Courage to Explore. Wisdom to Know the Way.
Let's talk the chakras. First, let's get grounded in the truth of the matter. The chakra system that has taken hold in the West is probably familiar to you: seven "wheels" of energy aligned along the column of the body (actually, six plus the crown perched atop the head) colored according to the rainbow. There's …
Vrttayah Panchatayyah Klishta Aklishtah "There are five kinds of fluctuations in the mind and they can be painful or painless." Vrittayah = modifications/fluctuations (of the mind-stuff); Panchatayyah = five kinds; klishta = painful; aklishta = painless. The precise list of the "five kinds" comes up in Sutra 1.6. For now, though we get the two categories of pain …
We tend to hold our awareness up in the head, and not even the whole head: we hang out right behind the eyes. And yet, our nervous system extends through every last part of our bodies. We don't normally pay our bodies much attention unless there's something wrong with it. Yoga asks us to inhabit …
Continuing from the sutra 1.3, in which the writer sums up the whole goal of yoga (to abide in one's true nature), we come to 1.4: Vritti Sarupyam Itaratra "At other times, [the Self seems to] identify with the mind's fluctuations" Vritti = "modifications" (of the chitti, mind-stuff, mentioned in sutra 1.2), sarupyam = "assumes the forms …
If you've been attending yoga classes for a while, you may have been exposed to several types of pranayama, or breathing exercises. With the sanskrit names and the various translations, it might be hard to keep some of them straight. Throw in the fact that even some yoga teachers use the various titles interchangeably, and the …
Tada drastuh svarupe avasthanam Tada = "then", drastuh = "the Seer", svarupe = in one's own nature/form (sva--in one's own, rupe--form/nature) avasthanam = "abides/resides" "Then the seer [Self] abides in its own true nature" Aaaand... we get to our first verb: abides. [Who can hear the word "abide" and not think of the Big Lebowski? Anyone? Dating myself here?] With "abide", …
Like many instructors, I've often drawn from holidays to inspire a yoga class. Valentine's Day naturally lends itself to heart-opening sequences. However, Valentine's Day is not all about heart chakras. The love celebrated on February 14th has a lot to do with sensuality (dark chocolate, red wine, sexy underwear) and that is sacral charka territory. …
[This is a series of commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a classical text compiling yogic wisdom. The author may be a single figure (the sage Patanjali), or may be various sages using the same title. Claims date the writing anywhere from 5000 BCE to 300 CE. It is often regarded as a core …
NOW... The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali start with a simple word: Atha. It's a Sanskrit work meaning "now", and if you read my previous post, you might have noticed the attention to the present moment. Okay, back it up. Yoga Sutras? Formerly known as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, they come from across the centuries like yogic …
We are just coming off the thrill of the Super Blue Blood Moon, so let's get lunar. Super Blue Blood Snow Moon. As spectacular as that sounds, "blue" has nothing to do with color. It's called "blue" because we ended up with two full moons in a single calendar month which happens every 2-3 years. …
Yoga Journey 108 