I had to smile when a friend thanked me for my attention to detail recently. I’d simply mentioned he could track a package he was waiting for with the FedEx tracking number so he’d know when to expect it. Though it seemed obvious to me, my friend hadn’t thought of it. His comment got me thinking about my yoga practice … [Read more…]
A while back, I had an interesting though unsettling experience. I’d posted a question online asking yoga teachers and practitioners to help me tease out the difference between the sixth and seventh limbs of yoga. One of the teachers who responded led me to think in more depth about yoga in the West. If you’re … [Read more…]
In yoga philosophy, non-attachment is a powerful and important concept that runs counter to human nature in a lot of ways. The idea is we need to put forth effort without attachment to the results of that effort. The practice of non-attachment gives us more freedom and opportunity to use our gifts, because it allows … [Read more…]
As we move into the month of March and transition from winter to spring, we may begin to think of spring cleaning. In yoga, the first of the five niyamas — guidelines for how we interact with the world and those around us — is purity, or saucha. Think about the first niyama for a … [Read more…]
Love is a noun. It’s also a verb. So, when you say you love (fill in the blank), what do you mean? I’ll bet you mean something different almost every time you say it, because you’re defining love by what you do (or feel or think). Many people believe in the concept of unconditional love. … [Read more…]
Recently, I was discussing life after death with a friend. I’d mentioned something about the concept of reincarnation in Buddhism. My friend pointed out that Jesus described heaven as a house with many mansions (or rooms). Later that day, I found a new way of understanding the yoga of Jesus when I thought more about … [Read more…]
If you’ve studied yoga philosophy and heard the term brahmacharya, you may think of celibacy, self-denial, or asceticism when you see the word. believe it or not, the aim of brahmacharya is to enjoy life! Brahmacharya means “to walk with God” (in Hindu terminology, to seek Brahman). In my belief, God doesn’t want us to … [Read more…]
Since it is winter in the northern hemisphere, I’m thinking about heat. And that reminds me of the third niyama — tapas — and the idea of (figuratively speaking) lighting a fire that can transform us. As we begin a new year, it’s an especially appropriate time to focus on the third niyama. Tapas seems … [Read more…]
If you’ve practiced yoga for a while, you may have begun to notice how yoga affects the emotional brain. By yoga, I don’t mean just the physical postures, but the whole practice. As one my teachers used to say often, we are always practicing yoga. The Emotional Brain and Yoga There are different ways to define yoga, … [Read more…]
Non-stealing, the third yama of Patanjali’s Yoga, is more than not taking somebody else’s stuff. Behind the principle of non-stealing (asteya in Sanskrit) is the notion of abundance, the idea that there is enough for everyone and everything is connected. In an ideal world, we would all share resources. Everyone would contribute to the community, … [Read more…]