Liberated Yoga
Yoga is for everyone!
Topic: Opinion
Ordinary Life.
Just a quick post about something, that has been looming large in my life, raising teenagers. Boy, is it hard. I am an average parent. I am not fantastic, nor am I terrible, I am smack in the middle of my social, economic, and age cohort. I am okay with being average. Not just in that department, but in general - one can't be a genius in everything. Some things we are naturally more talented in, have deficiencies in others, and they balance each other out. It is curious to me how my children g...
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Matless Yoga
It has been a few years now that I've stopped using a Yoga mat for my practice. I still use a mat at the Studio where I teach just for appearances sake, but I prefer to step off it while doing standing poses, and I usually cover it with a blanket if I am lying or sitting down. At home I have a carpeted floor for Yoga, and I hardly ever use the mat there anymore. I understand that a mat can become a kind of security blanket for some, or an ego enhancer for others, but if you've never even consi...
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Dharma: I am a Door...
Albeit a narrow one. This entry is, in a way, about my Dharma the way I see it, or my purpose in Life, and in another way, about Chakra One, which governs our ability to feel sustained by our environment, to be provided for by the universe, to feel that we have a right to be here. By examining these things I feel aligned with the Universe, and I invite you to conduct a similar analysis of your Dharma and see how it aligns with the larger scheme of things. Let's begin with Chakra...
Body as a Sacred Vessel
The soul is sacred. By inhabiting your body, it makes the body sacred as well. It helps to see the body as a vessel for the soul - it creates a sense of reverence and a responsibility to maintain the vessel. Don't cook foul food in your vessel - it will leave unsightly gunk caked on the inside and produce a foul odor. Instead, put only wholesome food and pure water, and cook over gentle fire of your Ujjayi breath. As any pot that begins to smell of the food that ha...
Spiritualization through Yoga
What makes Yoga different from, say, gymnastics? That is not to say that a gymnast can't be doing Yoga, but there is a fundamental difference in the goals that a gymnast and a Yogi pursue, even though at times they may appear to be doing the same thing. By infusing every cell of the body with pure awareness, the Yogi fulfills the primordial need of every being, every creature, every plant - to become conscious. It is the need to become conscious that drives evolution and is the ...
Balance Yin and Yang
Visualize the human body as a little microcosm, just like the rest of the universe, with its duality of male, female, Yin, Yang, Right and Left, etc. Visualize the landscape of your bones, the oceans and rivers of your fluids, the winds of your breath, the different climates of warmth and coolness. It helps to think of the body this way when we use our Asana to bring more balance to the little world that we are. The Chakra system is a great representation, among other things, of...
Free Flow
Again I stumble on something that I have experienced before - having spontaneous free flowing asana, but this time I am embracing it fully as a way to enter a trance-like state... Let me explain. My own Yoga practice has always been a source of inspiration for its own sake. Sometimes I go for a few days without doing my own practice, but I cannot live without it, so on most days - I practice. Sometimes I have a specific practice to do that has been planned. Other...
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As We Age...
Aging is inevitable. How do we do so gracefully? It is all too common to try too hard to stay young. Youth is celebrated, whereas aging is something of a curse. Why so? I see this a lot in the fitness industry - people think that to feel younger, they need to act younger, busting themselves with brutal workouts that are appropriate for twenty-somethings, but are not appropriate for fifty-somethings. When we are young our bodies are a lot more forgiving. W...
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Close Your Eyes
Group Yoga classes are, actually, a recent phenomenon, if you take into account Yoga's five thousand year history. In the West, where the cost of private Yoga classes make it prohibitive for some, group classes have become the norm. Even in India, group Yoga classes have taken off and are very popular. However, initially, Yoga was an individual practice, performed alone, or with your guru's instruction. In a large group, there are dynamics that are quite unique. For ...
Showing Good Example
Remember your childhood, when your mother used to tell you to sit up straight? I was a tall, thin-boned teenager, and slouching has been a problem all of my life. That is why I have been reaching out to people about their posture in my Yoga teaching, explaining the value of good posture. However, I find that watching my own posture, and "walking the talk" is the best teaching tool so far. Since one's posture is a broadcast of one's emotional state, and since emotions are v...
