After spending this past weekend with Sri Dharma Mittra, I am convinced there is no reason to travel to India or some far away land to experience the best of yoga. Teaching yoga since 1967, Sri Dharma founded the first independent school of yoga in NYC in 1975 and is known internationally as the "Teachers' Teacher". Smack in the heart of Manhattan, he has been sharing the secrets of success not just in yoga but in life. As he stated on Sunday, there are just four things you need to do to … [Read more...]
What is Yoga?
I teach yoga as a one-credit undergraduate course at GWU in Washington, DC. At the start of each semester, I ask the students to pair up and define within a couple sentences "what is yoga?" As they're crafting their answers I remind them that whatever they come up with, it's right. Yoga is a very individual experience so for each person the definition will vary. Here are a few of the responses I received in last week's class: - Yoga is a way to improve posture - It helps reduce … [Read more...]
Yoga’s Little Secret: Pranayama
"...the movements of inhalation and exhalation should be controlled. This is pranayama." sutra 2.49 "Or that calm is retained by the controlled exhalation or retention of the breath." sutra 1.34 Pranayama is yoga's little secret. Outside of the yoga world, no one talks about fully dedicating attention to your breath unless you're hyperventilating or experience some other health issue like pneumonia or asthma. Even then, in my limited experience, the medical world rarely knows what the … [Read more...]