I love how yoga can light up your life. In fact, I’m in the final stages of writing a book about that very topic.
Well, it’s actually morphed into an e-course. With videos and stuff. And I’m hoping you can give me a bit of advice. But more about that later – back to yoga.
By ‘yoga’, I don’t mean just the physical poses, or even the breathing or meditation bits. I mean the whole deal, including the philosophy which is ancient and yet so current.
I base most of how I try to live on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Like any good self-help book, er, I mean, instruction manual, they outline ways to live: Yamas. They aren’t rules, exactly. More like…well, Nona Jordan calls them Power Principles, and I think she’s nailed it.
Power Principles.
The first of those is Ahimsa.
‘A’ is a negative prefix, and ‘himsa’ means ‘harm’.
Non-harming.
At the moment, I prefer calling it gentleness, which someone suggested as an alternative the other day.
I’m fairly gentle with others, most of the time, unless it serves them for me to be firm.
I’m not always gentle with myself. But I’ve been practising.
I’ve also been practising the Ahimsa principle of defending my boundaries when needed: like a dog growling when you get to close to their owner.
It’s AMAZING how much people will take the piss if you don’t growl occasionally.
You end up getting walked all over, and that’s harmful for everyone involved: you, because of the violated boundaries, and the other people, because they continue to behave in ways that don’t serve them in the long term.
That’s one of the things I find most fascinating: you have to be pretty strong to stand in the light, because you always bring your shadow self with you. Of course you do, it’s part of you. But you have to be brave and strong to look at that shadow, without being swallowed up in it or being frozen into inaction.
It’s part of healing. Stepping out of the shadows and into the sun, gently. And growling when you need to.
Another part of this Ahimsa thing is asking for help when you need it.
Otherwise, you just keep smacking your head against the same wall, over & over. Not gentle, really.
You guys? I need a bit of help. You see the cover for Light Up Your Life? Some clever catch phrase is supposed to go in that pink circle, but I kind of need help with what, exactly.
Here’s the premise behind the course:
In order to Light Up Your Life, you will follow the course of a day: dusk, darkness, dawn and then, eventually, full bright daylight.
Wondering why we start with dusk?
Well, you can’t bring light to something unless you’ve cleared whatever might be blocking or obscuring the light.
If we were children, fresh-born, we’d be able to start at dawn. But we aren’t. If you are old enough to be reading this, you’ve lived a bit.
You have history, life experience.
Probably a bit of baggage, some sadness.
So we are going to start by gently examining our lives, deciding where we most want to shed light.
Then, we will decide what needs to end or change, and start doing that. This is the dusking phase. The physical yoga will be fairly gentle in this phase, as befits the end of a long day.
In darkness, we will do any grieving that needs to be done, and start to gestate a new way of being. We will do yoga, of course. And also eat midnight snacks, if the mood takes us (there will be recipes).
At dawn, we will bring forth the new light. And eat breakfast. More recipes. Please eat AFTER you do yoga…
And in daylight, we will establish this new way of being as our normal, with practices to support us.
This structure allows for the physical yoga practice to follow a logical progression from simpler postures and sequences to more challenging ones. Dusk’s yoga is fairly soft, getting stronger at night to give you the courage to deal with the darkness, reaching its apex at dawn as you celebrate the sun, and then tapering off in the daylight because it’s too hot then to do very strong exercise.
Back to that pink circle. Any ideas about what it should say? Pleeeeease help! I am offering bribes. Email me, or leave a comment on the blog or Facebook. The suggestion I love the most wins its owner a free place on the course (there’s video and audio, and the book, and it’s all very exciting. But sssshhhh, it’s a secret…)
This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who gave their excellent suggestions! I went with the simplest: leave the pink dot there, empty. Why didn’t I think of that? 
Moving from Stability: Understanding the Pelvis in Posture (Online workshop)
Light Up Your Life
Move out of the darkness. Moving out of the dark. Move out of the dark. Hmm, a bit of a theme there! …depending on which version you like the best!!
Move through the dark. Move from darkness into light / joy / santosha.. Again, choosing what feels right.
I like the ‘move’ bit to signify change or transition, but as someone else said up there, it also ties in with the movement of a yoga practice. Or even the shifting of your stuff that has to happen before you can let go of it.
You could posh it up with words like transformation: Transform transforming the dark / darkness.
Loads of amazing suggestions already. How on earth are you going to pick one?!?!?
xx
S
i know it is late…….
but…..
gently revealing your own true light
or
following the sun’s path to our own strength……
Just some more to confuse you Nadine – you have so many great ones, and truly, I am just so loving the pink circle, I could easily go sparkly and lolly about it
Good luck with the decision… and am looking forward to the course reveal – was part of Kerry’s e-course and loved what you offered there too xx
I really love this post. I want to print it out and paste it in my journal to read over and over again.
And, although I’m late, my suggestion would be:
dusk
night
dawn
day
Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
<3
I'm probably going to have to get people to vote on the finalists, I've gotten loads of emails too!
Or, a different one in the pink circle for each section of the course…
Oh my GAWD! SO many good suggestions! Total fodder for thought. Thanks you guys! I’ve sent you each an email too x
Hi Nadine,
Love this whole concept and this project. So, when I was reading this post, I kept thinking about how in order for us to bring the darkness into the light, there must be an individual layer of consciousness we are nurturing within us in order to notice, acknowledge, and understand these wounded and “shadow” parts that are asking for some extra love and attention. Only with conscious awareness can this transformation happen, the ol’ Shaman situation of transforming our wounds into our greatest strengths. And it sounds like the process of your book and course will be assisting people to develop this consciousness, by tuning into what their individual and unique bodies, emotions, and selves are asking them for. So perhaps in the pink circle it could say something like “Awakening the Shaman within” or “Transforming Consciousness into Light.” Sometimes I have my best brainstorming sessions at completely random times of day—standing in line while grocery shopping, or sitting in traffic while riding the bus. You know, the “liminal” spaces of life.
so I will continue to ponder.
~L
I love what you’ve said about the strength & guts it takes to stand in the light because we’ve inevitably got our shadow selves with us. Nicely worded & from my experience, so true!
“From the inside out…..”
“From the inside out”
What about the Rumi quote, “The wound is the place where the light enters you”? Keep up the good work!
How bout ‘transforming from dusk till dawn’
Shine the lantern of compassion on yourself!
Shine the kindness spotlight inwards
a couple of ideas for you.. great job!! x
a couple of ideas for you..
This sounds great Nadine!
I love the more poetic and abstract phrases, but I think the pink circle should be more concrete or direct. The title is already vast and fulfilling. If I were looking at this course, and the pink phrase were also vast and grand and abstract, I would think–that’s nice–but move on, since I would have no idea whats actually, concretely being offered.
Maybe think about being explicit with what you are offering. Maybe something like
4 stages/steps to brightness
4 stages/steps to a bright life
Build a bright/full life in 4 steps
A bright life in 4 steps/stages
Yoga practices to brighten your life
Stages/steps/etc because your course is a process. It follows a sequence.
I kind of like the word bright(ness), but other words might do.
I agree with Bethania on this – simple, no baggage, positive & direct. ‘Get en-brightened !’ or four steps to en-brightenment
whoops…little error up there – should have said ‘and let youR Spirit Shine’
Wow, this sounds like an amazing book/course – I love the analogy of darkness/dawn/daylight etc.
I’m thinking ‘…and let you Spirit Shine’
or just simply ‘…and SHINE’
(apologies if you receive this comment twice – it seemed to disappear the first time) xx
Oh wow this sounds like an amazing book/course!!
I’m thinking ‘…and let your spirit shine’
As in ‘Light up your Life and let your Spirit Shine’
or even simply
‘…and SHINE’
The description of the course makes me think of another quote from one of my favourite novels (I quoted it on my blog today!) The Alp-habet of Light and Dark – “If we see only light we are blinded; only the dark and we will never find our way.”
My suggestions/brainstorm :
“finding your way through the shadows of life”
“Come out of the shadows”
“A yogic journey through darkness and light”
“A yogic torch and map for the dark side”
“Honour the darkness and light within”
“Begin your journey from darkness to light”
“A journey to wholeness”
“Helping you find your light”
“A toolkit for negotiating darkness and nurturing light”
“A guided journey to your true self”
“Find the way to your true self”
If you don’t mind…which version of the Yoga Sutras do you like/recommend?
By honoring your darkness
Moving through change – from the darkness into the light (playing on the idea of yoga movement as well as a transition to light)
Some options from me with love…
Outside in, and inside out
Shine your light on the world
With strength, softness and openness.
A yogic path back to yourself.
A yogic path to heal your heart.
With yoga, self-love and fun.
Gentle steps to bring the light into your life
Or
Gently allowing your light to shine
Or
Step out of the shadows into the light
Or
Change your perspective and find light
Or
Finding light after dark
Or
Embrace your inner sunlight
Or
Embracing
from dark to light?
Oooh this is fun!!! How ’bout “Stepping out from the shadows into the sun” like you said at the start? Or “Finding strength through transformation”. Will keep thinking….
I’m thinking something about a switch. Light switch. Realising that we are empowered to switch the light on ourselves yada yada, don’t need someone/thing to do it for us blah something something. Sorry, very unsophisticated. I’ll keep thinking.. : ) I’m thinking “Discover your light switch” could be a bit too much like find your G-spot tho..
Your book sounds intriguing! How about:
The full circle of light
X
Hmm…how about “Open your eyes and see the light”?