Rooted Sangha – Session Nine Summary

sjholisticyoga
6 days ago
3 min read

Theme: Satya - The Lies We Tell Ourselves: On Being Honest with Ourselves

The Yoga of Truth — Satya

In Yoga Sutra 2.36, Patanjali writes:

When one is established in truthfulness, one’s actions begin to bear fruit.

It’s such a powerful teaching. When we live aligned with truth — even when that truth is uncomfortable — life begins to respond differently. Our words carry integrity, our energy becomes clearer, and our choices start to create genuine movement rather than looping patterns.

Truth doesn’t always feel peaceful at first — it can feel like dismantling, like standing barefoot in the rain. But over time, it softens into clarity, and from that clarity comes ease.

The lies we tell ourselves

It sounds dramatic, doesn’t it — the lies we tell ourselves — but most of the time they’re not malicious. They’re protective. They’re born in the places where we’ve learned that being truthful might not be safe.

They sound like:

“I’m fine.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“I’m over it.”

“I don’t have time.”

“This is just how things are.”

Each one of these is a small shield — a ripple on the surface of what’s really true.

In this week’s guided meditation, we return to the still lake — a familiar image in our circles. The lake is the self beneath the stories, the steady, reflective truth that exists even when the surface is stirred.

Truth is Fluid

Carl Jung once wrote that truth is fluid — that what feels true for us will shift as we grow, heal, and come to know ourselves more deeply. Truth isn’t a static point on a map; it’s a river, winding and alive.

This means that the things we once told ourselves might have been true once — or at least true enough to help us survive. But if we keep clinging to them, they become stagnant. They start to smell a little like fear.

So this week’s question isn’t about judging the lies or trying to force the truth to the surface. It’s about curiosity. About softly asking:

“What am I scared of, if I tell myself the truth?”

Because somewhere under that fear, truth is waiting — not as a punishment, but as a form of freedom.

What are you seeing because you are seeing what you are seeing?

I love this strange, looping question posed by Yogiraj Achala.

It reminds me that we don’t perceive the world as it is — we perceive it through the lens of our stories, our fears, our unspoken lies. When we start to get honest with ourselves, the lens begins to clear. We start to see what’s really there, not what we’ve convinced ourselves is safe to see.

Truth changes perception — not by adding anything new, but by clearing the fog that keeps us small.

Coming Back to Your Core Values

So, as we continue the journey that began with last week’s reflection on core values, this is the natural next step. You know what matters to you — now ask yourself:

“Am I living in a way that reflects that truth?”“Where do my actions contradict my own knowing?”“What stories am I still telling myself that keep me small, or safe, or unseen?”

This isn’t about guilt or self-correction. It’s about returning to coherence — that feeling when the inside and outside of you finally match.

Resources

The Heart of Yoga — T.K.V. Desikachar

Women Who Run With the Wolves — Clarissa Pinkola Estés

If Women Rose Rooted — Sharon Blackie

Giving Back

After covering room and fuel costs, all proceeds from Rooted are being saved to support a local cause, to be chosen together later this year — as a small act of Bhakti yoga, the yoga of devotion in action.

On 21st September we made our first donation (£110) to Kettering Samaritans.

This week we put another £15 aside, making our current total £40. Our next beneficiary is Johnny's Happy Place.

Going Forward

Thank you, as always, for pausing to look beneath the ripples — for daring to meet yourself with honesty and compassion.

May you soften towards the stories you’ve told yourself, recognising how they once kept you safe, and how you can now let them rest.

May you have the courage to see clearly, to speak your truth even when it trembles, and to trust the quiet knowing beneath the noise.

And may you remember that your truth — fluid, evolving, and deeply human — is enough. It is the light that steadies the lake within you, and the gift the world most needs.

With love, Vicki x