Yoga practices

A Sutra a Day: I-47 – Body Awareness

A Sutra a Day: I-47 – Body Awareness

by | Jul 6, 2012 | Wisdom, XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Perhaps this is too serious a topic for a Friday night, but, hey, we’re up to it! The subject relates to the sutra of the day – how we know ourselves.
Here’s a lovely video that I think illustrates an idea from Goethe: “being a wheel rolling from its own centre.” This is a simple, accessible video class from a series by American, John McConnell, and it’s called “Knowing Yourself Through Awareness.”

I learned yoga with a great deal of emphasis on the physical; this is the way Iyengar yoga presents itself to the untrained. […]

A Sutra a Day: I-45 – Forces of Nature

by | Jul 4, 2012 | XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Source: pinteresthunt9474.blogspot.com via Machelle on Pinterest

 
With the southerly gale forces blowing up from Antarctica this week (or so it seems), have you started putting on some weight? A small fat layer to insulate from the perverse winter winds. It’s allowed, isn’t it? After all, we’ll just cover up with skivvies, fleecies, and beanies anyway.
In yoga we can make adjustments to our diets by considering the gunas – the three qualities of nature that contribute to how we show up in the world. They are called sattwa, rajas and tamas. […]

A Sutra a Day: I-44 – Letting Go of Posturing

A Sutra a Day: I-44 – Letting Go of Posturing

by | Jul 3, 2012 | Healing, XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

There are many yoga practices: mental, physical, emotional, physical. One sort of yoga practice I do is letting go of certain ideas I believe to be true, for instance the notion that I’m not any good at speak off the cuff in front of a camera.
Here’s an example from today:
We spent a little time this afternoon making some videos that will probably find their way onto one of my websites. The purpose is to educate people and perhaps sell things.
I don’t feel comfortable in front of cameras. […]

A Sutra a Day: I-41 Polishing the Jewel

A Sutra a Day: I-41 Polishing the Jewel

by | Jun 29, 2012 | XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

(If you are irritated by every rub, how will you get polished? – Rumi)
I’m trying on being philosophical about having lost a post that took me the better part of an hour to compose. Hey, I’m slow at this, even after 2.5 yrs. on “Yoga Suits Her”.
So, the gist of what I want to say is: I’ve been resisting like crazy writing about the next few Sutra. They relate to experiences I have never had. Fortunately, Chapter One is almost complete, and Chapter Two is more the realm of mere mortals like me.
Fortunately T.K.V. […]

A Sutra a Day: I-40 – Are Devices Vices?

A Sutra a Day: I-40 – Are Devices Vices?

by | Jun 28, 2012 | XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

I love my iPhone. I was an early adopter. Not because of any nifty apps I could get, of which there were few and far between back then. But I just loved the way the iPhone could display photos, and, lord knows, I have a lot of images.
I am not a luddite. I wonder, though, whether all the screens we view all through the day are serving our health. […]

A Sutra a Day: I-39 – Post-it-note Proclamations

by | Jun 27, 2012 | XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Source: google.com via Anna on Pinterest

 
I’m not sure I believe in affirmations. In fact, I think I read a study somewhere that said affirmations can work against you.
Say you pick a slogan such as, “I am happy and free”, and you write up some post-it-note messages to be placed strategically around your home. Everywhere you turn, there’s a reminder of the state of being that you aspire to as though it already exists.
But, here’s the thing that can trip you up: you don’t feel happy and free. […]

A Sutra a Day: I-38 Work Your Dreams!

by | Jun 26, 2012 | XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga teaching 

Source: Uploaded by user via Paola on Pinterest

 
The practice of yoga can become addictive for some people, especially those personalities who have that little bit of a tendency to get obsessive about things, like me.
When I discovered Iyengar yoga in 1979, sometimes I would do more than one class a day. I would definitely be at the studio every day (except Sunday), and I even did a yoga teacher training course only five months after my first class. The course went for six months. […]

A Sutra a Day: I:37 – Healthy Focus

by | Jun 25, 2012 | Humour, XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga teaching 

I don’t know what the exact trigger is for having to go on a diet – different for different people, I suppose.
Possible reasons for gaining weight are we’ve been on the holiday of a lifetime on a cruise ship where the food laid on was deliciously irresistible. Or how about, visiting distant family and suffering emotional setbacks that could only be soothed by comfort foods. […]

A Sutra a Day: I-36 – Cyclical Thoughts

A Sutra a Day: I-36 – Cyclical Thoughts

by | Jun 24, 2012 | Nature, XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga teaching 

A yoga student in last week’s class said that she almost didn’t make it. She might have been vacillating for all the myriad reasons a mind can generate: too busy, too hard, too long since the last attendance, not feeling like it, winter blues, upset in the family, or just plain slack.
She didn’t tell me why it was a close call and I didn’t ask, but I was thinking about her today when I was cycling down to Manning Point. […]

A Sutra a Day: I-35 – Coming to Our Senses

A Sutra a Day: I-35 – Coming to Our Senses

by | Jun 23, 2012 | Philosophy, Wisdom, XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

 
Over the years, I’ve done several 10-day vipassana meditation courses. I can recommend them very highly for the fact that they are conducted in silence, and usually in a quiet rural setting.
The downside of hanging out in a silent environment is that for me the noisiness of my mind (citta vrtti) becomes amplified. Eventually, my mind will get quiet but sometimes not without a struggle.
I remember the vipassana facilitator in the nightly dharma talks discussing what happens when we slow down, and, at the same time, outside stimuli are severely reduced. […]