We all want to see visible, quantifiable progress in yoga practice. This is the predominent question regarding our yoga practice; am I getting better or not? Indeed, if the answer is no, there can be no rational reason as to why we are keeping on. It makes no sense on a material level as to …
Devotion in yoga is often mistaken as part of the process of yoga or how we reach it. Whilst there is some grain of truth in this, as Socrates says, by acting well, we become so. In reality devotion is more than a technique to arrive at a better feeling. “Sacrifice observing scripture Without desire …
I have come across many people over my years of teaching Ashtanga Yoga, who have either told me, or, otherwise it’s been noticeable, that they have suffered with difficulties around eating. In the very first place, that we refer to it as suffering only goes to show that it feels like something happening to us, …
Is it really such a big deal, after all? Can’t we be adults about it like any normal relationship, apply our regular ‘boundaries’ and operate accordingly? The yoga teacher-student relationship can be tricky to balance. Well, the problem with this is that it’s not a normal relationship. Instead, it is one we are most unprepared …
It is assumed in the yoga process that we are trying to escape from our emotions. However, this may be the end result, that we become equanimous, but, it is certainly not a helpful starting point. This is for two reasons; firstly, simply supressing our emotions doesn’t’ help. They still remain to control us on …
The Bias of Language About Ourselves and The World Western thinking never questions the I that is thinking. Thought then springs from the confused root of this identity based itself on a pre-existing structure of beliefs about itself and the world within which it lives. In contrast, Eastern thought looks not at making sense of …
In a group talk with students the other day someone referred to a teacher as being strict. This got me wondering what that actually meant, and I came up with the thought that it means that the teacher in question sticks to the ‘rules of Ashtanga yoga’. This implies that the rules are solid rather than …
Mysore, the home of Ashtanga yoga. The Authorised Teacher. The Mysore Magic If Sharath sees it, it must be OK. Paying respects Stability, patience and the counting Chip on your shoulder Learning how to teach Support of a community. Also, restriction of belonging to a community. For years I think I had a chip on …
We have all been in a class where one person is offering a reasonable challenge to our citta Vritti, mind control, through effort in a style of breathing that seems to dominate the whole room. Indeed, I have to hold my hand up and say that this person was also me (albeit in my earlier days); my wife even refused to practice in the same room as me my breathing was so distracting.
The term ‘hatha’ is quite widely and generally translated as relating to the intention in balancing sun-moon (ha-tha), representative of the same effort directed towards the opposing energies of active and passive as are found within our own bodies.
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