Yoga and Meditation - Online or In person

The first time we taught yoga and meditation online was through necessity – the covid lockdown had begun and it was the only way people could connect to share practice. We were quite skeptical as to how effective it would be.

We were glad to be proved so very wrong. Nick remembers the moment he sat and began a meditation practice with a group of maybe 20 people or so thinking to himself ‘Oh – this is interesting!’ The profound stillness and depth that comes from shared practice was still there. Though, as a group, we were separated by hundreds of miles, we were together. In itself this is wonderful teaching that we should at least be open to the possibility of realising that the experiences of time, distance and separation are apparent – at a more fundamental level they just aren’t as ‘real’ as they appear to be. 

“Space, time and physical objects are not objective reality. They are simply the virtual world delivered by our senses to help ‘us’ play the game of life.” Donald Hoffman

As Essential Nature Yoga, we thoroughly enjoy the online teachings that we offer and share – we’re so grateful that the sessions have been received and supported so well. Knowing the value of online teaching we have been thinking about ways in which we could further encourage a sense of community and support for those that join us. We’ve no intention of swamping you with online offerings – we think we’ve pretty much got the balance right in terms of how much and when. 

What we have been wondering though is would a monthly satsang (questions & answers) be of use if any questions arise from practice? Would further support and inspiration for those teaching yoga be of value? 

As such we’ve devised a quick and easy questionnaire that we’d love to hear your answers to. It may help to highlight what we can offer going forward and it may also tell us that things are pretty much where they need to be for now. Hopefully it should only take a few minutes to answer. 

It’s also worth stating that we don’t for a moment believe that online teaching and practice should replace in-person sharing – it doesn’t have to be one or the other. For many of us there is still no substitute for coming together and sharing physical time and place – it’s a part of our make-up and has been an essential aspect of the human experience from our earliest times.  Our in-person retreats that blend authentic practice with uplifting experiences in the natural world will always be an important part of what we offer as they offer that richness of experience and coming together as well as the depth of practice. We still have a few spaces on some of this year’s retreats for those who would like to join us.