About Daniel
![Daniel wearing a hat and looking at the sunset](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6401e3788f2d07f7b7bb7ba8/64130c50e186e65c39f060d6_image2.jpg)
Daniel was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he spent his first three years, until his family immigrated to Perth, Western Australia, where he grew up and finished his schooling. For his whole life, Daniel has harboured a burning love of creative expression in creative writing, poetry, music and dance. Daniel considers creative expression as a therapeutic means of communing with our highest nature and transcending the pain of conditioned experience. Natural ability in the sciences, physics and mathematics prevailed early however, leading Daniel to graduate university as a Civil Engineer at 21 years of age.
At this age, while walking in nature, Daniel experienced a profound awakening, realising the eternal nature of his existence and the nature of the ultimate reality as sat-chit-ananda, (existence - consciousness - bliss). It was at this point that Daniel realised there was more to life than this conditioned perception of the world through the limited senses. Thus began his eager search for truth and reality, leading him to begin the practice of Hatha Yoga, all-the-while travelling extensively through Asia, The Middle East and Europe.
For the last 7 years Daniel has been travelling, studying and teaching Yoga and Ayurveda in different countries. He has visited India on three occasions and has studied for 12 months under various masters in the hallowed lands of Bengal, Rishikesh, Varanasi and Haridwar. Daniel is a registered 600H Yoga Alliance Teacher and ayurvedic practitioner, avid writer and author of "The Spirit of Ayurveda - A Practical Guide to Awaken Inner Healing". Daniel started Satya in 2020 in response to the global pandemic in order to bring techniques of self-healing to his friends and family.
A student of the cherished Bhagavad Gita, Daniel is guided by his love of life itself. Daniel believes in the truth of the present reality, free from past or future abstractions of the mind. Abiding in reality, Daniel is guided by life, by what is naturally unfolding in-and-of itself. With this profound notion in the forefront of his awareness, Daniel has accepted his swa-dharma (his life's purpose) as a guide and fellow peer to those also seeking reality and the truth of their own existence.
![Daniel doing yoga on a rocky mountain](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/6401e3788f2d07f7b7bb7ba8/6422af48dfa50505130bc96c_about-daniel-3.jpg)
Today, Daniel has published content to point the seeker towards their own true nature, their swa-dharma. Through his own exploration, Daniel has discovered that the philosophies and culture of ancient India, Sanskrit, Yoga, Ayurveda & Vedanta best express the song of his heart, and thus uses these tools as gateways for self-understanding and imparting realisation.
You are welcome to email Daniel and make contact, and please explore the content on this site, read an article, listen to a meditation and enjoy the peace of abiding in your own self.
Hari Om Tat Sat.
Sincerely,
Daniel White
Founder of Satya
Latest articles
Ishvara Pranidhana is the fifth and highest niyama. In order to understand it, first we must examine the word Ishvara. The root of the word Ishvara comes from īś meaning "most capable" or "owner, ruler, chief"[12], while vara means (depending on context) "best, excellent, beautiful", "choice, wish, blessing, gift", or “one who solicits a girl in marriage".[13] Thus, Ishvara literally means “the most capable owner & ruler” or “the one who solicits life”. Ishvara in Indian philosophical thought really translates as “Lord”, as in, the personal, lordly aspect of God almighty. Isvara is the controller, the personal deemer of the universe.
Svādhyāya is a compound Sanskrit word composed of sva + adhyāya. Adhyāya means “lesson, lecture, chapter; reading", and svā means "one's own self, the human soul". Therefore, Svādhyāya literally means "one's own lesson", or “the study of one’s own self”. Generally, svadhyaya is translated as the discipline of sincere inquiry into the nature of our own existence and our fundamental purpose of life.
Tapas means “discipline” or “austerity”. It also literally translates to “heat” or “fire”. One common meaning of tapas is self-discipline, in the sense of deliberately resisting the natural urges of the body and mind in order to build heat and gain power in a certain aspect of life. For example, resisting the urge to snooze your alarm and instead get up to have a cold shower and meditate is an example of tapas. Resisting the path of least resistance, which is not always good for us, builds heat in the body and mind, and creates power and strength to enforce a positive, healthy habit. This heat burns away the impurities and weaknesses in body and mind and makes us strong, much in the same way that adding fire to clay makes it hard and strong. Tapas is the fire which burns all of the impure desires, greed, hatred and delusion that cloud the mind from realising one's true nature. Thus, in yoga, tapas is highly recommended as the sole catalyst of all spiritual growth. In some way or another, growth only comes from tapas, the internal purification born from the fire of self-challenge, of living out of our comfort zone, expanding our boundaries and opening our awareness.
Santosha is the second of the five niyamas, and literally means “contentment”. To practise santosha means to be content with whatever is given to us, with whatever may be happening, be it pleasant or unpleasant to the mind and senses. Santosha means “satisfaction” or “fulfilment”. This word ‘fulfilment’ really does it justice, with this sense of resting in fullness, in wholeness, completeness, devoid from any lacking. Santosha is to realise that every moment is always complete, nothing is ever lacking. Rather, it is the mind’s habit of comparison that generates a feeling of lacking. The Buddha often referred to this reactive habit of mind. He said “I can not help you with the first arrow (what the world gives you), I can only help you deal with the second arrow (the suffering that we impose from our reaction to the first arrow). In this way, he taught that we will take knocks from life, that is inevitable. The first arrow will come. But what we can change is how we react to the first arrow, being the second arrow. He taught that the second arrow is really the killer. The first one is not that bad, and it also passes quickly. The second arrow is what leaves the deepest impression.