Writings: Bhakti

Asana and Sadhana as Prayer

Asana and Sadhana as Prayer

I used to hear my teacher Sri Pattabhi Jois during conferences go out of his way to remind us that beginning practice with Surya Namaskara was an act of devotion and not a warm up.
25 Years of Yoga Fire

25 Years of Yoga Fire

I continue to want to research the postures because I have a hunger to explore the states of awareness that become available to me when I am practicing. The time that I spend in a yoga posture is a time of communion where I feel awake and in tune with ever
An Ashtangi in a Cave and an Ashtangi in a Tribe

An Ashtangi in a Cave and an Ashtangi in a Tribe

It can be helpful to remember that the system is meant to be fluid as opposed to rigid, like a cell with a permeable membrane. A healthy cell allows traffic to flow both ways across the membrane. The ashtanga system is meant to provide rules and also to l
No reason is the best reason to practice

No reason is the best reason to practice

Practice only because you want to practice. End of statement. Don’t do it for any reason at all, not for following a lineage, for weight loss, to get in shape, fun, health, spiritual growth, realization, prayer, or devotion. NOT FOR ANY OF THOSE REASONS.
How do I practice or cultivate devotion in my asanas?

How do I practice or cultivate devotion in my asanas?

I’m going to tell you a secret about myself. I started practicing Yoga for sport. To stretch my muscles out from running. I taught myself how to practice for devotion.
Dear Future Ex-Lovers of Ashtanga

Dear Future Ex-Lovers of Ashtanga

To me the ashtanga family is like a fragile eco system and thus your own internal relationships and the external relationships with others in the family have to be tended to very carefully in order maintain a balance. And so even though I may disagree wi
Do we need the beautiful Yoga photo?

Do we need the beautiful Yoga photo?

Your efforts in practice are meant to feed the ideal images that you are shaping within your mind and body, and this maturation takes place nearly imperceptibly, little by little, day by day. Part of establishing yourself in the discipline, is learning to
Ashtanga Yoga: Practice is the Reward

Ashtanga Yoga: Practice is the Reward

The hatha yogi uses his body to create an inward, symbolic sand mandala each morning, and thus he mounts to a similar pinnacle of devotion, a turning away from the pull of materiality in favor of turning towards the sublime spiritual realms within. In ma
Everywhere looking only God seeing

Everywhere looking only God seeing

To practice Isvara pranidhana is to endeavor to live your life from the perspective that everything under the sun shares a benevolent, invisible, cohesive, inescapable connection with everything else.

You want to know what inspires me?

That is one of the main reasons for practice—to inspire yourself. It's not only discipline, determination, toughness and stubbornness that gets me on my mat each day…

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