Recently after teaching an office yoga class in DC one of the students asked me if I knew any exercises for the eyes. He said he has a weak muscle in one of his eyes and it makes the balancing poses challenging for him. Years ago I would have frozen and responded nervously. Now I welcome these random questions that are completely beyond my scope of knowledge as a way to explore new yoga territory. It's these types of questions from my students that A) make me a yoga student forever, and B) … [Read more...]
Celebrate Now (sutra 1.1)
Now the exposition of yoga is being made. Yoga Sutra 1.1 When people hear the word yoga most immediately think of either physically challenging postures (asana) to tone & strengthen the body or the complete opposite - relaxing, stretchy poses to create a zen mind. Neither of these are wrong but they are just a glimpse into what yoga really offers. To me, yoga is a celebration of "what is" in life particularly within our individual selves. Yoga is about accepting our bodies (and others) … [Read more...]
2012: A Year of Challenge
With permission I have copied & pasted Sri Dharma Mittra's latest message from the Dharma Yoga Center 12/31/2011 newsletter. I admit it's a lot to take in. My suggestion: Read it here, then print it to have on hand so you can reread it several times, contemplate upon it and decide what it means for you. Enjoy! HAPPY NEW YEAR! A Message from Dharma: All suffering and pain experienced on the material plane is for the purpose of purification - the gradual cleaning … [Read more...]
Suffering is Optional
The title of this post Suffering is Optional is inspired from a phrase I almost incorporated on my 2012 vision board. As usual my board is filled with athletic challenges to encourage me to run & mountain bike more; new challenges like learning to actually do my own bike maintenance; and cook "mo 'betta" vegetarian meals my husband will LOVE! Of course another section of my board inspires me to live a stronger yoga life. When I say "stronger" I mean more daily home yoga asana time & … [Read more...]
Karma Yoga Defined
Yoga is Sanskrit for the word union. Yoga means uniting body, mind and soul. Yoga also means uniting with other souls. This to me is where Karma Yoga comes in. A main component of my yoga teacher training with Sri Dharma Mittra is Karma Yoga. So beyond just performing my hours of karmic duty to fulfill my training requirements, I've been really thinking a lot about how so many small and daily actions can be considered Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga is defined as selfless service. When selfless … [Read more...]
Dearest Dharma Thoughts
During my recent time up at the Dharma Yoga Center in NYC I was so blessed to hear many thoughts from Sri Dharma Mittra. I feel it's part of my responsibility (see my previous post: Look Out) to share them. So not to overwhelm you (or me) here are 5 to start. Instructions: Read, contemplate and put them into action. Result = joy! Control the mouth –what goes in & what goes out. "If you can control the mouth, you can control the mind." "Don’t be attached" ---to the practice, bliss, … [Read more...]