A number of yogic texts all recommend silence in their own way. From the lens of Pantanjali’s Yoga Sutras, we are instructed in various ways to take the focus from sense stimulation toward an internal gaze. The fifth limb of the eight-limbed path described in the Yoga Sutras is called Pratyahara, which means a withdrawal… Read More Pratyahara and the Practice of Mauna (Silence)
When I was just beginning my journey as a yoga teacher and had only just enrolled in teacher training, I received several hand-me-down yoga books from a coworker of mine. Decades earlier, this coworker of mine had studied and taught yoga. She gave me titles like The Anatomy of Hatha Yoga by H. David Coulter… Read More Affirmations for the Jupiter Chakra
When I first attempted a meditation practice, as I have admitted, it was pretty ugly. I would sit still for about ten seconds, and then I would scratch an itch. I would sit still for about ten more seconds, then tuck a piece of annoying hair behind my ear. I would sit still for about… Read More Japa Meditation Theory
The first of the yoga sutras reminds us that the time to begin the exposition into yoga, and the time begin changing our lives, is now. The second of Pantanjali’s yoga sutras sets forth the Eight-Limbed Path of yoga, or the path of Raja Yoga. Unlike karma yoga, which is rooted in self-less action, or… Read More Ahimsa: Non-violence in thought and deed
Any time we investigate yoga history, it is with the knowledge that we do not have the chronological answers to many of our questions. We know that the first archaeological evidence of yoga existence is provided by a number of stone seals showing figures in yoga postures, discovered somewhere in the Indus Valley and dated… Read More Bhagavad Gita: Inaction in Action vs. Action in Inaction
Before my studies of yoga began in earnest, I had zero interest in meditation. Although I expressed great interest in the study of the spirit, the soul, the human mind, and actively pursued knowledge in books and conversation, I was not yet inclined to dive inside. In fact, even when I was in high school,… Read More On Meditation
It is common to be unwilling to even hear the word discipline. I have discovered (through awkward trial and error) that no student of yoga appreciates having their discipline called into question. When it is suggested that more effort is required, students react defensively. This appears to be true in inverse relationship to the amount… Read More The mind of the aspirant balks at discipline
