After teaching a corporate yoga class the other morning, I decided to head to the Clarendon Starbucks (sorry, Arlington, VA for those reading unfamiliar with the DC area) to grab a warm drink and read. I had about 20 minutes to kill before heading to my private client's house around the corner so I decided to sit. After sitting at the community table (i.e. a long table with multiple strangers, each doing their own thing), I stood up to put my coat on, my book in my bag and exit. The guy … [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...]
Karma Yarma Smarma
No, the title of this post is not Sanskrit for something particular or grand. It's simply me being frustrated with myself for not fully understanding karma. I realized today (after pondering this topic the entire month of September & not posting a single thought about it) that maybe that's the point of karma. As with many of the yoga sutras & other yoga philosophy, they're often easier to read about and get vs. live. Further try to apply them in full-blown action and whoa! life wakes … [Read more...]
Santosha – Discovered in a Bad Yoga Class
"By contentment, supreme joy is gained." sutra 2.42 "Niyama consists of purity, contentment, accepting but not causing pain, study, and self-surrender. sutra 2.32 Santosha is Sanskrit for contentment. The word contentment/santosha is first mentioned in The Yoga Sutras among the list of five niyamas (sutra 2.32). Side note: My take on the niyamas is they guide our internal compass. They're ethical principles (or observances) that strengthen our character and guide us to live life in the … [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...]
Are You a REAL Yoga Teacher?
As part of the 2012 Arts Festival Day at an elementary school in Alexandria, VA, my yoga teacher-friend Brittanie DeChino and I volunteered to do a few yoga demonstrations to third, fourth and fifth-graders. We taught them sound breathing (a breathing technique we learned from our teacher Sri Dharma Mittra), sun salutations, balancing poses, partner yoga and a few other fun things. It was a nice change from my daily office yoga gigs. At the end of each 20-minute presentation, we opened it up … [Read more...]
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