Ask YogaToday with Mona Godfrey: My Meditation Practice Share

Ask YogaToday with Mona Godfrey: My Meditation Practice

 

• Brit Hastings
• 10/13/15

We have all read the headlines and watched the TED Talks, not to mention experienced the benefits ourselves (yoga and meditation go hand-and-hand after all), so we decided to catch up with Mona Godfreyto discuss the personal and practical side of meditation. Mona sheds some light on this "gray matter" and offers her heartfelt advice to those considering the journey. If you are looking for yet another incentive to begin meditating, Mona credits her move from Indonesia to London to her practice. Pretty profound, right? Read on to learn more about Mona's mindful adventure. 

What have you learned from your personal meditation practice?

“It cannot be understood intellectually, but only through progressive spiritual awakening, for true spiritual understanding always dawns in a way which is paradoxical and irrational to the faculty of the intellect.”

This is one of my favorite quotes from the Kundalini Tantra text – a valuable resource that has helped me a great deal in my own meditation practice. Most of us live in our heads (most of the time) and I was no different. In my late teens, I was as disconnected from my heart as the next guy. It has taken almost a decade of yoga to broaden this limited outlook and to connect to my truth. To drop the intellect and place my trust in the intelligence of my being is an ongoing process.

I am probably just scratching the surface, but meditation reminds me to value my intuition (even when considering something seemingly black and white) – to not reject magic. I tell myself that it is okay if I don’t understand certain feelings or energies; it’s not always for the mind to grasp.

What is your advice for people who would like to start a practice?

There is no right way. My best piece of advice is to just start (already!) because it is worth it and starting any new habit is always difficult. But start. And stay with it. And when you've stopped, start again. The mind will come up with a million reasons not to start. And then, once you have started, it will come up with a million more (seemingly logical and valid) reasons as to why you can’t actually fit in in that day or even this year. You have time when you decide to make space for the practice.

Whether it’s deciding to do the dishes mindfully every day, being fully present when hugging a loved one, or practicing yoga with intention – just start.

Every day we get to begin anew so commit to that ‘start,’ each morning. Something will shift; something is bound to happen with that type of dedication.

Eager to follow Mona's meditation lead? We recommend Amanda Botur's NEW class or this traditional seated meditation with Sarah Kline.

10 Minutes with Mona Godfrey // The Power Yoga Company Share

10 minutes with Mona Godfrey

AUGUST 10, 2015

tags: Meditation, Mona Godfrey, poweryoga, yoga

Humbling the yoga world with her beautiful goldilocks, mindful yoga classes and loving nature, we introduce to you one of our teachers, Mona Godfrey. Born in Latvia and raised between Stockholm and California, this now London based teacher brings a unique energy to her Power Yoga classes that is powerful yet feminine. Often spotted running from her home to The Power Yoga Co.studio in Fulham, Mona Godfrey arrives to class full of vivacity and wisdom that she shares generously to anyone who attends her class. With a strong focus on mind, body and soul connection, Mona’s classes will leave even the least experienced yogi in a complete meditative and blissful state. Here we share in 10 short questions a small insight into the interesting life of Mona Godfrey.

1.) Describe your life in 2 words?

Indescribable adventure

2.) What inspired you to become a yoga teacher?

When I did my first teacher training in California, I didn’t think I wanted to teach. Afterwards, I enrolled in a Post-Graduate Mentorship Program. It was during this program that it began to feel I couldn’t possibly NOT teach. My wonderful mentor, Shanti Walling, gave me the tools and the inspiration I needed to move into teaching with a healthy balance of confidence and humility for the ancient practice. 

3.) What are your current 3 favourite yoga poses?

Sukhasana (Easy pose or seated pose) , Shavasana (corpse pose) , and Adho Mukha Vrksasana (handstand pose) – all three challenge me immensely, all in very very different ways.

4.) Whats your favourite jam to play during a power yoga practise?

Music is my first love, but for my own personal practice, I prefer silence. When teaching, I try to stick with music that doesn’t take away from the breath. Right now I love playing Jirí Mazánek’s “Meditace s údem”. 

5.) If you could choose one food to live on for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Could or have to? If I have to — Is this going affect my health? Without over thinking it I am gonna say sushi as a starter, ice cream as a main. Oh, and I can’t forget cashew butter, maybe as dessert? ha ha If you’re giving me the choice, I’d rather not make the commitment and stick to variety. 

6.) Can you tell us a secret that people may not know about you?

I’m a bit of a computer geek. 

7.) Can you tell us a joke? 

Not at the top of my head, but I can tell you to go follow @thefatjewish on IG, and when you’re laughing and snorting on the tube, remember who showed you the light. 

8.) You have an upcoming workshop on the importance of mediation, can you tell us a little bit about this?

I remember the first teacher that invited me to her weekly meditation circle on the beach. I’d never meditated before, but she gave me the first tool. She planted a seed, opened a door. It took a few years to cultivate a truly regular practice, but that day was powerful. I think people like the idea of meditating and want to, but don’t know where to start, how to, or how to find time for it. I will share my experience and share the tools that have been passed down to me. For more experienced meditators, it will be a nice space in which to deepen and immerse in the communal energy. 

9.) For someone who’s new to meditating, what’s the best way to start?

There is no right way or best way, just start, and stay hungry. But start. And when you’ve stopped, start again. Doing the dishes, hugging a loved one, or a few minutes after asana or in the morning. If unsure, ask a teacher for a technique. If doing seated meditations, a timer can help. But there’s really no right or best way, you just have to start. The mind will come up with a million reasons not to start. But just start. 

10.) Through your experience, what are your top 3 tips for aspiring yogis on their yoga journey?

Aspiring implies that there’s some sort of goal or final destination or place of perfection. 1) If you’re practicing yoga, and you are doing your work, and showing up, you’re doing it right. It doesn’t matter if you started yesterday or you feel broken. Just keep doing it. 2) Commit to making it a lifetime practice and dedicate yourself to it daily. 3) There’s no aspiring, you’ve arrived. 

Mona’s Flow and Meditation workshop is on Saturday 24^th October, 1:30-3:30pm at The Power Yoga Company. To sign up, or find out more click here.  

Looking for even more meditation goodness? Escape to the countryside with Pete Cherry for a weekend filled with yoga and meditation. To find out more click here. 

For more information on the workshops or classes please phone 0207 736 4429, or click here to view the updated class schedule.

A piece about the beautiful and equally difficult time of my first year traveling + about those that inspired, challenged, and made me love a little better and harder. That year redefined love for me. Deepest gratitude to Kaspars, my family, and of course, my bestest, Dupsis Fruktis, Lionda Liepina

P.S I wrote this song when I went home to the U.S last year and realised for the first time how undone I was. I am still coming back together. I wrote it on an old pinao and recorded it as a voice memo on my iphone. Big thank you toTim Pontin, who picked it up in no time from the shitty recording I found hidden in my e-mails. I couldn't even give him the chords. He just listened and boom, two seconds later, he was playing it. The lyrics are on my blog:www.mcreativecorner.blogspot.com

Cambodia //

Everything I knew faded so fast, like snow beneath my feet.
And everywhere I went, they already knew you provoked me to wake the hell up.
Paint my spirit back to hues of cold.
Don't fall in love with me, don't fall in the love with the wind in the trees.
Birds are refugees, just like you and me.

Indonesia //

Sunshine, moonshine, I'm fine. I'm hard to kill.
Don't call. I don't care. To be fair, you live in me.
We made the agreement to meet the juncture of our earthbound lives.
But don't fall in love with me. Kiss my wings and set me free.
Birds are refugees, just like you and me.

Australia //

Our hands are fists. I feel so tired.
I know it's not home but it feels alright.
And what good is blood when all I need is water.
And what good am I if I am not flying high, by your side.

Fiction vs Friction Series

I remember the moment when, in a Holdenism sort of manner, I decided there are two kinds of people in this world: those who are here to experience it, and those who, unbeknownst to themselves, will work as an enigmatic vessels for reconstruction. 

The ‘experiencers’, they will live. Oh how they will live. They will laugh, and cry, and have babies. They will succumb to the monotonous cyclical obligatory patterns of society. And life will spin them like a pair of sneakers in a LG SteamWasher. They will spin until they can’t hold on anymore. They will spin until they crash. Chemical biological phenomena will occur.

The earth will take a deep breath.

It is a beautiful process, too much for words, too much for song, too much for film, too much for books. Then, slowly, the washer will start to turn again, and they will want pets, and host family BBQ’s, and argue about the color of their bedroom wallpaper. And they will make love. And they will make hate. And everything will feel far grander than reality. How I bloody envied these people. Although I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted what they had, nothing is as appealing of a thing or idea or person that is deemed taboo, or completely unavailable. And as I shuffled my feet to an old folk song, and bore the weight of my glued-on smile, I knew in that moment that it was the truth: all that life was not for me. I was not an ‘experiencer.’

The music slowed, and I made my way to a chair and sat down. A few grandmothers aside, I was one of the few sitting. I contemplated Universal shifts, and wondered if it was all too much to shoulder. My heart felt heavy, but in case someone took notice, I kept my smile. I watched the men turn the women by their hips. I watched the women throw back their heads and laugh. And it made me happy and sad all at once. A few slow songs later, I still sat there, uncomfortably grinning. Don't give yourself away. I don’t care that I am the only young girl sitting. This will be easier when you are older, I told myself. People won’t stare. I don’t care.

And that’s when he grabbed my hand, pulled me up, in, and close. His breath smelled of a man who’d surrendered his mind to the open bar. His hands were sweaty, sweaty on my ass. He was older, and I wondered how long he’d been watching me. Maybe it’s not a pity dance if they’re old enough to be your father. I let him nuzzle his face on the curve of my neck, closed my eyes, and as he spun me around, I tried to forget, tried to forget that enigmatic vessel, the task that I was utterly clueless about. I tried to forget the man I once I loved. I tried to forget I had to let it all go. Let it all go.

The vessels. They have to let go, or get dragged. Get dragged to every pivotal life event where they feel out of place, and obediently hang around in some corner at their sibling’s wedding. Constant, subtle, numbing, dulling reminders - this is not for you. Inevitably, these vessels will drown themselves in work. Where else do you hide? They’ll blame their work, their boss, their passion. And the experiencers, they will resent. You were absent. You didn't care. But it’s not true. The often-unconscious signs of simply passing through this world are not without consequence and pain. Some will do their part, and drink themselves do death. Some will overdose. Some will just die, alone. When their work is done. Unbeknownst to themselves. Done.

I remember that moment, I knew, but still, still I closed my eyes and pretended that drunken clown wasn’t wired to walk away. I closed my eyes and reformed the temperature of his body, the scent of his skin, and our fundamental difference. Experiencer. Vessel. For a millisecond, I imagined myself unaware, laughing, drunk, spinning around on the dance floor, stupidly happy - like everyone else.

Mirror Mirror On The Wall ...

After living on an island, one of the most considerable adjustment that I've had to make with returning back to 'civilization' is getting re-accustomed to mirrors. Not just actual mirrors (that are everywhere!) but also things that that injure as mirrors often do - reflective windows, people's looks, and mostly all the abrasive and insistent marketing. Everywhere I turn I am being shown how I ought to look. With most everyone I meet, I strongly feel the appraisal of my physical sheath and the things that adorn it vs. my energy and heart. It is uncanny and so felt. The uncentering ways of these manipulative vibrations and images can weigh heavy. It's been a beautiful month of observation and taking note + pausing, re-grounding, and strengthening. I am grateful for this new-found awareness and the opportunity to strengthen my ability to stay centered and work in this world from the inside out. 

"You are also a formless existence, but you know yourself not directly, but from others’ eyes. You know through the mirror. Sometime, while looking in the mirror, close your eyes and then think, meditate: if there was no mirror, how could you have known your face. If there was no mirror, there would have been no face. You do not have a face; mirrors give you a face. Think of a world where there are no mirrors. You are alone – no mirror at all, not even others’ eyes working as mirrors. You are alone on a lonely island; nothing can mirror you. Then will you have a face. Or will you have any body? You cannot have one. You do not have one at all. We know ourselves only through others, and others can only know the outer form. That is why we become identified with it." - Osho

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