Week Five - Ishvara Pranidhana, Surrender to the Unknown

Hello everyone,

I hope you are all well and that the full beaver moon on Tuesday didn't pull too tightly on your heart strings. It is a time of year for pulling back, there's no doubt about it. A time to say no a little more often, choose practices that fill your cup, and create space for new beginnings with deep rest. 

I can't believe it, but we have come to our final yoga practices of the term at Thrive! Thank you so much to all who have joined me this past month, moving through Hatha and Yin practices and learning about the niyamas and yoga. I am really excited to say that after this Sunday we will be going straight through into a new five week yoga term! 

New Hatha and Yin term dates: November 16th-December 14th

If you wish to continue your weekly Sunday yoga practice with me at Thrive, or maybe commit to something new and grounding for the winter, just send me an email and you can save your space for the term - which will take us all the way to the Christmas break. We will have a Hatha practice at 5pm every Sunday, and a stretchy Yin practice at 6:30pm.

The entire term is just €75 - five weeks of either Hatha or Yin classes, with weekly emails and a common thread of yoga philosophy throughout, designed to help you integrate and embody the wisdom of this age-old practice. All levels welcome! *Drop-in option is always there too when there's space available :) 

For our final practices of the term this Sunday, we will flow and breathe with the theme of Ishvara Pranidhana, which is the fifth niyama in Patanjali's ancient path of yoga. The five niyamas are internal observations, or personal duties, that may help yoga practitioners to feel at peace and in flow. Ishvara Pranidhana, the final niyama, is an instruction to surrender and trust. 

This niyama is probably the simplest to explain, and the hardest to practice. Surrender and go with the flow. Far easier said than done! 

While the Sanskrit word pranidhana means 'surrender', it's worth noting that the word ishvara means 'to a higher power'. Without getting too religious, this niyama is about seeing the bigger picture and choosing to trust it, rather than resist it. It's about acknowledging that the story of our mind, the impermanence of our physical body, and even the youth of our species in the broader sense of time and space, are all indicators that there is more at play than we know - and more going on than we can possibly predict or alter. 

If you're anything like me, you probably spend a good bit of time focusing on things you cannot control...what people think of you...how much money comes into your account every week...how the day or week is going to go...what's going on in world politics...Yikes! The list goes on and on. Ishvara Pranidhana is about gently noticing the futility of giving your energy to things that are out of your control. It's like pouring water down a sink. It will leave you frustrated and exhausted. By cultivating a practice of surrendering to the unknown, you can refocus your energy on the things that are actually within your power  - which is an enormously satisfying and enlivening thing to do, because it will bring you into the present moment.

Surrendering the illusion of control can also mean being open to a different perspective. Re-writing the script. I listened to a wonderful podcast with a psychologist named Diana Hill and I was fascinated to hear that according to clinical research, the number one contributor to a client experiencing change and transformation in therapy is their ability to have a flexible mindset. In the past, most psychologists believed that primary healing came from therapeutic alliance and social support - which are key factors. However, the research shows that none of this actually works if the client is not willing to let go of their story and their narrative, and change it for a more positive one. When I heard this, I felt a wave of recognition for the ancient idea of Ishvara Pranidhana. To take a step back from your narrow personal perspective, recognise the broader picture and all the unknowns, all the potential, and reclaim power over what you can control - which is always your attention and focus in this here and now. 

You might ask yourself...What am I focusing on today? What am I choosing to believe about my situation that may not be true? Do my thoughts align with what I want? Are my thoughts giving me energy? Or are they taking my energy away?

And then the day came,

when the risk

to remain tight

in a bud

was more painful

than the risk

it took

to blossom.

Risk, by Anaïs Nin

Le grá,

Macha