According to Patanjali's Yoga Sutras (1.20), the practice of Yoga begins in Śraddhā, faith. Śraddhā means ‘that which gives you space and nourishment and holds you in place’. Here faith does not mean believing in something ‘out there’, faith is a basic trust in the Yoga tradition and your own...
Yoga – Now more than ever
These are challenging times and every day we are living with the uncertainty of change. But we are made for these times. Even though the practices and philosophy of yoga have been around a long time, they are more alive and relevant than ever. They are tools available to us...
Yoga: Beyond the Asana Practice
by Bre'ann Rupp “How liberating it is: to pursue wholeness instead of perfection.” -Morgan Harper Nichols. “Enlightenment is when a wave realizes it is the ocean.” -Thich Nhat Hanh. On the first day of a yoga teacher training, one of my mentors invited the group to introduce ourselves, share a...
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and Asana (Pt. 2)
One learns that one's body is the bow, the asana is the arrow, and the target is the soul. - BKS Iyengar Continuing our series on the three definitive sutras by Patanjali on asana, we turn our attention to sutra 2.47. The previous sutra (2.46) mentions that the yoga posture...
Abhyasa and Vairagya: Effort and Release
In the first chapter of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali describes two aspects of personal practice that will help us progress on our path of yoga - important qualities to understand for our practice on and off the mat. The first is abhyasa, which is often described as sustained, consistent commitment...
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras on Asana – Pt. 1
Maui Yoga Shala Teacher Training Many yogis on the path have heard about Patanjali's Yoga Sutra's. Is it a book that lists yoga poses we do on the mat or out in nature? While there are many such modern yoga texts with pictures and descriptions of yoga poses, or āsanas,...
Yoga – Union
The word 'Yoga' is derived from the Sanskrit root 'Yuj', meaning 'to join' or 'to yoke' or 'to unite'. We can go on to say that yoga means unifying what seems to be opposite - body and mind, inner and outer, head and heart. When we synchronize breath and movement in...