Sraddha – Faith in our practice
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 sacred path. Faith gives you […]
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 that can help us through […]
300 Hour Yoga Story
by Holly McKibben I began my yoga journey five years ago, taking classes at a local hot yoga studio. I went for the sweat, but something else brought me back, something bigger, something I did not yet understand. I came back to my mat, over and over again, and through asana (physical practice), I woke […]
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 personal anecdote, and answer the […]
Yoga Heart
Yoga is a an age old practice of joining body and mind, and our attention to this moment. As my teacher’s teacher, TKS Desikichar said “Yoga is relationship”. As we go deeper into the practices of yoga, we can see the quality of those relationships we have with our self, each other, and our world […]
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 has or is to be […]
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 to practice over time. It […]
Why do a 300 Hour Teacher Training?
As yoga educators and practitioners, we know our practice is as dynamic and changing as we are. Everyday we learn something new and encounter challenges in our life and in our practice and everyday we have an opportunity to apply the wisdom of yoga to help us grow and evolve. Our yoga path is […]
Dancers Pose
Exploring the deeper meanings of the names, themes, and principles we find in yoga is part of the fun of being on the yoga path. Regarding the Sankrit names for poses you might have asked “Why is that pose named that or who is it named after?” You’ll find that besides being named after body […]
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras on Asana – Pt. 1
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, we begin to see that the Yoga Sutras is more […]