My Yoga Principles

by Angela Santosa

Angela Santosa, a yoga and breath-work teacher, is one of the body therapists at The HEAL Institute. She not only teaches yoga. She breathes, lives and embodies yoga. In this blog post, she shares three of the principles that keep her inspired in her yoga practice.

1. No pain no gain

I am pretty sure you have heard the expression "no pain, no gain" several times in your life. I am also pretty sure you have never heard this in a yoga class. In the beginning, the yoga practice can be very physical and this can last 5 years or more of regular practice 3 to 6 times a week, but eventually the mind settles and the focus is redirected to the depth of the breath and the bandhas. The excitement of achieving a new asana probably will still be there but more like the cherry on the cake. The actual cake is the peace of mind, a balanced perception of the world and enjoyment of the practice itself.

Yoga is a practice of self-awareness, focus and surrender. So how do injuries appear on our door step? Usually it's when we are not present, when we are trying way too hard, or when we are not knowing or listening to ourselves. A child pose or modifications of the asanas are always available in yoga, but we tend to avoid these options because of a misunderstanding between giving up and surrendering. Are we giving up too easily due to habitual patterns which contain negative issues such as "poor self-esteem", "life is too hard so this is too hard" etc, or are we in tune with ourselves knowing that in this moment we need to pause and reset our energies. It's actually a perfect moment to investigate which part of oneself the instructions are coming from and does this particular voice tend to provide positive life affirming advice or not? As soon as our awareness shines a light on this, our self-healing journey can continue.

If we were not able to avoid injury, then the first step to recovery is to find gratitude and appreciation for this experience and discover what can be learnt here. These days this is not only a mantra for yoga fanatics and hippies, science also confirms the huge benefits of gratitude and learning the lesson.

Different injuries need different asanas. If it is a knee, the focus is on strengthening and balancing the muscles all around the knee. If it is the lower back, we speak to the front of the back by strengthening and balancing the deep muscles of the abdomen and we bring strength to the muscles of the back while freeing any compression with gentle twisting and stretching. We keep moving, keep practicing but with care and love. 

2. We are born to be free

There is Divine energy everywhere, around us and inside us. We are all pure creations of the Divine. I remember being around 4 years old fascinated with white clouds, stars and ocean waves. I saw them as a manifestations of freedom, lightness, beauty and mystery. They captured me. Then I became fascinated with ballerinas, gymnasts and eventually yogis, all using their bodies with beauty and lightness, expressing their free spirit. It was a mystery to me how they could move in such a way. That's when I began to investigate my own mind, body and Soul.

That's when I discovered that every thought, emotion or action leaves an imprint on us. Addiction to stress will have our muscles constantly contracted and push us to recreate stress once more. Meditation, pranayama and yoga do the opposite - they set us free from our own mind created illusions. These transformational tools of self-awareness highlight that we are pure Divine Love and Light. There is no separation between any of us, between day and night, between all the oceans. We can raise our vibrations higher and higher, beyond the ego and negative mindsets, beyond the planets and stars, beyond everything and everyone - towards Divine Love.

May we always feel the presence of Divine Love and Light in our heart and all around us. May we merge with Love and Light.

3. Don’t worry, be trustful

Bending my back is something I always love doing, although it's not like I was born in urdhva dhanurasana, no, it is something my heart loves and enjoys. At any age and even with health issues, there are a lot of benefits from bending our back regularly. Check out Google's wealth of information on anatomy, biomechanics and health benefits. I would love to share a little bit about some aspects of back-bending and the realisation of the energy movement.

As we all know from many different sources, to move the back requires a lot of trust in ourselves and the world. This one was huge for me: a challenge to fully let go of the control which my ego likes to hang onto even though it's a bit like feeling safe in a limited small box. Trusting in the Universe when everything is falling apart is an ability which my mind is still attempting to construct. Especially difficult is seeing a loved one lost and then just trusting in his or her Divine path, not trying to fix anything and instead focus on simply being there in loving support if needed.

My tricky mind wants to fix everything instead of letting things be and it wants everybody to be happy, smiley and always celebrating the beauty of life. It's a divided mind. The upgraded part knows it is enough to switch on the light to make darkness disappear, but protective blocks around the heart prevent this realisation.

The back-bending practice removes these layers of protection to allow a sense of vulnerability, to be free and happy like kids shining with Divine Love, Light and Peace. May all beings be happy and free.

Angela is starting two new courses on 12 September 2023. A Yoag course and a meditation and breathwork course. Check them out here:

Yoga with Angela: https://www.thehealinstitute.com/offers/VVWN2KFm/checkout

Meditation with Angela: https://www.thehealinstitute.com/offers/soFRMgCX/checkout