Amanda Ramcharitar Yoga

I feel as if Self-Practice is one of these subjects that either you are deeply intimate with or your on the verge of knowing if you are at all working on personal development. If you have a self-practice of any sort, meditation, martial arts, dance, movement, running, Yoga, swimming, surfing, you understand the necessity it is to have it in your life. Its like having a best friend always with you inside of you. It is as essential to our soul as it is to our bodies to wash. To cleanse, to wipe clean, to renew, to begin afresh. But what is it and how does one begin?

When i first began my study of Yoga in India, it was the next step in the study of Yoga after attending classes for one month. One was allowed into the studio space for at a certain time before class to begin to assimilate what one was learning in classes. I would arrive at 6 am, begin with hanging ropes and try to piece together of what i should do next, at this time it was like meeting myself as a stranger. It was from this moment that i began the truest lifelong relationship i’d ever have, with myself… And i promise it did not begin as a love affair, but slowly it is turning into one… With the guidance of teachers and studying numerous central texts to Yoga, and the many styles of Yoga, combined with anatomical understanding over the years, i began to understand the art of true medicinal sequencing, and how this relates to our bodies, why certain postures follow each other, and what they are meant for, in what seasons, in what part of the day, and in what my body needs to stay nourished & balanced. But no one taught me these things, i had to put many pieces of the puzzle together for myself, and realised that there is a clear road of understanding once you understand some core energetic concepts.

It is taught that the physical practice of Yoga can hold all the qualities of peace, but the true underlying part of the Asana practice is to prepare the body for meditation. Incorporating Pranayama (awareness of breath) throughout the practice and by developing a relationship with the breath will give insight into what is to come.

I never rushed towards meditation knowing that my hips were not comfortable, my spine did not feel strong to sit upright comfortably for a long period of time and my breath was still not quite comfortable in sitting. But then one day the parts began to come together, the legs, the torso, the lungs, the energy, and the breath began to converge, brief glimpses of stillness began to open to longer moments… It was as if the pieces of the Astanga (8 limb practice) puzzle came together… All the physical effort paid off in a deep sense of wellness and restfulness from within.

I cannot lie, it has been a quite a journey in my Yoga practice, its taken effort to come to this point, to this point of rest-fullness, no more than training for a marathon, or big wave surfing, i’ve realised it has been effortful, to understand my body, to understand my mind’s tendencies, to find a place that is still inside, but unlike chasing a wave that comes only a few times a year or running a marathon, an established self-practice is something that is within, you carry it with you everywhere you go. Like a surfer needs a surfboard, a runner needs a road, to self-practice one just needs one-self, all the tools for balance, for wellbeing, to begin again, is within…

To learn more about the 1 year self-practice course that will begin in February 2018 please contact myself here!