THE EXPERIENCE OF THE METHOD
A transformative journey
A very special guest writer and graduate of The Method, Danielle Dominguez shares her experience with the training and the impact the teachings have had on her life. For more from Danielle, visit her blog Dani Dom Travels
Way back in March 2020, that much referenced time of pre-pandemic, I had said goodbye to colleagues as though I would see them in a few weeks and made my way home for something called ‘lockdown’. I left the favourite mint-green coffee mug from my brother-in-law on my desk and packed up my laptop, not to return for nearly 12 months.
TURNING ATTENTION TO YOGA
I turned my attention to yoga in these early days of the pandemic, after a dear friend mentioned that her yoga teacher was offering free meditations live on Instagram each morning. It had been some time since I had properly meditated and I was intrigued, so at 8.30am the following morning, I closed myself off in my room, opened up Instagram and looked up an account by the name of ‘@_thelightcollective_’. I clicked on the ‘Live’ circle up the top and up popped a serene and utterly magnetic woman, sitting crossed-legged and in a deep discussion with herself or somebody watching her (I had no idea about any of this back then!) about yogic philosophy. Thinking she could also see me, I sat up a little straighter.
As I listened to her, I became entranced by her voice and stirred by her words. Her name was Sian and, not really in the market for a guru, I had sort of stumbled upon one. (She would not like me saying that, humble as she is).
A DEEPENING COMMITMENT
Each day after that I made sure I was in my room at 8.30 am, preparing my work computer just before so that I could quickly be ‘at work’ by 9. Sian would begin with a 15-minute Satsang, a spiritual discussion, followed by a 15-minute meditation using a mantra. The use of mantra was new to me and took some getting used to. It felt strange to let these words roll around in my mouth; words that I did not understand and bore no meaning for me, but that felt good to say. There was a pull I felt each morning to sit and practice. And so I did, and have done every day since.
I signed up for my first course in July of that year, a weekend-long meditation course. Then a three-week course a couple of months later. Then another. And then another, until in December 2020 I decided to take the plunge and sign up for the year-long signature training, The Method, a 150-hour yoga teacher training. Each morning for the 12 months I was to do a daily Sadhana, which would last around 1.5 hours and included a 24-minute meditation, in addition to a one-hour live call with the group and teacher each week. I didn’t think too hard about this commitment and once I knew my friend was also in, I signed up. My lockdown ‘hobby’ had now become quite a lot more serious.
ENTERING THE METHOD
My year of The Method turned out to be the backbone to a big year of change: buying my first home, separating from Little G’s dad, more lockdowns, a short-lived and ill-timed return to university studies and entering the precarious world of dating later on in the year.
Each month we were initiated into a new Sadhana, a series of kriya practices, involving breathwork (pranayama), mantra and meditation, each with their own distinct focus as we deepened our practice month by month. I began to learn in the most confronting of ways my most limiting of beliefs, and how my yoga practice was a reflection of how I behaved in my daily life.
My yoga friends were soon to learn more about my interior world than those closest to me. I drifted close to the edge of a vegetarian, caffeine and alcohol-free existence, as my body became more and more sensitive to what I consumed and the noises and visuals I absorbed. I did get my three coffee-a-day habit down to one, which was a decent effort.
I shook my body most mornings, in a practice called Virata, lifted and stretched my arms vigorously for several minutes at a time without dropping them and pushed past whatever ideas I had that I was not a yoga person to indeed become some kind of a yoga person.
“I’m a few months out of The Method and look back on that year and wonder how on earth I did it. The commitment to a daily practice was entirely new for me; the commitment itself teaching me my own ability to be present and have my own back. It also taught me the power of discomfort.”
LIFE AFTER THE METHOD
Yoga was the first pursuit I’ve ever said yes to with absolute certainty, while feeling like a mega-imposter at the same time. I didn’t believe I looked like a yogi, could talk like a yogi or outwardly appear as though I was spiritually-inclined. I didn’t have the right gear or a beautifully set-up at home complete with shrine and several thousand candles. But the practices didn’t lie. I focussed on the practices and each day faced myself at my most raw and groggy, somewhere in the vicinity of 6 a.m.
I learnt that the practices themselves were neither bad nor good, as Sian would say, but just practices. Each day they shifted something, often only slightly, but sometimes in a frighteningly major way; the daily repetition either strengthening or shattering an idea or feeling or long-held belief. I learnt that there was no right way to ‘be’ in order to do the practices. It was just me and my Sadhana, entering into a stretch of time I had gifted myself, with practices gifted to me.
Little by little I became acquainted with myself in this way. I came to understand how I function, confronting the many layers of feeling, learning how to sit with them and come to some kind of peace. I came to understand others in a different way. And I came to accept my own discomfort and the notion of being a forever student.
ABOUT THE WRITER
Danielle is a writer and publisher with a long career in the languages and educational space. For years she has penned a cooking and travel blog to share her journeys as an avid traveller and passionate cook of comfort foods from the cuisines of her heritage and beyond. Her natural curiosity and quest for depth and understanding have imbued all that she creates and continues to explore, including her love of yoga and daily practice of soul work, guided by beautiful trainings undertaken with The Light Collective. Her upcoming Hikes for the Soul combine her love of nature with slow food and yoga for a restorative experience of peace and connection. Danielle is the mum of a lively, 5-year-old. She hopes her storytelling and sharing will always be a place of welcome, creativity and personal discovery for those also on their quest.
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