BLOG ARCHIVE

By: Jill Veta Lacasse

“My whole being is at a much higher vibratory level, and I feel like I’m flying most days. Abundance is overflowing in all aspects of my life and beautiful relationships are unfolding to help me grow, expand and awaken to all that I am – all that we are – Spirit.”

By: Kali Basman 

"Our suffering is holy if we embrace it and look deeply into it. If we can practice investigating our suffering rather than feeling overwhelmed by it, we can use it as fodder for wider understanding.”

By: Kali Basman 

"A pose in itself isn’t yin or yang but how you practice it becomes the intentionality and texture of the shape- thereby targeting the yin or yang tissues.”

By: Vera Kamalatmika

“Through this project I have come to feel those colors of courage and empowerment within me and in the circles I shared. We are opening up – together! Jay!”

By: Kali Basman 

"What is meaningful in this brief flash of life?”

By: Vera Kamalatmika

“Sometimes I have been asking myself … what do I do wrong? From a higher perspective, everything is perfect just exactly the way it is. My very first intention for the project was actually to gather in intimate groups with women. This work with myself that I have witnessed, has been a very important part of my life path.”

By: Jill Lacasse

“We are all storytellers.

Some of us live in a fantasy,

Experiencing life through rose-colored glasses.

Longing for our princess or prince charming

To sweep us off our feet

Whisking us away from

the mundane monotony of everyday routine.”

By: Jill Lacasse

“An intimate and supportive relationship is one that breaks down ambiguous and closed off emotional walls to create healthy, opened and honest communication that meets and exceeds each others’ needs and is in alignment with our purpose and spiritual growth in this life.”

By: Jill Lacasse

“We can re-program our thoughts, our words, and our actions by becoming an observer to this experience called life. When we come from a place of non-judgment, and see people as vessels of pure love and light instead of how their past actions made us feel like, we can start to see progress and see change in our relationship with them.”

By: Julia Randall

“To see a man standing in his power, controlling and using his energy wisely, supporting and respecting each other and those around him brings a deep and ancient feeling of rest to my inner being.”

By: Tahlia Rubin

“Yoga teaching has illuminated this dynamic and my perfectionist tendencies rooted in fears of being judged for not knowing everything, for not being liked or for being perceived as “weird”. Ultimately, these fears sketch a pattern of struggling with self-acceptance and fighting my true nature in an attempt to be someone other than myself. ”

By: Julia Randall

“When I am here, I feel alive. My skin soaks up the dew, my spine speaks to the trees, my feet become barefoot roots on the paths and my heart opens in divine creativity. I believe I could just perch here and watch, and be content. I believe that if I stay here, the right people will come to me. I believe that if I listen to this deep call, the vision for this space will emerge.”

By: Jill Lacasse

“We are all in a process … and writing helps us to process the process!”

By: Jiya Julia Randall

"Essential to creative flow is vulnerability - the courage to be seen. We often block ourselves through fear of failure, or through striving and struggling towards something that doesn’t fit. To stay in a place of flow asks for an underlying trust, and a surrender to the surge that drives us into our personal harmony. We keep it all going with momentum driven by passion and fulfillment."

By: Coby Hadas

"Choose your battles, choose your audience, choose your timing."

By: Sophia Faria

"Yes to…
inner guidance that has brought me here,
unlocking creative life,
deeper relationships, and
new tools to manifest my dreams into reality."

By: Kali Basman 

"If fire energy is balanced, disappointments and disillusionments in relationships are able to be part of our maturing and learning, and in their conscious reflections continue to open our heart."

By: Randi Schiffman 

"Remember, there is always a mental or emotional root cause that lies beneath the physical symptoms."

By: Jessi Luna

“The computer screen bulldozes our doubts with its bounties and conveniences. It is so much our servant that it would seem churlish to notice that it is also our master.”

By: Kali Basman

"When we are connected to the Earth there is a palpable sense of groundedness, a connection to the center of ourselves and the center of all things"

By: Sanni Shukraya

"As I already had a longer Unconditional Love project running in Finland, I decided to deepen it with Kula 300h YTT project request and give a bit more of my time for it for the last two months. As I sat down to meditate upon it I did receive an impression to organize something around gratitude as well as free expression and dance. I suggested my ideas for the Multicultural Center that we are collaborating with and they welcomed it with open heart."

By: CJ Ananda

"The primary ingredients are a clear, guiding intention, a willingness and belief in our ability to shift energy and a humble and receptive spirit."

By: Aimee Hansen

"I want to connect to the essence of our sacred feminine, in all of its untamed beauty and rawness. I want to reconnect to the missing parts of us, the scattered pieces, the forgotten gifts. I want to crack open the eternal."

By: Jonas Freers

"Something that really struck me over the course of our 200h YTT in San Marcos was the interchangeable character of the term spirituality. For me, it does not only reveal a great amount of vagueness but also strong contrasts and conflict."

By: Jiya Randall

"Do you ever find it difficult to get dressed, apply for a job, ask that hottie out on a date, or speak your truth? How often have you come up with a perfect idea, followed it through to a certain extent and then abandoned it in favor of something more within your comfort zone? And what about those moments when you feel yourself overwhelmed with a “vulnerability hangover” - the closing down sometimes experienced after revealing too much of ourselves?"

By: Mary Saunders

"In diving into the study of the Niyamas within the Yoga Sutras, I have come to many realizations about why these ancient texts continue to be so relevant in modern times. They contain deep wisdom that as yogis, we seek to live and embody. The devotion to purity, self-study, discipline, personal growth and development, contentment, and spiritual devotion, all help us to become the truest version of ourselves."

By: Alicia Hamilton

"When we allow ourselves to focus on nothing but the breath, this creates space for the voice of divinity to flow through. When we go inward, we can connect with source - this allows us to move through life with subtle guidance and purpose."

By: Sanni Shukraya

"I had to stop for a while when I realized the situation… I have previous experience of working with small children and girls and somehow I had been expecting to work with them with the project as well but suddenly I got a completely new kind of a challenge to take in: a group of 16-17 years old boys!"

By: Zachary Townesmith

"How can we ensure that our Yoga Teacher Trainings are constantly improving to ensure that anyone who has a certification has the potential to create these transformative experiences our world is so desperately in need of? How can we avoid people turning away from Yoga because of a negative experience with a teacher who doesn’t meet our standards of excellence?"

By: David Sonshine

“Word, song, sound ... remember the power they have, both to create and destroy, heal and divide.”

By: Jessi Luna

“The importance of the consciousness of your path is two-fold: you want to represent your country and foreigners in general in a respectful light AND you want to show respect to the culture and corner of the world you find yourself in.”

By: David Sonshine

“Sometimes synchronicity brings pain and sorrow, and other times openness and joy, like the currents of the sea carrying us closer or farther to the shore.”

By: Hana Pepin

“I awaken to my fullest potential. I step aside so the universal energy can animate me. I am a puppet of the divine. I honor my own unique creativity and Self-expression with an open and humble heart. We transcend all that has been, all that is, and all that will be by making amends with our higher Self.”

By: Alexandra Hasdorf

“Samvega.
That's the name yogis gave to the complex state of a kind of disillusionment with mundane life that leads to a wholehearted longing for a deeper investigation into the inner workings of the mind and the self.”

By: CJ Ananda

“I sat for several hours on the Chocolate Shaman’s porch, observing many of the participants having individual and unique breakthroughs.”

By: Randi Schiffman

“The Five Rituals for transitioning spaces came to me based on a deep desire to honor the spaces I have spent time in without feeling like I’m rushing until the very last second of my departure so that I am not anticipating the predictable chaos that comes along with leaving a space I once called home. It means slowing down, setting intention and tapping into a feeling of grace, ease and fluidity.”

By: Matty Van Biene

“I believe it is at this confluence of cultures, wisdom, and history, that the western mind, if focused collectively in this way, can bring the ancient to the present, the higher truths to the ground level, integrating this wisdom into our societies and way of life.”

By: Hayley Saraswati 

“The magic of home birth is a right of all women to choose how, where and when we wish to birth, to not be told by the current institutional idea of how it “should” be done.”

By: Mercedes Saulsbury

“Upon completion of the Kula Collective 300 hour advanced teacher training, I have become inspired for self study to now become a part of my daily life.”

By: Bonnie Norton

“I hope this finds you connected to your work and surrounded by beauty.”

By: CJ Ananda Page

“We can infuse our manifestations into our thoughts, our dreams, our conversations and our experiences, and at the same time, create space with awareness and accept what shows up as an opportunity and a gift.”

By: Coby Hadas

“Health is not something we do alone. It’s not something we can create or maintain without the support of our friends and family. Instead, personal health is a community effort.”

By: Randi Schiffman

“When something “bad” happens to you like the end of a relationship or the end of a job, notice what perspective the mind takes you to initially. It takes awareness and work to cultivate a different way of looking at things.”

By: Jessi Luna

“I challenge myself to dedicate 2 weeks to speaking each love language to myself to find out which I resonate most with. At the end of these 10 weeks, I will write another blog to discern my thoughts and feelings of this experience. Will you join me in this challenge?”

By: Mindy Weeks Sneed

“Be patient, give yourself time and space to adjust and realize that the adjustment will not happen on day one. Re-Immersion can be tough, but you can learn so much while in the process.”

By: Zachary Townesmith

“What makes you feel connected?How do your talents and passions fit into the world?”

By: Julia Randall

““But”. That fateful word, master of creative collapse. A “but” is a huge wall, imposing darkness over the first part of the sentence, leaving the second half raging and ringing in the listeners’ ears.”

By: Emily Ray

“Early in my yoga path, I connected with an ashtanga yoga teacher who stopped me in my tracks when she asked me after class one day, “Emily are you even trying?” My response was, “Actually no I am not…..” Hence began my commitment to myself.”

By: Sena Shellenberger

“My authentic Self was no longer hidden in the murky shadows of my subconscious. I was taking steps to live a life more aligned with what I truly wanted.”

By: Coby Hadas

“Buddha rejected the philosophy and felt that the gluttonous lifestyle of its disciples was extreme. Instead, Buddha held that consciousness is real and exists independent of the 5 elements. Consciousness exists before we are born and will exist after we die and is, in fact, infinite in all directions.”

By: Jessi Luna

“Gentle cleanses are healthy to vary our diet and allow our body to rebuild the proper nutrients rather than over-relying on a certain food or drink for energy.”

By: Coby Hadas

“The jewel in the lotus flower inside a crystal held in your hand. Can you feel it breathing?”

By: Sena Shellenberger

“In the training I developed a deeper level of awareness around my thought patterns, belief systems, energy levels and habits. We were in the middle of the jungle with no cell service or wi-fi, and most buildings only had candles for light. I was completely disconnected from social media for most of my experience there, and it allowed me to be much more present and focused on what was happening around and within me. “

By: Zachary Townesmith

“Where does all this fear lead us? What do we do with it? How can we continue to move forward and build a better world without opening up to new possibilities?”

By: Randi Schiffman

“By combining these practices I’ve enhanced my skills as a healer with greater awareness on the power of the energetic body and the stories our bodies hold physically. If we continue to do the work internally to unify with mind, body and spirit — Yoga — we will be able to maintain balance and health in the physical body — the ultimate goal of Thai Massage.”

By: Coby Hadas

“We are all full of good ideas... every one of us! Every person you’ve ever met has had at least one great idea that, if enacted wisely, could impact this planet in beautiful ways. The piece of the puzzle that few accomplish is not the having of the idea but in its implementation.”

By: Sena Shellenberger

“Lucky for us, these plant aromas protect us too, as many are anti-microbial, anti-bacterial anti-inflammatory and immune-enhancing for humans. In addition to their physical benefits, many holistic healers also use essential oils for emotional, energetic and spiritual healing.”

By: CJ Ananda

“We are always connected to the spirit world and have access to the wisdom that exists among the multidimensional beings that are all around us. The question is “how do we make a direct connection with our helping spirits and access the information we need in order to guide us toward the life changes we desire?”

By: Jiya Randall

“Sometimes, all we need for knowledge to transform into wisdom is a simple moment, a morsel of understanding frozen in a few words, thoughts or actions.”

By: Joanna Cohen

“As three weeks at The Yoga Forest passed, I learned yogic philosophy from class and yogic life from the forest. Permaculture living came to be one expression of everything we were learning about yoga.”

By: Joanna Cohen

“​It seems that blogging and teaching yoga have joined hands and skipped off into the sunset together. It’s actually no surprise… yoga teachers feel called to share, and what better way to do that than with your personal online bulletin board?”

By: Hayley Saraswati

“I felt completely overwhelmed by the work that I saw ahead on top of my already completely full work schedule, but I had faith that we were beginning a new process that would empower us. So I chanted to Kali for extended periods whenever I could.”

By: Lucia Orellana

“In my ever-changing life practicing yoga has been the one thing I’ve never stopped doing. Little by little I began to understand the rhythm of it, the different sequences. Little by little it was printed in my body, breath and soul. I became more steady. In my yoga, I had an anchor to come back to any time I needed it.”

By: Joanna Cohen

“To my surprise, my mind changed during that eight week teacher training. I felt that I needed, even wanted, to teach formally to hold onto the inspiration and fulfillment I’d developed. Unaware, I’d started to climb a hill you can’t turn off. “

By: Hana Sykorova

“When I approached a couple of gyms, I was told there was an oversupply of yoga teachers and there is a waiting list of teachers waiting for a teaching slot. Rather discouraged, I realized I had to develop my own studio.”

By: Hana Sykorova ​

“Wow! I was not really a morning person. The thought of this was not appealing. Yet, as I started the program, I felt so energized by the meditation with ocean sound and breeze in the background, as well as the long savasanas after our long yoga practice, I had no issues waking up, or practicing on an empty stomach, which was also scary at first.”

By: Randi Schiffman

“In Bali, riding freely on the back of a scooter, wind in my hair, breeze on my face and the beauty of the open road, I found myself present, connected, and one within me and everything around me. No thoughts, nothing; emptiness, or complete fullness if you will. That is until, I remembered I was supposed to be the one directing the driver, staying alert and letting him know when to turn right. So, we missed the turn. I looked down at my phone and it took me out of this precious present moment.”

By: Hana Sykorova 

“Call it coincidence, call it serendipity, call it fate or manifestation, this is how I ended up in the Kula Collective Yoga Teacher Training Retreat.”

By: Julia Randall

“For those who have been a part of our vibrant Kirtan circles, discomfort will have dissipated long ago, sifted out in the shivering rhythms of our breath.  As with any practice, the proof is in the doing, and here, doing means enveloping yourself in a myriad of healing harmony.  But why, you might ask, do we spend so much time singing when we are "supposed to be" yoga teachers?”

By: Coby Hadas

“‘No’… it’s such a simple sound to make and yet often so hard to say. Those who have difficulty making this simple sound are the yes-men of the planet.”

By: Randi Schiffman

“A big head spinner this season for me is commonly hearing the phrase  “I am not the body” or “I am focusing my upper chakras”.  Now, as a yoga practitioner and teacher, I understand the philosophy behind this phrase, but in my experience and here at the lake in San Marcos, they are not realizing also that….We are the body. “

By: Jiya Randall

“​It has me contemplating… What is Awe, and how is it connected to our sense of belonging in this world?”

By: CJ Ananda

“So, in order to live the life of our dreams, the greater question becomes, “What do we need to create in our lives NOW to manifest the next level of our awakening?””

By: Zachary Townesmith

“By using Yoga as a tool to access and live out my unique cellular truth (my Dharma) to my best and fullest, I am doing my part to bring harmony to my collective.”

By: Hayley Saraswati

“I would instead dedicate my energy to establishing an eco-spiritual community. So I spent all of my savings on a piece of land a 15-minute hike from the nearest road in town with no idea about what was to unfold. All I knew was the whisper in my heart was so strong that I could no longer ignore it.“

By: Jessi Luna

“These beans are strong medicine to our bodies, minds and spirits and can be drunk ceremonially in pure form.”

By: David May

“Each one with their own talents and uniqueness - all with a purpose for the story.”

By: Coby Hadas

“For much of my time abroad I have been living in spiritual communities of one sort or another. During this time, something has become apparent that brings me concern… within these communities there is a sore lacking of men.”

By: CJ Ananda

“By spending time in nature, we can learn more about ourselves, and how to engage more fully in the cycles of life. Nature has informed our ancestors for ages, and those same teachings are informing us today…but are we listening?”

By: Zachary Townesmith

“I’m sorry.
Please forgive me.
I love you.
Thank you.”

By: Hayley Saraswati

“I was lucky enough to travel all over, and cooked for some of the world’s richest people, yet I found myself constantly yearning instead for inner riches; the peace and tranquility of the spiritual journey and a fulfilling life. This is when I met Durga.”

By: Randi Schiffman

“I came to Yoga thinking what most people in the West think: a convenient and trendy way to get a great workout and increased flexibility. I had no idea the practice would change me from the inside out.”

By: Jessi Luna

“The skin on our body is constantly shedding, but are we consciously releasing as we shed? What are those parts of us that are shadowing our brilliant light inside? We can consciously shed our shadows every moment, bringing more and more light from within and out.”

By: Coby Hadas

“But this school, the school of life, was amazing! I was a freshman in a university so much more real than anything I had experienced before, and the lessons of life were pouring into my beginner's mind.”

By: Jiya Randall

“To me, ceremony signifies something sacred; a precious expression; a celebration of something meaningful, with the intention to promote inner clarity and freedom for all involved.”

By: Zachary Townesmith

“Beliefs are the police of the mind."

By: CJ Ananda

“Teach what you know and don’t teach what you don’t know.”

By: Hayley Saraswati

“Saraswati has been whispering to me for well over a year now. So sweet were her whispers that I could no longer ignore it, and I realized it was time to honor the essence of ‘The Flowing One’ in ceremony one beautiful Caribbean coastal night.”

By: Julia Randall

“Each pose is like a mandala, a sacred shape, our being reaching out in all directions from our center in a slow, intentional dance.”

By: Jessi Luna

“Lift your arms up and say YES - I AM ____________
without judgement
without expectation
without embarrassment.”

By: Randi Schiffman

“For many of us, ‘doing yoga’ means getting on our mats, stretching out, strengthening our core, and relaxing in savasana.  But where did this idea come from? What journeys does it present for us within? And what does it really mean to be steady and comfortable in your seat?”

By: Coby Hadas

“When I first read these ancient Vedic texts I was awestruck by the incredible overlap between what I was reading and what I had learned from my Shamanic teachers in Peru. The texts were describing the exact path that my teachers had laid out before me.”

By: Zachary Townesmith

“What makes my spirituality better than anyone else’s? What do YOU think?“

By: Hayley Saraswati

“The darkness called. I felt a desire deep within me to find solace and space, withdrawing myself from all responsibility and contact with the outside world. A little extreme perhaps, but yogis and spiritual practitioners of various cultures since antiquity have sought dark havens of stillness such as caves for long periods of meditation and sannyas (renunciation). It was my turn for solitude.”

By: Jessi Luna

“Lying in savasana, finding the beautiful balance between stillness of the body and movement of the breath, you close your two eyes to the external world. In that moment, inner awareness increases and connectivity to your inner being opens. Maybe without realizing it, you've just begun to activate your Third Eye.”

By: Randi Schiffman

“Here, we begin to introduce the concept of moving meditation, which is still meditation, since everything is moving all the time, we should work with the movement, not against it.”

By: Coby Hadas

“She led me through many different ceremonies, sometimes two or three a day. We worked with various jungle plants, each with a different intention. Some were to strengthen the body, some were to cleanse certain organs, some were for vitality, some worked in the astral and dream realms.”

By: Julia Randall

“I feel the river that I am, the conjunction of so many paths, so many incoming currents and outgoing flows. I think of the flow I am in right now, this bubbling pool of so many different and coinciding situations, the result of all the rivers that run in myself and the people around me.”

By: CJ Ananda

“In between these two fun-filled, energetic, family oriented trips, we decided to take a much needed break, camping in the backwoods of Maine… Pause.”

By: Julia Randall

“When we lose our self, we find our Self. From this position we can observe local consciousness and know that we are more.”