Our mindset shapes how we perceive and respond to the world. A resilient mindset doesn’t eliminate life’s difficulties but helps us move through them with greater ease, clarity, and agency. Studies have shown yoga and breathwork offer practical tools for building resilience, grounding us in the present moment while enhancing focus and increasing a deeper trust in life.
Resilience isn’t about perfection or control; it’s about showing up and empowered to embrace life, even in the face of mistakes, disappointments, setbacks, or grief. In a recent Andrew Huberman’s podcast episode, he discusses failure triggers the release of dopamine and other neurotransmitters, which are essential for learning and neuroplasticity. He also discusses how movement, including yoga, teaches us that balance and strength emerge through consistent practice, not through instant mastery (or the pursuit of mastery at all). By accepting that there is no final destination, and recognizing that the way we navigate our journey shapes our character and sense of fortitude, we can begin to shift our perspective. Through mindful self-talk and small, daily habits, we can cultivate a deeper capacity for resourcefulness, empathy, and gratitude. Imagine what the impact is as we do this collectively.
Nectar Yoga Explores Isvara Pranidhana: Surrendering to the Sacred
At its core, Isvara Pranidhana calls upon us to release our grip on the illusion of control. The practice urges us to let go of the ceaseless pursuit of ego-driven ambitions and the false belief in our hyper-individuality-based abilities. Here at Nectar Yoga Retreat, sitting with humility as a teacher is a lifelong journey.
Oyster Mushrooms on Bowen: Ecological and Spiritual Meanings
Beyond appreciating them in cooking, what are oyster mushrooms good for? Pleurotus varieties are saprotrophs that are involved in providing nutrition to its ecosystem as a primary decomposer of wood, especially deciduous trees, and beech trees in particular, though here in the Pacific Northwest, oyster mushrooms are also seen growing on dying hardwood trees. Their saprophytic function benefits the forest by returning vital elements and minerals to the environment in forms that are usable to other plants, other organisms, and general soil biology.
Pines on Bowen Island: Guardians of the Forests
Pine trees, belonging to the genus Pinus spp., stand as stalwart guardians in the forest network. These evergreen conifers, characterized by their needle-like leaves and distinctive cones, possess an enduring visual and fragrant allure. Their presence is woven intricately into the fabric of our ecosystem, offering both tangible and intangible gifts to the environment and its inhabitants, including here at Nectar Yoga Retreat on Bowen Island.
To the Mosses: Ecological, Functional, and Spiritual Uses of Moss
Mosses’ diminutive size belies their resilience, tenacity, and ecological significance. Mosses are essential for retaining soil and moisture (as much as 40 times their weight), preventing erosion, and providing homes, insulation, and sustenance for various organisms in their ecosystems, including at Nectar Yoga Retreat on Bowen Island.
Nectar Yoga Explores the Yoga Principle of Santosha: Cultivating Contentment in a Restless World
As we surrender ourselves to the observance of Santosha, we discover that contentment is not a destination to be reached, much like how Saucha is also not an arrival point, but a way of being—a way of embracing the fullness of life with hearts wide open. This practice may not make us immune to undesirable situations in our lives, but it can sweeten our perspectives, inner stories, and how we respond to the insatiable demands of our need for gratification. May contentment be part of what anchors us to ourselves, to each other, and to the divine presence that dwells within us and among us. In many ways, this is both a personal and community practice, something that can be cultivated at home, and also further amplified (or activated) at a nature retreat here at Nectar Yoga on Bowen Island, BC. There is something profoundly powerful when you are witnessed by others, and when you witness others cultivate Santosha with intention.