As Sri Dharma Mittra often states at the start of a Master class, "all yoga practices begin and end with the sound of OM." True to form, this video captures this instruction at the beginning of his full day of teaching at the Washington Convention Center April 6, 2014. Beyond the sacred sound of OM, which is said to be the oldest mantra in the world, there are many other mantras frequently chanted in asana classes at yoga studios around the world. Mantras exist for many things including … [Read more...]
Silence is Golden (sutra 1.49)
Every winter for a solid week my husband and I travel West (this year Snowmass/Aspen, CO) for our annual ski trip. The thing is I don't ski anymore. I get many looks and shocking responses when I tell people this. People further probe "don't you get bored?" or "what do you do all week?" Honestly it's the perfect vacation. Trading the hustle & bustle of the Washington, DC area for the beauty of the snow-covered mountains and fresh crisp air is a welcomed change. I unplug about 90% of … [Read more...]
Sutra Slacking
Given my last blog entry is dated from September, it appears from the outside I've been slacking on my yoga sutra commitment. If you recall, in 2012 I set out to pick a sutra every couple of weeks (read Celebrate Now, sutra 1.1), meditate on it and blog about it. I fully admit this was a challenging task, yet for whatever reason I decided back in September to double the challenge by learning The Yoga Sutras in Sanskrit. Of course learning the sutras in Sanskrit requires first I learn … [Read more...]