Becoming The Witness: May 2026
Becoming The Witness at Moonflower Yoga & Ayurveda Studio in Brookfield
If you joined us last month for our theme of Presence, this is a natural continuation. Presence invited us into the moment. The witness invites us to observe that moment. (And don’t forget—scroll to the end to see how Daisy is doing today 🐾.)
“The highest form of spiritual practice is self-observation without judgement.”
— Swami Kripalu
What is The Witness?
In yoga, we often hear the cue to “be present.” But there is a deeper layer beneath presence—one that doesn’t react, judge, or cling.
The witness is the part of you that notices.
It notices your breath moving in and out.
It notices sensation in your body.
It notices thoughts rising and dissolving.
And it does all of this without judgment or attachment.
The witness doesn’t try to change your experience.
It doesn’t cling to the stories you’ve been told, or the stories you tell yourself.
It simply sees it clearly.
Why We Lose Access to The Witness
If the witness is always there, why does it feel so hard to access?
In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, this is explained through the kleshas—mental afflictions that cloud our perception. The first of these is Avidya, or ignorance.
Avidya isn’t ignorance as in simply not knowing. Avidya is believing we are our thoughts, our emotions, our roles—mistaking the changing for the unchanging.
We see what we expect to see.
And in doing so, we reinforce the stories we already believe.
The witness gently interrupts this cycle.
It reminds us:
You are not your thoughts.
You are the one aware of them.
Awareness Beyond the Mind
The mind is constantly moving—thinking, analyzing, reacting.
But awareness itself is steady.
Behind every thought is something that notices the thought.
Behind every feeling is something that is aware of the feeling.
That is the witness.
It has no form.
It is not bound by time.
It is untouched by “good” or “bad.”
When we rest here, even briefly, we experience a kind of freedom—not because life changes, but because we are no longer entangled in every temporary experience.
“I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.”
— Oriah Mountain Dreamer, from “The Invitation”
In Practice: Observing Without Judgement
This month, Becoming The Witness might look like:
Noticing frustration in a yoga pose without labeling it “bad”
Observing a wandering mind without trying to control it
Feeling pain or joy without clinging to it
The witness doesn’t categorize.
It doesn’t fix.
It doesn’t resist.
It allows everything to be exactly as it is.
As you move through this month, can you:
Notice without reacting?
Observe without labeling?
Allow your experience to unfold, just as it is?
Can you simply… witness?
Because in that quiet space, something profound begins to emerge:
You are not just the experience.
You are the awareness behind it.
Lokah samastah sukhino bhavantu ~ May all beings everywhere be happy and free.
With compassion,
Katie
