The Listening Space: December Gathering
On Being a Student
In last month’s Listening Space, we explored the qualities that shape a teacher — steadiness, discernment, clarity, and compassion — and how these qualities live not only in those who guide us, but also within ourselves. We reflected on the presence of an inner teacher: that quiet, steady knowing that emerges when we are attentive and sincere.
This Sunday, we turn to the natural counterpart of that inquiry: what it means to be a student.
Being a student requires willingness
Willingness to arrive as we are.
Willingness to recognise that understanding unfolds gradually.
Willingness to meet the unfamiliar without defensiveness or expectation.
Reflection: Where in my life am I being asked to arrive more honestly, without needing to already understand?
Being a student asks for discernment
The clarity we recognised in the inner teacher also lives in the student. Studentship is not passive; it invites us to listen closely, to sense what is true, and to recognise what supports our growth.
Reflection: What helps me distinguish between what nourishes me and what I can gently release?
Being a student is an act of humility
To be a student is to acknowledge the simple truth that we do not yet know — and that this not-knowing is fertile ground. Humility opens the way for genuine learning, unburdened by performance or certainty.
Reflection: How do I respond to moments of not-knowing? Can I soften into them rather than fill the space immediately?
Being a student is relational
We learn through encounter: with one another, with the teachings, with our own lived experience. Studentship reminds us that learning is not solitary; it unfolds in connection and dialogue.
Reflection: Who or what has been a teacher to me recently — perhaps without intending to be? What did I learn from that encounter?
Returning to the Listening Space
As always, this session requires no preparation. It is an opportunity to pause, reflect, and listen — to ourselves and to each other — as we consider how the posture of the student shapes our practice and our lives.
Reflection:
What quality of studentship do I most want to cultivate at this moment in my life?
The Listening Space — Sunday, December 7 at 12:30
The Listening Space: November Gathering
A reflection on how true teaching begins with listening.
Listening as the Heart of Yoga
Atha yoga anuśāsanam.
Now, the teaching of yoga begins.
— Yoga Sūtra 1.1
I’ve been sitting with this sutra lately, or really I simply always return to it — atha yoga anuśāsanam — the very first line of Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras.
It begins not with an explanation or a promise, but with a simple invitation: now, the teaching begins. Not “the teaching will begin when you’re ready” or “when you’ve perfected your practice,” but now — in this moment, this breath, this life as it is. If we’re truly present, the teaching is already here.
What is a teacher?
And then of course there is the question that arises of what and who a teacher is. I remember a moment when I was with a teacher a number of years ago and he was dissecting the sanskrit of the opening line of the Ashtanga invocation that really stuck with me. In this opening chant the first line is often translated as “I bow to the lotus feet of my teacher”, the very first word in the chant is the word for feet, but it is plural. This explanation at that moment really landed for some reason, it is multiple feet, meaning multiple teachers. All of our experiences and lived moments, all our moments of learning and all of our teachers are held by this simple word, vande.
So who’s feet are these? Is it the feet of someome who gives information, who shows us how to move or breathe? Or is it someone — or something — that helps us see more clearly?
Yoga reminds us that the true teacher isn’t separate from the student. Teaching arises from listening: listening to the body, to breath, to experience, to life as it unfolds. A good teacher helps us to ask better questions.
What is yoga?
If yoga is union, connection, relationship — then teaching is not a transaction but a meeting.
When we practice yoga, we are both student and teacher. We study the inner landscape of the self, and in doing so, we learn how to live and move with more awareness. The first step in teaching, then, is the same as the first step in practice: listening.
What does it mean to listen?
To listen is to soften the grip of knowing — to create space for curiosity and reflection.
Listening begins with the breath. It requires presence, patience, and humility. It means allowing something new to be revealed, even in what we think we already understand.
When we listen, we become teachable.
Questions for reflection
As you reflect on your own practice, perhaps you might ask:
What is a teacher?
What is yoga?
What does it mean to reflect? To listen?
Do you look to yourself to answer questions or do you rely mostly on others?
What has your yoga practice taught you?
Do you approach your practice as a learning experience?
What facilitates learning — for you, for others, for the world around you?
You might bring these questions to your mat, or simply into your day.
Let them breathe. Don’t rush to answer — just notice what arises when you ask.
The Listening Space — Sunday, November 9 at 12:30
This month’s Listening Space gathering will open up this very theme: What is a teacher?
Together, we’ll explore what it means to listen deeply — to ourselves, to others, and to the world — as a living expression of yoga.
Yoga Study & Teacher Training — begins January 9
At The Breathing Space, our upcoming 200-hour Vinyasa Teacher Training is rooted in this same spirit of inquiry. It’s not only for those who wish to teach, but for anyone drawn to study yoga more deeply — to become their own best teacher. Through breath-centered practice, philosophy, and reflection, we study not to perfect ourselves, but to learn how to truly listen.
Learn more about the Yoga Study & Teacher Training →
The teaching begins now — in this moment, this breath.
The Listening Space: October Gathering
October 12, 2025 @ 12.30
🕊️ Free and open to all yoga students — within our community and beyond.
Bring your own questions
After a pause for the summer, The Listening Space is returning on Sunday, October 12 at 12:30 PM. I’m very happy to welcome you back into this circle of conversation, reflection, and community.
For this first gathering of the season, we’re trying something new. Instead of centering our discussion on a set theme or shared reading, we’ll begin with an open invitation – bring your own questions.
To help you arrive with a starting point, here are a few gentle prompts for reflection in the days leading up to our meeting:
What have you been wondering about in your practice?
What questions arise when you’re on your mat, sitting in meditation, or practicing breathwork?
What aspects of yoga philosophy spark your curiosity?
Is there a teaching or idea in yoga philosophy that you’d like to understand more deeply?
Where do you see yoga intersecting with the challenges and possibilities of the world around us?
What do you wish you could ask your teachers or peers about yoga?
Our time together will be a space to explore these questions. The direction of the discussion will come from the community itself — I’ll be there to help guide and hold the container, but the conversation is yours to shape.
There’s no need to prepare in any formal way — just bring your curiosity and openness to listen and share.
I’m looking forward to gathering again, reconnecting after the summer, and seeing what emerges when the community runs the show.
The Listening Space: July Gathering
July 13, 2025 @ 12.30
🕊️ Free and open to all yoga students — within our community and beyond.
Attachment & Aversion
In our yoga practice—and in life—we are constantly dancing with preference. Drawn toward some things, pulled away from others. Craving what feels good, avoiding what doesn’t. These movements of the mind are known in yoga philosophy as rāga (attachment) and dveṣa (aversion), and they offer a powerful lens through which to observe how we engage with practice.
Rāga and dveṣa are two of the five kleśas, or afflictions of the mind, described in Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra:
Sutra 2.7: sukha-anuśayī rāgaḥ — attachment is that which follows pleasure.
Sutra 2.8: duḥkha-anuśayī dveṣaḥ — aversion is that which follows pain.
Neither attachment nor aversion is inherently wrong—but when we act from them unconsciously, they shape our experience and limit our freedom. In practice, this might look like reaching for the postures that feel strong and satisfying, while avoiding the ones that bring up frustration or vulnerability. It might look like craving stillness or effort depending on what we identify with, or checking out mentally when something becomes too confronting.
But yoga is not about comfort—it’s about clarity. And that clarity often requires us to stay present with a bit of friction.
Some questions to reflect on:
What kinds of postures, sensations, or practices are you drawn to? Why?
What do you tend to avoid—physically, mentally, emotionally? What might that reveal?
How do you relate to discomfort in practice? Do you push, retreat, resist, freeze?
When has something felt challenging or unpleasant in the moment, but led to insight or growth?
What helps you stay present when you want to avoid or cling?
How can noticing rāga and dveṣa lead to more freedom in practice?
How do your likes and dislikes shape other areas of life—your work, relationships, habits?
Recognizing these patterns with kindness—noticing without judgment—is itself a powerful practice. It invites us to make choices not just from habit, fear, or craving, but from deeper awareness. And that’s where yoga really begins.
The Listening Space: June Gathering
Compassion & Commitment
June 8, 2025 @ 12.30
🕊️ Free and open to all yoga students — within our community and beyond.
Last month, a theme emerged naturally from our circle: many of us are struggling with how to be more compassionate toward ourselves. How can we meet our own effort and discipline with softness? What does kindness really look like when we’re trying to stay committed to practice, especially when things feel hard?
This month in The Listening Space, we’ll take a closer look at compassion — not as a passive softness, but as a powerful and sometimes challenging form of self-inquiry. We’ll explore the difference between struggle and suffering, and reflect on how compassion might actually support rather than derail our growth.
Reflection questions:
Can we be both committed and kind — disciplined and compassionate?
Is compassion a tool for clarity, or a way we avoid challenge?
How do we tell the difference between self-care and self-sabotage?
Where is the line between working hard and pushing too hard?
Anchors for our conversation:
Yoga Sutra 1.12 reminds us that the mind is stilled through abhyāsa (dedicated practice) and vairāgya (non-attachment). Effort and ease go hand in hand.
How do we stay committed without becoming rigid or self-critical? How is compassion part of abhyāsa?
“Through cultivating friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the suffering, joy for the virtuous, and equanimity toward the non-virtuous, the mind becomes clear”
Yoga Sutra 1.33 invites us to cultivate compassion (karuṇā) for those who are suffering — including, perhaps most importantly, ourselves.
What does compassion (karuṇā) look like when the one suffering is ourselves? How do we apply this to our own internal struggles on the mat?
The true heart of The Listening Space is dialogue. Bring your voice, your questions, your doubts, your experience. Each gathering flows organically from the last — and this month’s conversation is shaped by what you brought up last time.
The Listening Space: May Gathering
We’re so looking forward to our very first gathering of The Listening Space, a monthly circle for yoga students who want to reflect, share, and grow together.
We’re so looking forward to our very first gathering of The Listening Space, a monthly circle for yoga students who want to reflect, share, and grow together.
This month, we’ll begin by exploring the idea of discipline in practice — not as something rigid or punishing, but as something rooted in care, devotion, and commitment to our path. We’ll begin with a short reading and use it as a springboard for open dialogue and svadhyaya — self-study through conversation.
This Month’s Gathering
Sunday, May 4
12:30 PM at The Breathing Space
Free and open to all yoga students — within our community and beyond.
Suggested Reading:
“Discipline is Remembering What You Want” — from The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar
(A short excerpt will be provided at the gathering, but you’re welcome to read ahead.)
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras: Sutra 1.14
”Practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break, and in all earnestness.”
Quote from Donna Farhi’s Bringing Yoga to Life:
“The real practice begins when we're no longer interested in looking good. It begins when we start to pay
attention to what's really going on inside, even when it's messy, uncomfortable, or uncertain.”
Optional Reflection Questions:
What supports or disrupts consistency in your practice?
How do you experience the tension between discipline and ease?
What does self-study (svadhyaya) mean to you, and how do you engage with it?
What does it mean to show up honestly on the mat?
You’re invited to bring your experience, your questions, and your voice. Whether you’re brand new to practice or many years in, your presence matters.