Beyond the Diet

Two minutes into meditation and your mind is already arguing that the timer must be about to go off. It isn't. That's the mind running an old habit, and in this episode we start studying it. Kristina teaches the fourth niyama, Svadhyaya, which translates as study of the self. Ayurveda's word for perfect health, svastha, starts in the same place. Sva. Self. To be well is to be anchored in who you really are. In this episode, we explore: What sva and adhyaya mean, and the difference between the little self and the big Self Samskara, the grooves in the mind that keep us repeating the same reactions in different situations Why a pattern has to be seen before it can be changed Journaling, meditation, honest conversations and the yoga mat as ways to study yourself A question from one of Kristina's teachers: where do your thoughts come from, and where do they go? A short seated meditation with the mantra sat nam, I am that Underneath it all is a simple invitation. Next time you sit down and your mind insists the timer must be nearly done, stay. That restless voice is the first thing worth studying. Practise with us at yogatotransform.com

Monday you were all in. By Thursday the wine's poured, the chocolate's open, and you're wondering where your willpower went. This week Kristina teaches tapas, the third niyama. Tapas means to burn. It's the fiery discipline and burning enthusiasm that keeps you turning up for yourself, and it's the same fire Ayurveda calls agni. Most of us were taught discipline as punishment. Yoga sees it differently. In this episode, we explore: • Tapas, the third chakra and why your willpower sits in your belly • Why rolling out your mat for ten minutes is real practice • How a strong body holds a bigger life force, and a bigger life • Rajasic, tamasic and sattvic tapas, and the one that tends to last • Kristina's five-day silent retreat and what it showed her about food • The mind as a pleasure-seeking missile, and what to do at 9pm • A 10-minute closed-eye meditation to close Underneath the chocolate is a feeling you're looking for. Tapas is the practice of sitting still long enough to find out what it is. Join the conversation in our Facebook group, Beyond the Diet: Weight, Wellness and Womanhood.

How many pairs of jeans are sitting on your wardrobe shelf right now? And how many do you actually wear? This week we reach the fifth and final yama, aparigraha. It translates as non-grasping, non-greed or non-attachment, and it asks a simple question that turns out to be quite hard to answer. What are you holding on to, and why? Kristina moves from the Bhagavad Gita to the shoe pile on the wardrobe floor, from the pavlova that might crack to the leftovers going off in the fridge. It's a practical, honest look at how grasping shows up for women in their 30s and 40s, and what letting go could feel like. In this episode, we explore: The meaning of aparigraha and the Sanskrit behind it Krishna's teaching to Arjuna on action and the fruits of action Why chasing the outcome (including the number on the scale) can steal from the process Fear of failing as its own form of attachment Grasping, lack and the urge to fill an empty feeling with shopping or food The Ayurvedic approach to eating until you're around three-quarters full Conscious consumerism, food waste and fast fashion Holding on to memories, painful and happy The 24-hour rule and a set of journal prompts to take into your week Underneath all of it sits the real practice: letting things arrive when they arrive, and letting them go when it's time. Yoga to Transform: https://yogatotransform.com

We're up to the fourth yama, and this one gets a rewrite for anyone who isn't a monk or a nun. Brahmacharya used to mean celibacy, a way for renunciates to conserve their energy for the path to enlightenment. For the rest of us, living what Buddha called the middle path, it becomes something more useful: the wise use of your energy. Not restriction. Not indulgence. The practice of noticing where your energy actually goes, and choosing again. This episode uses the humble packet of biscuits to make the whole yama concrete, and closes with a guided pranayama and meditation practice you can do right along with the class. In this episode, we explore: What Brahmacharya actually means once you take celibacy out of the equation Why distraction, not lack of willpower, is what drains most of our energy The difference between constitutional energy and energy lost to avoidance or repression Why going cold turkey rarely works, and what moderation looks like instead The practice of witnessing yourself mid-habit, and how it creates the pause where change becomes possible A guided Nadi Shodhana (alternate nostril breathing) practice A short sense-withdrawal meditation to close the practice Underneath all of it is a simple question this yama keeps asking: not what should you give up, but what do you actually want, and is the way you're spending your energy today moving you towards it.

Most of us hear "non-stealing" and assume we've already got it sorted. We don't take bikes. We don't lift wallets. But asteya, the third of the yamas, goes a lot further than the obvious. It asks where else we take more than we need, more than our share, more than the moment freely gives us. In this class, we explore: Why hoarding, lateness and over-consuming all sit inside asteya The line Gandhi drew between physical theft and "man's greed and craving for artificial needs" Comparison and jealousy as quiet forms of stealing from someone else's joy, and our own Staying in your comfort zone as stealing from the person you're capable of becoming How a bad mood can steal someone else's peace of mind without a word being said The illusion underneath it all: the belief that we're separate and not enough A guided abundance meditation to close the practice Underneath all of it is one idea worth sitting with: the things we reach for outside ourselves are rarely the thing we're actually missing. This class is an invitation to notice the reaching, and to start trusting that you already have enough. Part of our ongoing Yamas and Niyamas series. New episodes drop as we work through the full eight limbs together.