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.

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.