Perhaps you’ve heard Patañjali’s quintessential definition of yoga? It’s quite simple, and simultaneously vast; two signature features of wisdom. “Yoga is the stilling of all thought.” This definition probably conjures more questions than answers and invites us to reconsider our mental space…. what are thoughts anyway? On a practical level, I invite us to consider […]
Blessings of the spring season. As the grass ripens, and the days breathe with greater length, I reflect upon the spirit of yoga through the seasons. From one perspective, the state of yoga (union) is a perennial constant, utterly merged with the essence of life-itself; an unbridled instrument of infinite consciousness. Sounds kind of nice, […]
Namaste May, Like a swollen river that winds its way through mountains, and across deserts, before emptying into the primal ocean, yoga unfolds over time–leading to our essential origin. This month, in our weekly Master Class, we turn our attention to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a definitive treatise on the aim and path of […]
It’s been an eventful April at DYU. And I wanted to recap a few lessons and experiences…. We hosted the spring cleanse and were met with many repeat members; a growing bi-annual tribe dedicated to cleansing mind-body-soul. Their final shares at the closing potluck, glowed with warm sparks of humor and honesty. Jeremy Wolf joined […]
This past weekend marked the “liquid-only” phase of our fall dietary cleanse. This phase is a necessary component of the cleanse and supports “the right to know”. The liquid weekend used to loom large in my mind. Comparable to how Frodo and Samwise must have felt as they crossed the swampy plains preceding towards Mordo, […]
Greetings Yogis, Greetings Yogis,What is your go-to yogic teaching “off the mat”?A few come to mind—patience, acceptance, or the simple act of giving of oneself. These sound beautiful in theory, yet they often stretch us the most when life presents real challenges. Yoga, at its heart, is not something we do but something we live into. The postures and […]
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna offers this timeless wisdom, describing right action in yoga:“You have a right to your actions, but never to the fruits of action.” (2.47) This teaching invites us to act with care and clarity, but without attachment to outcomes. Whether we teach a class, do the dishes, or contend with a difficult relationship, […]
On one level, yoga practice may seem cursory or extra. We may even gasp at an advanced posture and overlook its deeper intent–how it influences organ systems or directs the inner breath. We may overlook the greater arch of yoga practice. Yogic techniques optimize forces implicit to our life-experience, and can be practiced wherever you […]
The student once asked “why we do yoga?” My teacher, Baba Hari Dass, responded: “At first we do yoga to improve our life. Then we do our life to improve our yoga.” The practices can make us more graceful physically and emotionally, and more in step with life. And still, we may have habits that don’t […]
I’d recently heard that….” Most are more interested in the cure than the cause.” Which struck me as a noteworthy wisdom. This idea certainly comes up in conversations around health and medicine but also pertains to personal relationships. Ever by-pass your role in a particular dynamic and fast forward to trying to change the “other”? […]