Acknowledgments

Country

Deep gratitude for this country

I’m now living on the unceded land of the Arakwal people of Bundjalung nation. This little town is called Mullumbimby. I feel grateful everyday to be here. I love the hills. I feel held by the green around me. I love how the dappled light dances between the trees as we wind into town from the highway and how the distinctive shape of Mt Chincogan emerges like the head of an arrow straight ahead on this road. I love our little garden, which we’re just starting. Tending it feels like a steadying practice.
In the afternoon the sun covers the whole landscape in a golden blanket. We sometimes head to the beach at that time to take in the violet sky and shake the sillies out and I feel the sea graciously absorb it all. There’s a Kingfisher who I see fishing from the rocks sometimes, whose iridescent wings are so miraculous that I can’t help but be catapulted into a feeling of wonder and thankfulness.
I acknowledge that I am a guest on this land and I offer deep respect to the Arakwal people who have, along with First Nations People across the country, cared for and belonged to this Country for many more than 60,000 years. I recognise that it Always Was and Always Will Be Aboriginal land and that the struggle for land rights and equality is ongoing. I commit to serving as a community member under First Nations leaders to their vision of a just and liberated future and paying the rent through a 10% contribution of any profits I make from my work to First Nations justice organisations.

Lineage

GRATITUDE TO MY TEACHERS

I’d like to acknowledge and give thanks to my first yoga teacher, Suzanne Faith who is courageous and loving and inspiring in her self leadership and who embodies the fierce compassion of Durga Ma. I learned as much from listening to Suzanne as witnessing how she moves in the world as a Mother, Teacher, Friend. Thank you dear Suzanne for modelling what leading with love and clarity and compassion looks like and for introducing me to the teachings that have shaped my life.
Thank you too, to my teachers’ teachers; BKS Iyengar, John Friend, Sally Kempton; as their teachings stream through to me, through her.
Thank you to some of the teachers whom I’ve studied with more briefly but whose work has had an impact on me: Rod Stryker founder of Para Yoga in the Sri Vidya Lineage, Fuyuko Sawamura-Toyota from iRest, Lorin Roche and Camille Maurine, founders of Instinctive Meditation and The Radiance Sutras Meditation school, Anandra George, founder of Heart of Sound, jo buick, founder of collective being and Dr Kavitha Chinnaiyan, Natalie Rousseau, Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswatiji, Carlos Pomeda, Bess Prescott, Rose Baudin, Acacia Rose.
Thank you also to the teachers whom I have never met but whose words inspire me greatly: Ram Dass, Krishnamurti, Mary Oliver.
Thank you to all those teachers over the centuries who have kept the flame of yoga alight. I acknowledge that I am part of a living tradition that stretches back millennia and that the teachings are not mine to own or claim but rather I have a responsibility to practice and share with deep humility and respect.
I’m also incredibly grateful to the other teachers in my life - my beloveds - who have supported and guided me in a less formal but no less profound way. These people and many other spectacular humans I’ve been fortunate to cross paths with in this lifetime I hold in my heart everyday.