Yoga, as described in sacred texts such as the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the Upanishads, views fear primarily as a manifestation of underlying mental afflictions and a misidentification with the physical body and ego. The key teachings see fear…
Over the millennia, yoga has absorbed wisdom from other belief systems, namely Buddhism. One such teaching, called shenpa, reflects our human “knee-jerk pattern of moving away from being present”*1. Each of us has our personal triggers that kick us into…
The old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born: now is the time of monsters.Antonio Gramsci (1891-1937) Both Peter Turchin, a Russian-American scientist and author, and Sarah Wilson, an Australian author and minimalist, agree that political…
For all students determined to follow a spiritual path toward enlightenment, the first discipline Eknath Easwaran defines as a necessary ingredient is meditation. However, the practice of meditation not only involves such techniques as repeating a mantra but also requires…
Poet, Czeslaw Milosz, queried What good is poetry if it cannot save nations or people? I would add, or planet, and pose the same question with regard to yoga. What good is yoga if it cannot save nations or people…
Both practice and non-attachment (nonreaction) are required to still the mind. Yoga Sutra 1.12 For millennia, the yoga sutras have provided its practitioners with aphorisms or truths meant to increase understanding and provide direction with regard to the mystery of…
by photostock freedigitalimage.net If you have followed my blog conversations over the past two weeks, their content has ranged from self-sabotage to self-mastery via real-time dialogue between myself and “Sandy”. This continued instalment depicts the shift into clear seeing and…
After reading the title, you might be thinking, “Well isn’t that obvious; nothing new here”, and I would agree. But what if I added, all habitual behaviours that keep you from healing and growing are addictions. What is your response…
Do we have free will? Or, are we human pieces of a greater puzzle being enacted by the ever-evolving universe? Not neither nor either?
Several weeks back, I began writing this four-part series in an attempt to describe a critical path for expanding one’s creative and spiritual growth. Over many years of personal research, my experiences taught me that creativity and spirituality are intimately interwoven. In fact, I often wonder if we are using two different words to describe the same “way of being.” This series of blogs dabbles at demystifying our human “being-ness” by outlining four foundational pillars that liberate creativity — awareness, deep-felt experience, deep collaboration and finally, this blog’s topic, creative expression.
At various times in our lives, each of us experiences the feeling we could do anything we desire. It’s a powerful and uplifting sensation, so much so, we can usually recall the last time we felt this way. Conversely, we…
I began my meditation practice in 1992, almost 30 years ago. Without question, meditation was and is instrumental in transforming my thoughts, feelings, words and actions. I have more mental, physical and creative energy in this second half of…
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