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
The peacock expressing himself in his own original way with full confidence is automatically attractive, no need for an extra push from the ego. No matter what he physically looks like he will be beautiful when he expresses himself from an honest, natural
The two systems, static versus dynamic, represent the difference between learning through conscious, moment to moment self correction (static) and learning through a kind of supra sensory, intuitive approach that relies on unconscious obedience to inner ca
As you go through this learning progression you aim to strike just the right balance of being content with where you are while at the same time aiming to extend the range of your perceived and actual limits. In the creation phase as you test your limits yo
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.
Attaining a mature practice can only happen through piling up nearly countless failed attempts to become skilled enough in the techniques to avoid the painful consequences that come from wrong thinking, wrong effort, mistakes, misperceptions, and other for
Ashtanga is not arbitrarily difficult or demanding—no, the practice provides you with a perfect, explicit model of what it takes to come to the mastery of anything. And the requirements of Ashtanga’s sacrifice are so blatant, physical and explicit.
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
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
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
