A Sutra a Day: IV-10 – The Most Basic Instinct

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One of the strange but ever present states of affairs in all beings is the desire to live forever. Even those in the presence of death every day have this illogical impulsion. This is what inspires the instinct for self-preservation in all of us.*
I just finished a must-read novel by Barbara Kingsolver called Flight Behaviour. […]

A Sutra a Day: IV-5 – Staying With the Program

A Sutra a Day: IV-5 – Staying With the Program

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Do you think of New Year’s resolutions as being old hat? Do you feel like ‘why bother?’, when your good intentions of past years fell by the wayside so quickly?
Many yogis who go on retreat at the beginning of the year, or attend ‘intensives’ or workshops, do it as a kick start for what will be hopefully a year of regular practice. […]

A Sutra a Day: III-55 – Freedom to Choose Family

A Sutra a Day: III-55 – Freedom to Choose Family

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Who doesn’t want to be free?
I, for one, want to be at liberty to go where I want, live in the manner I desire, do work I enjoy (or not work!), and associate with those of my choosing. But, as you know, this sort of freedom is more often than not predicated on fortunate circumstances.
Perhaps at this time of year more than others, rather than feeling free, we fall into behaving in a duty-bound way. […]

A Sutra a Day: III-54 – Cultivating Transparency

A Sutra a Day: III-54 – Cultivating Transparency

I learned a little science lesson while visiting New Zealand’s South Island glaciers. While the region’s scenery is often undeniably beautiful, I found the turquoise mountain lakes and streams to be altogether breathtaking. It’s difficult to drive from Point A to Point B without frequently stopping for photos and filming.
Interestingly, it’s not the clarity of a lake’s water that creates the special colour, but rather finely ground rock from the glaciers that’s suspended in it. The substance is called glacial rock flour, and it’s the scattering of light through the water that creates the turquoise colour. […]

A Sutra a Day: III-50 – There’s Freedom in Letting Go

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We had a little party today chez Scotts Road, Mitchells Island. It was a celebration of Rick’s and my birthdays and Mike and Judy’s homecoming, all rolled into one.
I looked around at all the attendees and felt an overwhelming sense of love and affection for the people we’ve gathered around us in the 3 years of living in the country. […]

A Sutra a Day: III-54 – Cultivating Transparency

A Sutra a Day: III-49 – Equilibrium

A friend of ours has been a carer for her ex-husband for most of this last year. He passed away last week from terminal cancer and now she is putting herself back together. I have much admiration for her in being there for him, no matter what, even though the bonds of marriage between them had been severed for many years.
I think it’s one of the greatest challenges life throws up for us – to sit calmly with someone who’s health is slowly ebbing away.
I’ve done this twice. […]

A Sutra a Day: III-43 – Action & Reaction

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I’ve said things I regret saying. I’m not talking about ancient history. This is something that happened just yesterday. And, to someone to whom I profess love – my husband.
Do you know that feeling of wishing you could take back your words? The best thing you can do is to redeem the situation is say sorry, but the problem is the words have been said. They’ve disturbed the person’s aura. […]

A Sutra a Day: III-41 – Listening for a Finer Sound

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As I’ve gotten older, my sense of hearing has paled a little. I do, however, compare myself to others my age and think, ‘I’m not as badly off as they are.’
Some people attempt to save their sense of vision from presbyopia (farsightedness) as they age by doing eye exercises. […]

A Sutra a Day: III-37 – Best Yoga Practice for Your Stage & Age

A Sutra a Day: III-37 – Best Yoga Practice for Your Stage & Age

In Hindu traditional society, a yoga practitioner is meant to vary the practices he does according to the stage of life he’s in. We modern yogis would do well to consider such a template for living, as it would help us cover the bases for optimum spiritual development.
The four stages are called ashrama* in  Sanskrit, and they are: brahmacharya, grihastha, vanaprastha, and sannyasa.
The first stage includes youth/students from ages 8 to 25 years. This is when one is growing up and assimilating knowledge and values. […]

A Sutra a Day: III-35 – Sneaking Up on the Perceiver

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We Westerners, having grabbed hold of yoga at the end of the 1800’s, have been in a slow process of moulding it into a size and shape to suit us. We tell ourselves that yoga is big enough to handle being refashioned, but, at the same time, there are plenty of discussions around regarding whether we are doing a good thing, or not.
In recent times the process of modifying this ancient system has quickened, and almost all of us are a part of it. […]

A Sutra a Day: III-54 – Cultivating Transparency

A Sutra a Day: III-34 – Hearts and Minds

I’ve spoken in earlier blog posts about the workshops that I’ve been involved in for two decades that are produced by the Human Awareness Institute. This last weekend Daniel and I were at one of these HAI workshop in the Hunter Valley.
What are they? I could describe them in various ways. The levels of the workshops have different themes, the first one is called ‘Love is a Miracle’. Level 2 is ‘Loving Yourself’ and the next level is ‘Living at Choice’. […]

A Sutra a Day: III-24 – Concentration as a Muscle

   Is it possible to think your way into being strong or flexible or healthy or kind or rich? Lord knows, wouldn’t we would like to think our way to being independently wealthy, handsome and adored? Or any number of other wishes to be granted. We might want be immortal or a perfect weight or successful in our careers. In this chapter of Patanjali’s Sutra on the cultivation of exceptional faculties, III-24 says that when one has perfect concentration on an elephant, for instance, one can gain physical strength. T.K.V. […]