Sailing to Innisfree

About Yoga Journey for Life

My name is Tony Cuckson. I’m an author, meditation teacher, storyteller, folksinger, workshop leader (Companioning YOUR Greatness) and speaker.

I’m the creator of Yoga Journey for Life – Styles, Stages, Paths, Signposts and Steps for Living a Yoga Way of Life.—and author of the books Awakening the Heart – 21 Ways to Follow Love’s Message and Being Beautiful – Learning to Treasure the REAL You.

My work focuses on inviting you to learn HOW TO Companion YOUR Greatness through the power of storytelling, poetry, heartsong and spiritual practices.

My approach involves “re-interpreting” and “updating” the teachings and practices of Yoga so that they are easily digestible for the 21st-century person. A key focus of this interpretation is the use of mystic poetry, mythic storytelling, heartsong and practices for experiencing Embodied Spirituality.

In this website I take you on a journey with me in learning how to be a Companion of Greatness. This will be through courses and books that I intend to publish here.

Reciting Poetry of W. B. Yeats in Lissadell House on the 150 Anniversary of his Birth

I have been actively promoting embodied spirituality, personal growth, self-mastery, and a deeper meaning in life since I was a around 17 years old when my mother gave me a book on a topic called Yoga.  (I am now close to my 70^th birthday)

Over that time I learned from many different sources and systems, including attending at the feet of different gurus in India (Osho) and in the West (Krishnamuti). What I was seeking was what I now recognize as embodied spirituality and not transcendent enlightenment.

This follows my longing to be a channel for bringing Heaven to Earth. With embodied spirituality there comes a sense of freedom and Presence. In the words of the poet David Whyte you learn to live as a body in full presence. In this way you are invited to experience knowing:-

For twenty minutes more or less so great my happiness that I was blessed and could bless – Vacillation IV – W.B.Yeats

Embodied spirituality is the foundation for living a life of union of the personal with the universal.

Embodied Spirituality— that is my personal mantra, and the transformation that I seek to invite for you as your direct experience. I have really only one wish which is celebrated in the words of one of my most favourite mystic poets who declares as follows:-

I wish that when you are lonely and in darkness that I could show you the astonishing light of your own Being – Hafiz of Shiraz

But I was not at all one who lived as a body in full Presence.

Quite the contrary, as a teenager I was lost. I had no voice of my own. I was anxious a lot of the time. In the words of Bob Dylan I had “No direction Home.”

I experienced a deep sense of aloneness and absence of love. Now when I give workshops, concerts or talks I love introduce myself in a way that says more about me in one and one half minutes than I could ever say in 60 minutes.

This introduction shares the three stages of my life. It is a poem I so identify with.

Admit something:
Everyone you see, you say to them, “Love me.”
Of course you do not do this out loud, otherwise
Someone would call the cops.

Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.

Why not become the one who lives with a
Full moon in each eye that is always saying,
With that sweet moon language, what every other eye in
This world is dying to hear?

Hafiz of Shiraz

Solitice Celebration in Roundhouse

Photo by Tina Rock

Things started to change for me when I found Yoga —and all the wisdom teachings that come with it—as a 17-year old. I fell in love with the feelings of centeredness and connection that came with the teachings

It alone gave me hope that maybe one day I might really live the way I longed to live – speaking that sweet moon language of poetry, mythic storytelling and heartsong.

I wrote a poem in celebration of that moment when my mother gave her son a book that would change his world view.

The Winding Stairs

On the winding stairsMy mother gave me a book.
Inside was a treasure I did not know
I had lost.

Now oft times
When I think of my mother
I wonder
How come she knew
The treasure was mine.

Becoming a Competant Communicator – Earne Speakers

Yoga taught me what it meant to feel grounded. Some years later it was in part, I think, the reason why I was graced a glimpse of that transcendent realm beyond time. I knew, beyond intellectual knowledge, that I had found what I was looking for.

Metaphorically and mythically speaking I entered what we in Ireland call The Land of the Forever Young. In a very real sense it has left me feeling that way ever since. It is from that experience that I share what is written here on this website and in the books that I have authored.

There were setbacks. There was a time of the slow drift into alcoholism and mental decline. However, I chose to give up this decline and have never regretted doing so. I became happier and more creative. I found purpose and passion, not, at the bottom of a bottle, but through writing and playing music and singing heart songs. (Kirtan)

I learned to Companion my Greatness and took a journey into discovering how I might companion the Greatness in others. In this way I really do, in the words of W.B. Yeats feel, “Blessed and I can bless.” The blessing is always the invitation to recognize the magnificence of your own Being.

I found great purpose, passion, Presence and prosperity in the real meaning of that word. The journey of Yoga has changed my life in very many wonderful and creative ways.

Do not cling to signposts follow the sign – Echkart Tolle

Throughout my life, I have invested a lot of energy, study and experimentation on exploring various mental and spiritual states—and overcoming limitations, especially those imposed by fear, anxiety, and self-doubt. Anxiety is something I still experience but is no longer holds me back from doing what I love.

All this practice, learning and training, but more especially, that revelatory moment of Grace radically transformed my heart mind and body. It changed my view of the world. As a result, I now live a radically creative, highly energized and purpose filled and prosperous life.

And so can you.

That is how blessed I feel. The bonus is that I also feel that I can bless. It is my hope that I can invite you to feel and recognize the magnificence of the light of your own being. In doing so you Companion the Greatness seeded within you beyond time.

Wearing a Silly Hat (New Year Retreat)

Throughout my life, I have invested a lot of energy, study and experimentation on exploring various mental and spiritual states—and overcoming limitations, especially those imposed by fear, anxiety, and self-doubt.  Anxiety is something I still experience but is no longer holds me back from doing what I love as it did for all too many years.

All this learning, training and practice, but more especially, that revelatory moment of Grace radically transformed my heart mind and body. It changed my view of the world. As a result, I now live a radically creative, highly energized,  purpose filled and prosperous wild and precious life.

And so can you.

That is how blessed I feel. The bonus is that, in the words of W. B. Yeats, I also feel that I can bless. It is my hope that I can invite you to recognize the magnificence of the light of your own being. In doing so you can then Companion the Greatness seeded within you from beyond time.

My Background

My personal training in what I refer to as Companioning Greatness comprises in part:-:

• Practicing yoga daily for the past 10 years
• Studied 200+ books on the topic of spirituality and yoga.
• Travelled overland from England to spend 1 year in India at various Ashrams – chasing a different hinderance.
• Learned to play the sitar – badly – but loved it anyway.
• Nearly became a Buddhist monk. (caught by a hinderance who I later married).

• Trained in Counselling
• Experience leading workshops, and group classes.
• Have taught meditation to inmates at the local prison.
• Appeared in several radio programs and festivals.
• Featured storyteller at various festivals in Ireland.

My 1^st Half of Life experience was as a self-employed accountant, teacher at University and computer consultant in CMS. As an accountant I worked mostly for organizations that had connections to spirituality including workers co-operatives.

Then, some fun facts about me:

• Am known as one of the miracle twins of Milford – born 3 months premature in 1950 weighing the weight of a bag of sugar.
• Apart from writing for a minimum of two hours each day, I’ve had a series of obsessions in my life: (apart from drinking) These are Organic gardening, cats and dogs and playing acoustic guitar and singing.
• Love the poetry of William Butler Yeats (presently writing A Journey with Mr Yeats – 10 Poems to Companion Your Greatness)
• Every day my life starts mostly the same: waking up early around 6.00am, (except in winter)  one yoga nidra, feeding the animals, walking the dog/s and two hours of writing for the website of latest book. Then into the garden (not in the winter) to create a Garden of Grace.

Finally some personal facts

• Born in Northern Ireland – 1950
• Married to Barbara Mary Smith (affectionately known as “The hinderance} for nearly 40 years.
• Lives in the Republic of Ireland.
• Is graced to have the companionship of many friends including up to six assorted cats and dogs at any given time.
• Presently creating a Garden of Grace on their acre of land.

Address

Tony Cuckson
Teach Na Comh Aislinge
Cordressogagh,
Dowra,
Via Carrick on Shannon,
Co. Cavan,
N41 YY24
Republic of Ireland

Telephone

+353-(0)71 9643936

Email Address

info@yogajourneyforlife.com
storyteller@tonycuckson.com

Social Media

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/tony.cuckson

Twitter – https://twitter.com/Yogajourneyfor1

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