Sirsasana or Headstand is referenced as the King of Asanas because of its many benefits. Turning ourselves upside down promotes both physiological and psychological health. Benefits of Sirsasana: However, Sirsasana, whether headless or in its full expression with the crown…
We are spiritual beings on a human journey. Yogis learn that their “beingness” comprises three bodies — gross, subtle, and causal. Within these bodies are further contained five koshas: 1) GROSS body — Annamaya Kosha (physical being)2) SUBTLE body —…
In a stress-filled world challenged with increasing levels of anxiety and depression, restorative yoga is a boon to the mind, body, and spirit. Supta Baddha Konasana (Reclining Bound Angle Pose) is a familiar pose in most restorative sequences. It promotes…
A primary teaching of yoga holds that true happiness, referred to as bliss or joy, comes from within. That is to say, no external thing, person, experience, role, or job creates or causes happiness. Thus, early in their practice, yogis…
Our back body is not easily seen unless we look in a mirror. Unfortunately, what is hidden from our eyesight can also be lost to our awareness, which may be why many people suffer stiffness and pain along their spines.…
Yogis embrace this simple truth about all change — first, it gets better; then it gets worse; then it ‘gets’ different. In its simplicity, change is constant and cyclical. The three stages above are milestones with which we can gauge…
Our nervous system is comprised of the Sympathetic and Parasympathetic systems. When we react to daily events with a fight-or-flight response, we are operating within our Sympathetic Nervous System where our energy is charged and ready for action. Conversely, when…
Those on the yoga path often hear from our teachers that we are human beings on a spiritual journey. However, as that journey progresses and our understanding grows, a greater truth emerges inverting this axiom to read we are spiritual…
Yoga, as a body-mind-spirit practice, aims to integrate samadhi, the state in which the whole being comes into presence. The yogi’s challenge is translating this esoteric aim into practical experience. As yogis, we can accomplish this grand aim by bringing…
Last night, I watched Francis Ford Coppola’s new film, Megalopolis, in which the protagonist can stop time. In Yoga Sutra III.53, BKS Iyengar comments on the yogic interpretation of time. In [the present] moment, neither psychological nor chronological time is…
Often a change of seasons can bring forth a sense of instability and imbalance as we find ourselves experiencing different circumstances. Rather than reacting with agitation and resistance, finding ways to respond that strengthen our sense of groundedness and balance…
Patanjali’s second Yoga Sutra in Book One states that yoga stills the thought patterns coloured by our ego’s judgments, perceptions, and expectations. As we grow up and wake up, we discover things are not necessarily as they appear when our…
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