‘The future buddha is the sangha’

Here’s a link to an interview between one of my yoga teachers, Chris Priest, and J Brown Yoga. It covers the recent history of practice, shares anecdotes, looks at the spirit of practice and the importance of practice as well as community. A few of the many highlights for me were:

• needing to find a balance between our ego letting us do whatever we want (sukha) and our ego being over controlling (sthira); being disciplined with our practice so that there is just the right amount of tension
• the need to work with a practice that will hold the mind and reveal how the body is related to the mind
• the use of ujjayi to explore a gross awareness of the subtle with the possibility of refining our awareness of the subtle
• the importance of the teacher/student relationship to allow the student to be aware of the games their ego plays and be open to the appropriate practice with guidance
• how the teacher/student relationship has the possibility of making us aware of the games we play
• the test of our practice is the way our relationships play out and the way we become aware of the mistakes we make and then our ability to deeply learn from our mistakes and move on
• the accountability of the teacher and the necessity of peer supervision and presence of community
• ‘viniyoga’ is an approach not a style; it is a system which allows creativity and spirit of practice
• the future buddha is the sangha – Thich Nhat Hanh:
  • the teachings cannot be carried by a single person, the community needs to carry the teachings; in this way power is shared and individuals are accountable to one another
• it is important that there is not an one individual around which the community forms and then stands and protects and therefore hides the shadow side of that individual

The interview with Chris starts at about 18 minutes in: https://www.jbrownyoga.com/yoga-talks-podcast

Let me know what you think and if you want to discuss anything that’s covered

Yvonne x