Sexual Abuse in the Satyananda Yoga Lineage

What is coming to light about child and sexual abuse in the Satyananda Yoga Lineage. This is article presents facts, amongst the author's own views. Shocking, hard to read, but wanted to share as it's important to be aware of as yoga continues to evolve in the west.

http://matthewremski.com/wordpress/boycott-satyanandas-literature-and-methods-until-reparations-are-made-for-sexual-abuse/

Death, love, and meditaiton.

A few days ago I was going to Mataram with Marjan. We were driving on his motorbike, and I thought to myself, I am so happy. I was so happy that I feared I would die that day. I have never felt this before. I now know that I was feeling an extended instance of raw bliss. There was a part of me that was (and most likely still is) in fact, dying. My infantile mind didn’t know how to process this and took it as it does most things: rather literally. Fear came, but the vibration of happiness was far more intoxicating. 

I held onto Marjam, the breeze in my hair, the monkeys in the trees, so in love with everything, and I thought, "it must be time to go". I was just too happy, entirely too content, and immediately intimidated by this deep happiness. It felt like an abyss. It felt like it was going to swallow me. At the time, I made no mention of my feelings and tried to brush them away. Now I understand. Well, no, I do not understand. But now I have seen a little bit more, and I understand that I didn’t understand (and most likely, don’t understand)much at all. 

"Death always occurs in the present. Death, love, meditation - they all occur in the present. So if you are afraid of death, you cannot love. If you afraid of love, you cannot meditate. If you afraid of meditation, your life will be useless. Useless not in the sense of any purpose, but useless in the sense that you will never be able to feel any bliss in it. It will be futile. It may seem strange to connect these three: love, meditation, death. It is not! They are similar experiences. So if you enter in one, you can enter in the remaining two." - Osho. 

Photography by Alba Giné

This was the most organic experience. I have never felt so simple and relaxed around anyone. Alba IS soul and an incredible visionary and artist. Please check out her work and events on https://malbadas.wordpress.com

The Continuation, Original written on May 10th, 2014. 1:49am

I woke up from a dream, grabbed a pen, and began writing.

I have been afraid. I have been afraid of love. I’ve been living under the delusion that it is one way when it is not. Love is just love. It is not the old ball and chain, or the horse and carriage. It doesn’t have to look on me the way it looks on others.

I am afraid that with love, life will stop. Society has told me it will. But with love, there will be oneness and an abolishment of duality. Life will not just NOT stop, but it will flow, and expand, and bring me closer to the core of myself, and therefor all beings.

I now realize that my mind has been tied up in mistruths, a dense and deep-rooted miseducation – and up until this point, up until this moment of waking up in a sweat, in the middle of the night, in Australia, on May 10th, 2014, my mind has been telling me that with love I have to conform. That with love I will have to ‘settle’, and begin moving through the motions. First you are free, and then you find someone, and you are not.

Intellectually, I have rejected the physical thoughts, the projection onto me, but there was so much to be undone. A 27-year-old garden – fucking full of weeds. I could tell myself as much as I wanted to, ‘you don’t want to live this way’, but underneath were old seeds, working against my truth. Tonight I see them, and I pull them out.

Love is greater. I don’t want to and don’t have to feel like a ‘wife’. I don’t have to be a wife. Period. I still remember how the men in the office at South Bay would react when someone told their wives were on the phone. I still remember the grins and the high fives when the mistresses would drop by. I kept my eyes on the computer screen, and told myself, you will never be the wife. I was 18 and my young soul was hurting, and it wasn’t just shields that came up with that ache, but weapons. I didn’t want to just protect myself; I wanted to play the game and fight. I don’t know why. Maybe my ego or upbringing, but that is what occurred. In that moment, I utterly rejected the idea of partnership. My young self also didn’t realize it’s not so black and white and that I worked with a bunch of assholes.

Bottom line is, I don’t have to feel lesser than a mistress. I don’t have to have children, or partake in any of the domestic white picket fence shit that makes me nauseous. I don’t have to be a traditional wife or push out offspring. I am and can be none of those things and still be love. And the souls that my soul is already bound with will understand this.

Life doesn’t have to stop or be a certain way. Our souls can continue to orbit this earth, explore together, grow together, and be un-uniform. We’ll see past the fog and past the unspoken laws. The souls that my soul is already interwoven with have been waiting for me to wake up 1:40am and realize with what ludicrous fear and social condition I’ve been living with. I didn’t see this.

The thickness of the untruth we’ve existed in. Traditions are truth for many, I am sure, but for me, it is hard to swallow. Love is life. Love is infinite. It expands, elevates, and wraps you up in the fabric that binds us all and through it you are never suppressed. And for some it may look like the picture that was painted for us, but not for me.

With love, I only go deeper into myself. It does not end things for me. It does not begin things for me. It runs in an infinite circle. It’s a reminder of the beautiful wholeness, the continuation. The continuation. The continuation. It just occurred to me.

I’ve been in love all along.

Dear Body - I am sorry.

I feel remorse.
I turned a blind eye to the abuse, and in doing so, made you my slave and not my partner. 
I used you to mask my pain, and then resented you for not being able to recover. 
For every moment of neglect and unawareness. 

For throwing you into starvation when I thought it would make the world love me. 
For the month of moonshine, top ramen, and peanuts, and then sprinting, bloodymad sprinting, until you hit the wall, dehydrated, throbbing, trying. Trying so hard for me. 
For the lack of balance. 

For the decade of birth control. 
For not resting and keeping you warm when you were so defeated and ill. 
Mostly I am sad for pushing you away instead of pulling you close in moments of disconnect. 
I am sorry I couldn't look at you. 

And mostly sad that I didn't see how lovely you are. 
Thank you for harbouring my soul and my spirit, and speaking to me with such patience.
As you always have.
I am listening now. 

#dearbody 

#dearbody is a declaration of love, a renewing of vowels. After more than a year of traveling, I found myself disconnected. I knew all too well that despite my efforts and my practice, the constant flux and absolute lack of structure and stability had been long taking a toll on my ability to check in and l-i-s-t-e-n, and it was creating suffering. 

One spring evening as I sat in the sand and enjoyed a sunset, I assigned my intellect and ego to draft a  letter to my physical and emotional body. This was the result. And although private, I feel compelled to share because this is my yoga. The journey is far from over, but this helped infuse the path with more love and compassion.

Natural Disasters

I alone cannot hold back the rivers of the world. 

Grant me permission to unclench my fists.

To avalanche, sprint, and downfall.

To wrap myself around you like wind arcs around an eagle’s wings.

I alone cannot subdue the storms of the world.

Like majestic sirens and sailors, I need

You to release your fingers into the poppy fields of my mane.

To sink your Titanic, and give way to this drunken dusk.

Like horizons take the sun.

Like horizons take the sun.

With ceaseless certainty.

Untiring and utterly undone.

Say you give into me.

Or take cover, and sound off

                                

The alarms.

Filming My 10th Episode for Yoga Today

This past Monday I filmed my 10th episode with Yoga Today. It's my 3rd year joining the Yoga Today team in the beautiful state of Wyoming - a magnificent place I may otherwise never have had the pleasure to see and experience as much as I have! Jackson never fails to take my breathe away - the nature here is spectacular, and I am overwhelmingly grateful to be a part of Yoga Today and have the continued opportunity to keep spreading yoga around the world via the world wide web! Visit www.yogatoday.com for full length classes!

www.beyondbeing.com.au

www.theyogamatoc.com

www.yogatoday.com

www.monalisagodfrey.com

My annual Yoga Today van photo.

What is important to you?

As I handed the officer my licence and registration yesterday, I knew one thing - the Universe was asking me to slow down. I wasn't speeding, but I heard the message right away; slow down MonaBear.

It has been an fiery whirlwind from the moment that my plane landed at LAX over a month ago - from  a cross country trip that ended in an accident, to playing the most ruthless game of catch up ever + the array of emotions that came along with finally coming back to visit. It's been all-consuming. 

The people-pleaser in me has been struggling to find time for everyone and everything, and all things considered, I've been doing alright. However, yesterday I heard the alarm sound off. I was sleep-deprived, disoriented, and out of sorts. And as I watched the officer walk away with my information, I caught a glimpse of myself in the side-mirror. I looked exhausted. I am no good to anyone like this.

I'm listening. I am listening.

I've been practicing, reconnecting to the studios, but meditating very little. I've been hiking with friends and relaxing in many ways, but spending very little time alone, which I have learned that I absolutely need in order to recharge and thrive. It might seem off, but sometimes relaxing with other people still takes it out of me. So today I have locked myself in my old bedroom to write and give myself some tender love and care. 

As I gain awareness through my ongoing years of practice, I've naturally become more sensitive. It's a sensitivity I worry other people will perceive as selfishness or lack of care. I think this is what stops me from taking care of myself. But again, how valuable  is my service if I am not really there - physically, emotionally, with 100% of my heart. The reality is, I am not going to be able to do everything I wanted to do. There will be people I will not have a chance to see or not see as much as I would have liked to. And then there are things I don't want to do and need to learn to say no to.

I am grateful for this beautiful time back home. I have been showered with love. Stepping away from the life that I created and then stepping back into the residual waves of it has shown me how powerful every seed we plant is. It is also teaching me how to manage my energy and where I tend to be most rattled and rocked. As the wind has picked up, and I feel swayed in every which direction, it has challenged me ground my feet, to dig my roots into the earth, and ask myself, but what is important to you?

On a more logistical note, I am excited to announce that I will be reconnecting with the Yoga Today team in Wyoming before I fly to Sydney on the 22nd of July. This leaves me very little time in California. I have made the promise to myself to slow down, so that it doesn't pass me by, with me not really being here here. In result, I suspect that I may appear even more MIA. I ask for understanding, from others, but mostly, mostly from myself.

With love, I leave you with this: 

“That is why it is so important to let certain things go. To release them. To cut loose. People need to understand that no one is playing with marked cards; sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. Don't expect to get anything back, don't expect recognition for your efforts, don't expect your genius to be discovered or your love to be understood. Complete the circle. Not out of pride, inability or arrogance, but simply because whatever it is no longer fits in your life. Close the door, change the record, clean the house, get rid of the dust. Stop being who you were and become who you are.”
― Paulo Coelho, The Zahir 

New Class +New Quick Tip!

For full length classes visit www.yogatoday.com. I am also happy to announce that I will be rejoining my Yoga Today team in BEAUTIFUL Wyoming to create some new material in a little less than two weeks! So excited for this time, and unlike the last two years, my goal is to be a little more diligent about blogging whilst there! Can't wait to share this experience!

The Microscope

Ever since yoga first entered into the West, its teachers and practitioners have been scrutinized, and the more mainstream it becomes, the bigger the microscope. The business of yoga, and in many ways rightfully so, is on an even tighter public surveillance. The cold-as-ice truth is, the judgement within the yoga realm runs thick like molasses, no different from other businesses or niche communities. It's far beyond discussing ethics, ancient traditions, or correct anatomy:  it's too this, or too that, the music, or the lack of, her shorts are too short, the chanting is weird, no, that's NOT how you pronounce shavasana, oh, and apparently, he eats meat. I'd heard it everyday, and I'm no saint. Most of us don't mean any harm with our insignificant comments, but in the end they add up, and it made me want to stay small. For me, this is often the root of my hesitance to grow, my shame, and my irrational worries. I've needed to face it.

The microscope.

What I've realized is that whenever you stand up, you're going to be judged. Point blank. Have you seen the comments on celebrities' IG's or FB pages? They're painful to read! The disconnect that the modern-day means of communication harbors is massive. There is little to zero accountability, which makes these media platforms a bloody massacre. So, the question is - can you stand up anyways - especially if it's something worth getting on your feet for? I know I don't want to live my life on my bum bum. Most of the time I prefer to stand vs sit and run vs walk. And that was that.

All this resurfaced again as I've been working on the launch of my new facebook profile (check it out: www.facebook.com/monalisagodfreyyoga) --- I asked myself again: Who do you think you are? And this is my answer.

I'm a young woman who loves yoga. It changes me, for the better, everyday. When given the gift, the opportunity, to share this love, I am elevated. I only teach what I practice and what I've personally experienced. I am a student, first and foremost. I certainly don't know everything. In fact, I don't know the half of it, and maybe never will. I'm far from the best or the most seasoned, but I am passionate and willing to share my humble experience. I'm not the most advanced or flexible, but I'll fall and laugh with you. I am on the same journey as you, and willing to share my path. And I want to learn from yours, and learn with you.

New Gentle Vinyasa Class released with Yoga Today!

For full length classes visit www.yogatoday.com :)

Quick Tip Released on Yoga Today :)

"There are many ways to transition from one pose to another in yoga. Mona Godfrey puts the fun in fundamental by showing you a playful way to move from standing poses to your seated practice. Jumping through to seated takes as much arm strength as it does core strength. And with this quick tip you will come that much closer to mastering this move. Knowing these fundamentals and incorporating them into your routine will lead you to a stronger, safer, and healthier yoga practice. For full length classes visit Yogatoday.com"