PJ Davenport | Storytelling & Transformation—On & Off the Mat

Tag: yoga

  • The Heart of Hatha: Awareness Over Ambition

    The Heart of Hatha: Awareness Over Ambition

    Traditional systems like Ashtanga, and more contemporary forms such as Vinyasa, Bikram, or AcroYoga, all offer powerful physical and mental benefits. These practices build strength, coordination, breath awareness, and a grounded presence that can carry into daily life. But today, many people don’t encounter yoga through study, lineage, or lived guidance — they encounter it…

  • Seed Sounds and the Energy Within

    Seed Sounds and the Energy Within

    You probably know that words like chakra or namaste come from Sanskrit. But Sanskrit isn’t just an ancient language preserved in historical scriptures. It’s a living current of sound, carried through the body as vibration. It’s built from about fifty root sounds, each with its own shape and feeling in the body. When spoken clearly, these sounds form in…

  • Essence as Unfolding Mystery

    What is essence?Is it what was never there,or what always remains? Philosophers, mystics, seekers…we’ve all turned this word over in our hands,trying to feel its shape.And every tradition casts it in a different light. The English word essence comes from the Latin essentia, meaning “being” or “nature.”It was coined to translate the Greek ousia—the “substance” or “whatness” of a…

  • The Exile of Curiosity

    It is not arrogance that carries the curious into exile.It is the weariness of endless translation,between what is expectedand what might be accepted. We see worlds assembledfrom headlines and half-truths,stitched with bias,sealed in easy certainty. And when the curious speak off-script…the world goes quiet,or murmurs darkly, as it sneers. Some rush to answer,most let the…

  • Walking the Middle Path: Balancing Chaos and Order in Spiritual Growth

    While leading class today, I asked my students what they had learned recently. Their responses were diverse and insightful: one had artfully improvised gutter care with limited tools, another was learning to improve focus and balance with eyes closed, and yet another was cultivating deeper awareness in everyday situations. As they shared, I found myself reflecting…

  • Breathing with the Earth: A Guide to Grounding Meditation

    Finding Stillness in a Spinning World Life often pulls us in all directions—past, future, obligations, expectations. Grounding meditation offers a way to pause, to find stillness amidst the rush. This guide will help you reconnect with the present moment by anchoring your awareness in the sensations of your body and breath, while attuning to the earth beneath you.…

  • Energy, Awareness & Spiritual Connection: A Universal Approach

    A Hatha Yoga & Mindfulness Perspective Today in class, we practiced Seated Torso Circles—also known as the Kundalini Circle, Sufi Grind, or Mortar and Pestle. Different names for the same movement, reminding us that while terminology varies, the experience of connecting inward is universal. I encourage each person to connect with their own spiritual center—whether that’s Mother Nature, God,…