My Committed Practice: an evolution of a Teacher

With a flurry of words, I share news with you that next week will be my final week of offering classes at Little Bird Coffee and Yoga. I will now focus my attention on weekend workshops, yoga retreats abroad and in Ireland, and weekly online philosophy and chanting courses. The six weekend offerings at the Wunderbrook Studio Rathmines, is a great way to continue to learn from me. I will also be offering workshops occasionally at Little Bird Coffee and Yoga from time to time in Dublin.

I am grateful to Little Bird Coffee and Yoga - Elena and Eileen especially who have supported my teachings, for my assistants Hannah and Jo, and for all you, my students and friends, who have showed up and supported this endeavour for the last three years!

I have been incredibly enthusiastic to work in the field that I love: ashtanga yoga. And I am not going to stop being the overly enthused cheerleader supporting my favourite team. However, I can no longer offer day-time weekly classes.

I don’t profess to know everything about yoga, however I do know from my experience that I line myself with yoga: my evolution as a practitioner has taught me what it means to be a yogi and I strive to be apart of this. To live and embody this language is what I seek to do and continue to do. I define being a yogi as one who may experience or have some of the following traits:

1. he/she/they may be a person who does their job/practices without the attachment to the reward.
2. one who has attained the goal of meditation and seeks meditation in all they do.
3. one who practices non violence and is established in tapas, austerities.
4. the sum of what one must do in order to realise God.

With these humble definitions of what it means to be a yogi - I confess: I am not all yoga; I am also a mother, I am a friend, I am a sister, a parent and a lover of the mountains. I am a writer. I am an educator. I belong in the wildest of places. I am a seeker of truth and a lover of the wild spaces where vertical walls scare me and challenge me. I understand that my being is complex, my story is riddled and I am not perfect. What I do know though, is that I am passionately loyal and committed to practicing yoga and to share it with those who are keen to learn.

During this next chapter in my life, I will remain committed to my personal practice, to my studies of yogic philosophy: through studying the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali , the Yoga Taravali, etc…and I’ll continue to share these experiences with you, dear reader and student.

I ask of you that you meet me half way: come to my weekend offerings, come to my courses and come to my retreats. This is so that I can continue to serve you, serve this practice I so believe in and continue to teach.

If you aren’t in Dublin or Europe, or aren’t familiar with my teachings, then please support your teacher in your town, show up to their classes and/or purchase a class for a friend of yours who may benefit. Share your love of yoga with your family and friends. There may be a time where there will not be much yoga left out there, especially the older teachers - the original teachers who first learned from Pattabhi Jois…they are getting older, so please find your people, support them and get on your mat. Keep in mind, to those who are doubting practicing yoga, doing this practice at all, or in general have lost faith:

Have faith in the practice of yoga!
Do your practice with stamina and diligence!
Be reminded of how yoga makes you feel and seek to return to that on a regular basis!
Practice with meditation as your goal and do this with discernment; make changes needed and get back to it!

”śraddha vīrya smṛti samādhi prajña purvaka itareṣam” (Yoga Sūtra 1.20)

Om tat sat!

See you during the weekend intensives, online during one of my courses, or even at one of my retreats in 2025!

Sarah