga classes, the teacher will ask their students to breathe through the back of their throat, so that they can distinctly hear their own breathing. This form of Pranayama has a heating effect on the body, and is at the same time calming, bringing awareness to in the mind, throat and heart. A beautiful Mantra to incorporate into your Ujjayi Pranayama practice is So Ham. On the inhale, mentally repeat Sooo and on the exhale, think Ham. The mantra also brings awareness to your true self, as it means “the conscious spirit am I.”  

Another common breath that is practiced in yoga is alternate nostril breathing. Using the thumb to block the left nostril, inhale through the right nostril. Once your lungs are full and satisfied, hold your ring finger to your right nostril and exhale through the left. This practice has several wonderful influences on the mind and body. Primarily, it balances the opposite energies of the left and right sides of our bodies. It is an excellent preparation for meditation.

The right nostril is associated with solar energy. It stimulates heat in the body and supports digestion, liver, gall bladder and right kidney functions. The left nostril is related to lunar energy and has a soothing and cooling effect on the body. It is a focused breath that supports the heart, stomach and left kidney functions. It also opens the body be receptive of nourishment and rest. The body is always breathing through one nostril predominantly, either heating or cooling your system. Usually when the right nostril is dominant, the environment around is cool and the body needs to be heated. Right nostril breathing also stimulates energy in the body and is used to overcome fatigue. The left nostril is usually dominant when the body needs to be cooled down, often during sleep or when the body is in a hot atmosphere. Left nostril breathing can also be used as a treatment for fevers, hyperactivity, insomnia and restlessness.

Sushumna breathing is a technique that brings attention to the spine. On the inhale, imagine a cooling breath traveling up the spine. On the exhale, imagine a warm breath traveling down the spine. This type of breathing is meant to stimulate kundalini energy and internal awareness to support meditation practice. 

Kapalabhati (Skull shining breath) is a Pranayama practice in which the practitioner forces out all the air swiftly on the exhale, contracting the diaphragm and abdominal muscles. To inhale, they simply relax the abdominal muscles and let air naturally flow into their lungs without effort. This practice is energizing and enhances digestion. 

Shitali breath is a technique that is done to cool down the body’s system. In this practice, the tongue is held out of the mouth and folded up at the sides to form a narrow tube. The practitioner is meant to feel a cooling sensation as they inhale through the tongue and fill the lungs with air. Hold the breath as long as possible and then exhale through the nostrils. Shitali means cooling, and the practice is meant to help with dehydration, high fevers, high blood pressure, hyperactivity or overheating. 

Although these practices sound beautiful and inviting, they should always be learned under the guidance of an experienced teacher. The techniques of pranayama are unique and powerful, as we are working with the fundamental aspect of our being. The breath has tremendous impact on regulating brain wave patterns and can directly regulate prana; directing and expanding. This can be of great benefit to a serious practitioner. The methods are highly effective and their efficacy can only be fully appreciated by advanced students.