Yoga In My Backyard

NEW UPDATE: Summer 2022…I have spent a lot of time this year in the safety of my backyard, breathing the fresh air, tending the gardens, and taking in sunshine. “Beyond” my backyard seems so different now and a little scary. I am timidly exploring, mustering up the courage to do more, trying to reconcile the messages “you’ve gotta get out there and live” with the caution – “be careful, this isn’t over yet”. Well, perhaps we can do both – together. See you soon, whether in person at a class or online over Zoom. Contact me for more info and let’s explore together.

“You can’t test your courage timidly. You have to run through the fire, arms waving, legs pumping and heart beating wildly with the effort of reclaiming something vital, lost, laid aside or just plain forgotten. When you do that, you discover that we shine most brightly in community, the whole bedraggled, worn, frayed and tattered lot of us, bound together forever by a shared courage, a family forged in the heat of earnest struggle.” – From “Embers” by Richard Wagamese

ANOTHER UPDATE: Here we are, six years after I started this little blog, and this perennial student is still exploring – yoga, love, life in my backyard and beyond! Over the 20 plus years I have been studying and teaching about the mind and body, I often marvel that there is always more to learn. No wonder yoga is a lifetime practice. Life continues to deliver new experiences as we age with opportunities to celebrate gains, mourn the losses, accept the changes, and flow with the impermanence of it all. Yoga, in its many forms from physical to energetic to mental to spiritual, has always been there for me as a guide, a tool, and a safe haven. More than just a pose on the mat, this practice is a life-line and I look forward to continuing to explore its teachings with you!

“Yoga is a light, which once lit, will never dim. The better your practice, the brighter the flame.” – B.K.S. Iyengar

UPDATE ON THE UPDATE: So…a little older, a little wiser, a few steps forward and a few steps back but still heading in the same direction towards self-realization. When one is doing spiritual self-development work, insights happen and you think WOW I’ve got it, only to see that after one layer is peeled away another interesting one surfaces. What is beautiful to me (and scary and frustrating at times) is observing the unfolding of my Self and knowing that all the twists and turns over the last 20 years of delving a bit deeper are leading me FORWARD. My mission…my dharma…is to keep exploring through yoga and its teachings…and I’m happy to take those of you willing on the journey with me.

Anne Daya Anandi Stubbs

UPDATE: Since my original post “About Me” (see below), something has changed! And that thing is ME, MYSELF, AND I…

How could I not transform after intense self-study, letting go of “that which no longer serves me” (as the self-help books say…), samskara burning, and full mind-body detox? Turns out the transformation is less about adding something new and more about shedding old skin, old layers, old baggage to reveal your true self. Read all about this on my post, “The New Old Me”.

My “updated” spiritual name is now DAYA ANANDI, which means “kindness” and “bliss”. How wonderful to discover that ME, MYSELF, AND I… is (are?) actually that!

MY ORIGINAL POST:

The name on my business card says:

ANNE STUBBS, FIS, E-RYT500, RP-CRA

The credentials mean the following:

FIS = Fitness Instructor Specialist:  Canadian Association of Fitness Professionals

E-RYT = “Experienced” Registered Yoga Teacher:  Yoga Alliance

RP-CRA = Reiki Practitioner:   Canadian Reiki Association

These are the things I DO…they are not really who I AM.

But…what I do is a reflection of who I am, so I feel it’s very important to bring my true self to the table when I’m doing what I do. With over 18 years in the fitness and wellness industry, and years of practicing yoga, I teach what I know – healthy living, joy, compassion, love. I am still very much a student, learning and growing and understanding who I am but I think I’m getting there! Upon graduation from one of my earlier yoga teacher trainings, the head teacher, Yogi Vishvketu, endowed me with the spiritual name “DAYA”. It means “kindness” and he said it is a reminder of my true nature. So BEING kindness, I try to let that come through…not only in my work, but in my life. I hope it shows…