I have just returned from leading a week long Iyengar yoga retreat in Morocco. Seventeen students and myself gathered on Monday Nov 7 2024, for our first circle. We had a week long experience of community, laughter, caring and deep learning of the many aspects of what an Iyengar yoga practice can offer, body mind and soul.
Blogs
Viveka is the key to unraveling the web of our own thoughts, a tissue to clean our
glasses, a key to open our heart and see clearly what is in front of us.
Artemis Yoga Interviews Rahel. What does your yoga practice look like during this time of social distancing? How are you staying inspired to move, learn, and teach?
We experience many kinds of pain: including physical (hunger, broken bones, illnesses), and emotional, (rejections, loneliness, fears, betrayals). When our mind fills with stories of past pains, we transform the pain in the present moment into suffering! The story we tell ourselves about the pain, takes a life of its own and can make us relive our suffering.

As part of the International summer program Nusantara School on Difference, I taught Iyengar yoga sessions to our group composed by people from different religions and nationalities.
We need effort to open the body, to extend tired muscles, to expand our chest and we need effort to stay with the practice. If that would the only story, we would burn out quickly! As we stick with the Tapas we are coming face to face with another aspect of yoga.
Sometimes we all have negative thoughts of question and doubt, “why am I doing this yoga practice? It helped so much and now it does not anymore.” These negative impulses regarding our practice are here to stay. We hit them time and time again, when we are sick, injured, or feeling down.
Mary Oliver’s words “ something has pestered me all day and I thought my heart will break”… Is a well-known situation were we find ourselves at loss with the world, trying to find the way back to our center amidst heavy, turbulent waters. Oliver suggests being embraced and embracing nature to find healing place.