After doing many Yoga Teacher trainings and courses, I came to the conclusion that if one wants to learn about meditation as taught in the classical Yoga Sutras, one can better go to a Buddhist monastery than to most modern Yoga trainings. I say this not as a criticism, but as an observation. This is because meditation as described in the Yoga Sutras requires seclusion and sensory withdrawal, which is something that doesn’t really happen very deeply in most modern Yoga Teache

One of the most powerful, unused tools for meditation, is to work with the gaze of the eyes. Working with the gaze of the eyes is known by many Yoga practitioners as drishti. Gazing to the thumbs, to the tip of the nose, to the toes, depending on the pose. Also in Tibetan Buddhism, working with the gaze of the eyes is used. A gaze that is softly focused, and peripheral. Taking in the entire field of vision, wide open. This is often used as a means to enter a sky-like state of

Personally, I started my spiritual seeking because I got fascinated with the idea of enlightenment and transcendence. I was in such a vulnerable state at the time when I started seeking, with so much trauma to still heal, so much daily suffering. And so when I first heard of the possibility to transcend my pain and go beyond the human condition, it quickly became my obsession. I longed for the idea of invulnerability. Of ease. Of simply being happy. To never feel hurt again,