“My students often ask me to describe equanimity. I tell them I cannot do better than to tell the story of my greatest teacher of equanimity – my cat, Mr. B…One day, Mr. B was sitting in my front yard, calmly surveying the neighbourhood like a little sphinx, all knowing, and all seeing. Head up, eyes scanning slowly up and down the street. Two doors down, something unusual happened. My neighbour’s large and ferocious German shepherd, Queenie, got out of the house. She was in turn, surveying the scene on the street when her eye caught sight of Mr. B. Queenie stood perfectly still for a moment, ears up. She crouched. Then she charged, like a rocket, directly at the composed little figure of Mr. B. 

Mr. B did not budge. Did not blink. He stared with utter non-concern at Queenie’s raging approach. A foot or two from Mr. B, Queenie, completely taken aback by the cat’s unflinching ease, skidded to a stop and ran back to her own yard. Mr. B put his head back on his paws. That was that.

This is equanimity.”

Stephen Cope, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self.

When you are on your yoga mat, there may be many “ferocious dogs” charging at you. The ferocious dog of pain can appear at any moment, especially if concentration on breathing and relaxing lapses and attention is focused on achieving an ideal pose. When pain arises, practice equanimity. Stop, breathe, watch the sensation, assess it, measure it, look at how best to deal with it. What you may find is that the pain subsides on its own. If it doesn’t, then shift position, and change what you are doing, in a careful, mindful way.

Being mindful means noticing emotions that arise from the pain – maybe fear, agitation, anger, or worry. Again, watch the emotion, you may find it dissipates on its own. Be aware. Be calm. Look straight at the pain, and the emotions, watch them rage at you and then disappear. 

The old fibro cottage perched on the side of the slope, it’s once yellow paint faded to the palest cream, with smudges on the south wall where the mould had been washed off. A few desultory trees scattered around the property, the remnants that rabbits hadn’t eaten and drought hadn’t killed.

The house took on a certain charm in the twilight. Which was fortunate, because that was when the cars carrying people from the suburbs came to our yoga classes. We worried that they would judge our house as unworthy, when we knew they drove to us from mansions. But they thought it quaint, even a bit new age, to do yoga in our little fibro house.

We built a pergola on the tiny front veranda. The do-it-yourself leaflet from Bunnings gave you all the instructions, and we borrowed a ladder from next door. It stopped the rain saturating people’s shoes. They may have been less generous in their opinions if they came out of class to put on soggy shoes.  Behind the house was a caravan. Not the modern, tow it behind your four wheel drive kind of caravan. A little two room van that had seen better days, but was up for the challenge of serving as our kitchen.

The caravan was a necessity. One day I came home to find that Deb and her dad had ripped out our kitchen to make enough space for more students. The kitchen had had the unfortunate luck to be adjoined to our yoga studio, and only separated by a material curtain on a rod. So it was only a matter of time before the growing numbers of students pushed expanded into this space. To make dinner, we trudged out to our little van, a vinyl annex on its side, and pretended we really didn’t mind, and that it was all a bit of fun. My daughter would sit out there doing her homework, removed from the necessity to constantly speak in whispers so the students wouldn’t be disturbed, and feel like it was her own special space.

When it rained, the water would flow down the hill so fast, it would carry mud with it and deposit it at the back door, between the caravan and the house. The trick was to walk carefully so as not to slip, (in the process getting wet), then wash your feet in a tub in the laundry, and towel off your hair. A short detour through the bathroom (with a quick check in the mirror to make sure your hair wasn’t sticking up) into the yoga room gave you enough time to compose yourself as though you has just wandered in from another room. Calmness and serenity was maintained at all times. Even the day the caravan flooded, and the night  I burnt the dinner, and the time I slipped over in the mud, landing on my butt with a resultant bruise for a week.

The bathroom became the place the yoga props were stored. So students collected bolsters from our bathtub, and blocks from the shelf behind the door. It was only a problem when we needed to use the bathroom, and that was just a minor hiccup that a little planning could avoid.

My yoga room was my massage space whenever there were no yoga classes happening, or the 'office' in which Deb and I discussed our business plan, and worked out the next step. It was pretty tricky running yoga classes with a young child, but most of the yoga students thought Jess was cute, especially when she came to class and showed off her yoga poses. Luckily we had Deb's parents next door, and they often took Jess out for dinner, or to swimming lessons, so that we could run the classes.
Looking back on it now, although those were difficult times, they were a time of enormous learning and growth, in which we learned not only how to run a yoga studio, but began the model of individual programs that works so well today.

The causes of headaches are many and varied, and finding the cause can often be difficult.




Just some of the more common causes include dehydration, some foods, constipation, lack of sleep, eyestrain, glare, sinusitis, poor posture, neck tension, hormonal imbalances, stress, grief, worry and depression. Some headaches are structurally caused from accidents or other injuries. Headaches can result from nutritional factors. Some people get headaches from eating food that contains MSG. Some people get a headache from eating fatty food on an empty stomach. For some people, if they don’t eat for a long period their blood sugar levels can go down and this can cause headaches. A poor diet that is low in nutrients will give some people chronic, ongoing headaches. Last, but not least, if you drink coffee regularly, and suddenly stop drinking it, then the withdrawal symptoms can include strong relentless headaches.

A headache is your body giving you signals something is out of balance. Always take the time and pay attention to these signals. Many headaches are stress related, so do a relaxation, using one of the many excellent relaxation CD’s available. Or simply take 5 minutes to lie on the floor and scan your body for areas of tension, then use the breath out to let it go. While you have your attention focused inward, start to explore what is happening in your body. Physically, be aware if your body is feeling balanced – compare right and left sides of your back, pelvis and shoulders. Think of the stretches you have done in class that helped you come back into balance. Think of the habits that your body often falls into, and how you have worked with these patterns in the past.

Mentally and emotionally, become aware of what is going on, and how this is contributing to your headache. Use visualization, deep breathing and relaxation to let go of the thoughts and feelings that are unhelpful. Remember, beating yourself up will only make you feel worse – ahimsa, or non-violence towards yourself means cultivating positive feelings toward yourself and a supportive, loving inner dialogue.

Effort is a combination of 
1) motivation, 
2) enthusiasm, 
3) dedication and 
4) will. 
Effort must be combined with awareness, or your yoga can become hardened.

When applying effort in asana, there are external and internal elements. 
The external elements are: 
1) geometry,  
2) alignment, 
3) strength, 
4) flexibility   
The internal elements are: 
1) awareness,
2) grace, 
3) respectful kindness, and
4) focus.
When practice begins, efforts are focused on the external components, with a concentration on physical resistance. Work in this area needs to develop patiently. It can take a long time…it will depend on application and perseverance…

While this work continues, further progress can be achieved by directing effort to the internal components… the flowering of awareness…its aim is to work on the scattered nature of the mind and attention and bring about poise…

It is a feature of attention that when it is undisciplined it will drift and fade and will often align itself to elements of our conditioning that are not in our best interests. When we enter an asana, for example, we are distracted by the mind’s tendency to focus on the physical challenge, by all kinds of inadequacies and doubts as to whether or not we are doing the pose correctly, by the desire to adjust the body and fidget, by pride and competitiveness, by such thoughts as “When is this pose going to end?”, or “I don’t like doing this”, etc

All of this chaotic activity takes away the subtle power from the centre of the asana. The internal control is lost and the effect becomes dissipated. To counter this: enter into the asana in a skillful way, fix the eyes on an object and do not shift the gaze for the duration of the asana. Alternatively, close you eyes.

Keep your awareness on your body, don’t allow thoughts to intrude. When feelings arise, note them, then let them go. If discomfort arises, adjust your pose so that it is relieved of pain. Let your thoughts be kind ones, encouraging and supporting yourself. Let go of judgments and criticism. Allow the pose to occur, without pushing, striving or forcing. Breathe easily & deeply. This is effortless effort.