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…
Learning to stand on both your feet and hands is a life-affirming teaching in yoga. Of course, we begin with what we already think we know and then progress to turning our world upside down with complex asanas such as…
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali provide threads of wisdom to guide and support those on the journey to enlightenment (to attaining spiritual knowledge or insight). The first sutra as translated by Chip Hartranft states, “Now, the teachings of yoga.” Loosely…
Over a year ago, I tore the meniscus in my left knee and reinjured it on several occasions since. Reinjury combined with a lack of knowledge requires tremendous patience on my part, which has become my yoga lesson. Very gradually,…
Many years ago, a wise person told me “We are all on a spiritual journey.” When I considered these words, I could readily accept that each person is in some way growing up, waking up, and showing up to be…
When our body experiences physical, mental, or emotional stress, it releases hormones that produce cortisone and adrenaline in the bloodstream. Once circumstances return to ‘normal’, the body naturally eliminates or clears these hormones via urine, etc. However, if the stress…
In asana practice, yoga postures balance our outer structure (physical body) and cleanse our inner energy channels (nadis). As our practice matures, we reveal where cleansing is needed and stillness is absent. Mindfulness or present moment awareness is required to…
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