I ached to go to the beach today. But I didn’t allow myself. […]
Philosophy
A Sutra a Day: II-32 – Spiritual Hunger
I’d be hard-pressed to tell you what I mean by the term spiritual. Maybe I mean soulful. Maybe I mean the stuff in my life that invisible but vital to my happiness. In defining the word, a distinction is often made between physical, material things and things of the spirit. That is such a broad umbrella that it’s almost impossible to hold it up. More confusion occurs when individuals talk about how they understand what spirit or spirituality is, and there is also such a wide range of experience we humans have. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-31 – Word of Honour
My stepson married his fiancé two weeks ago and now they are celebrating a rather unusual honeymoon at the ‘art festival’ called Burning Man in the U.S. The couple put together their own vows, which I think all the wedding guests found inspiring to hear. Daniel and I repeat our wedding vows to each other on our anniversary; it’s our way of seeing how we are travelling in our relationship and also to recommit to our promises if we have wavered. I hadn’t thought about the word ‘vow’ for some time until I came across Patanjali’s Sutra II-31. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-30 – A Guide to Good Behaviour
Sometimes I feel like a bit of a freak in the yoga world and maybe in the world generally. Here are a few reasons why I might be classified as eccentric:I’m not a vegetarian. I love continental cakes. A glass of really good red wine is a special weekend treat. And, I drink 2 cups of coffee a day.I’m on the high side of my sixties and I’ve chosen to live like an ageing hippie with two other couples of my vintage.I love watching great television with brilliant writing. […]
Yama & Niyama: What’s the Big Deal?
I want give you a little backstory on the section of Patanjali’s Sutra, II:30 – 45, that relates to Yama and Niyama.These are the precepts you’ve probably heard about that relate to how we get along in our relationships and how we take care of ourselves. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-29 – 8 Limbs Lead to Freedom
Source: images.google.com via Valerie on Pinterest
I’ve been interested in the big picture of yoga for many years. I’m talking about the way the system of yoga thoroughly considers all aspects of a person – you could say, human and even divine.
Tree of yoga is how the structure is described in that it is comprised of eight limbs, listed below.
As a budding yogini, in my twenties, I was only interested in the third limb – asana – the practice of postures. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-28 – Shedding Time
It’s diet time again in our household. If you knew me well, you’d know I don’t need to diet to lose weight, as my husband Daniel and my housemate Rick are attempting to do. However, we have just come through a week-long period of my step-son’s nuptial activities, followed by a week of showing my visiting sister-in-law Sydney-town and Mitchell Island. Food is intrinsic to festivities and socialising. And, often not wholesome food, unfortunately. So, today I got to have my food: fruit for breakfast, steamed vegetables for lunch, and fish, rice and salad for dinner. […]
Puzzling Out Patanjali
Those of you brave readers who have gone the distance with me as I blog ” A Sutra A Day” have watched me trying to figure out 78 aphorisms to date. Every day I’ve been consulting with seven different translators’ commentaries to arrive at a post that hopefully integrates Patanjali’s pithy wisdom with my life as a country yogini. I’m just a beginning student of the Old Sage, but everyone has to make a start somewhere.
Friends have asked what I’ve been learning in this process.
1. Humility, for one thing. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-27 – Intimacy & Authenticity
I heard a sad story today about a middle-aged man named David Rakoff who died recently from cancer. Over the years, I enjoyed his comedy contributions to a podcast I listen to regularly called This American Life. What saddened me more than the fact of Rakoff’s death at a relatively young age was that he seemed to have been a tortured soul for much of his life. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-26 – Making It Right
Source: via Hope on Pinterest
Do you get annoyed with yourself when you screw up? I sure do.
On the one hand, it’s normal; it comes with the territory of being human and therefore must be forgivable. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-25 – Golden Wisdom
I don’t know how people exist without yoga. Really. I’m assuming you are sympathetic to my view if you have been diligent enough to hang in thus far for a daily dose of Patanjali’s Sutra.
Having just had a week away from bucolic peace on our country property and only one yoga practice session in that time, I admit I really, really missed my routine.
I know that subscribing to too strict a regime can make a person rigid, even overly attached, but I love my daily diet of practice, wholesome meals and fresh air. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-23 – Teacher Training, It Never Ends
Source: byronyoga.com via Heather on Pinterest
I had breakfast with one of the delightful yoga students whom I’ve met since relocating to the country.
I was afraid that when I left my yoga teaching business of 30 years in Sydney that I wouldn’t develop inspiring relationships in my new locale. By inspiring, I mean that students inspire me as much as the reverse.
This particular lass has been in love with yoga for a long time and is now considering doing teacher training. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-22 – The More Things Change
Sometimes I feel like a elderly person, a kind of maternal figure who’s produced many yoga progeny over the years. In one sense it’s kind of cool. I look out and see all these people who got interested in yoga through contact with me, and even stayed with it; some of them were even moved enough by the great discipline of yoga to teach in their own right and have their own yoga children.
In another sense, I do feel old when I’m around the younger generation. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-21 – Inner Voice
I don’t consider myself a good singer. In actual fact, I don’t know how good or bad I am because I don’t let myself be vetted by anyone. This is very insecure behavior, I know, especially as I might find out that I’m not that bad.
The really strange thing is that I sing every Thursday night with a community choir. I’m in the alto section and there are usually a number of us. So, I can sing quietly and not stand out, even if I am off-key at times.
Lately I’ve been turning the volume up. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-20 – Seeing Clearly
Source: jade-health.nl via Jolanda on Pinterest
I became interested in Ayurveda, an Indian medical system which is sometimes called the sister science to yoga, in the early 90’s. I admire practitioners of this ancient discipline, like Gita Iyengar, especially as she so adroitly combines Ayurveda with many yoga practices.
When I came across the notion of gunas in Ayurveda, I learned that these elements of nature provide a system for assessing one’s condition to see if there’s a tendency towards tamas, sattva or rajas. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-19 – Trompe l’Oeil
There was a student in last night’s yoga class who stopped right in the middle of the sun salutations and just stood stock still. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-18 – In Fine Company
Source: amazon.com via Kendra on Pinterest
It’s been over four months since I started this Sutra a Day project….
Perhaps you’ve noticed that it’s not easy at all times for me to map my everyday existence onto to the three thousand year old aphorisms of Patanjali (or vice versa). But then it wasn’t easy for blogger Julia Powell of Julie and Julia fame to cook all of Ms. Child’s recipes while writing about how the task was wreaking havoc on her personal life; not easy is the very definition of a challenge. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-16 – Loving Leadership
Last week I took on a big job. It involved coordinating a team of 15 volunteers for a weekend workshop.
I’m slightly embarrassed to admit it, but I like to duck responsibility. So, being team captain was not my first choice.
Why don’t I like to take on responsibility? Mainly because I’m afraid I won’t do a good job, and also, maybe people won’t like me for whatever reason – bossiness, lack of leadership, stepping on toes, that sort of thing.
I decided to feel my fears and accept the position. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-14 Do Good for Good Reasons
Do you believe in reincarnation?
It’s not something that I’ve given much thought to but the concept cannot be ignored when it comes to studying Patanjali’s Sutra. It just goes with the territory. And, I’ve been seriously trying to understand the Sutra.
I get the idea of karma – that a life that’s lived meritoriously can give rise to a joyful existence. It’s just when I think of a person who dies moving on to be born again, it beggars my way of thinking. Especially if the next body is not human.
There, I’ve admitted it. […]
A Sutra a Day: II-13 – Life’s Lessons
Source: piccsy.com via Marianne on Pinterest
I should have had a little birthday party for “Yoga Suits Her” last week, as I completed my 700th blog post. Woo-hoo! I can hardly believe it myself that I have been this regular for so long. There was even an earlier incarnation in my blogging career called “The Ville” where I cut my teeth.
I want to share what I’ve learned through my writing and especially in this latest endeavour of Yoga Sutra study.
It’s okay to write vulnerably. […]