Dear Andrew,
In my twenties I was lucky enough to spend over ten years in therapy.
If you didn''t have a shrink in New York City, you were an anomaly so I was in good company.
Weekly, I met with my therapist and also begrudgingly attended her group therapy sessions.
My biggest take-away from those days?
The power of vulnerability to connect two hearts.
It was shocking how much armor I had on at first.
When I stopped trying to be right, good, or "upstanding", deep trust and connection always followed.
With my armor down, I became infinitely closer with my therapist, the folks in my group, and the people around me.
Ultimately, I learned to normalize being a flawed human. And I got that we all share in this imperfection.
I got that relationships are imperfect too, and that I didn''t need to give up on people so quickly, or shame them when they messed up.
Because I was human like everybody else!
Therapy was a starting point for my healing, but as soon as I dove into my yoga studies I realized that yoga philosophy was the add-on I needed.
Now I sometimes wonder how I'd ever have gotten along if I didn't have yoga philosophy in my life.
Studying yoga texts and stories has given me a framework to come to terms with this crazy world.
Over the years it''s:
- Allowed me to grieve and laugh at the same time.
- Nudged me to love my life.
- Taught me to value my gifts and offer them to others.
In the myths and stories, there''s something valuable to learn about ourselves because we're meant to be every character within the tale.
Last month we dove into the fundamentals of yoga philosophy and compared the viewpoints of the major schools of yoga. (BTW, that module was just made available as an archived course!!!).
Next month, we're going wild with texts, concepts, and some key deities.
We''ll learn about Kundalini and the five, not seven, Tantric chakras, the three Malas, the three Gunas, Ganesha, Hanuman & the Ramayana, the twelve Kalis, Sarasvati, and Lakshmi.
The new module is called Advanced Yoga Philosophy: The Ramayana, Kundalini, and Deities.
We don't want you going it alone with this material, so you'll learn about these lesser studied aspects with me and the community of 90 Monkeys teachers right at your side.
We need other people to be our best selves.
Surround yourself with the virtual friends, love, and support you need to help thrive during these strange times!