I aim to live my life with the attitude -- “If not me to bring forth the qualities that I wish to see in the world then who?”—If I want to see honesty or bravery or leadership or compassion, I pray that I don’t wait for someone else to exemplify these qualities.
In yoga we have an opposite notion or a contrary image about how wisdom takes form within the human mind. Instead of thinking that attaining knowledge is about filling up our minds with learning, facts, information, viewpoints, stances, opinions and such—the yogi aspires to empty out of all thoughts and become ‘void minded’.
There was a devoted man, a self-taught yogi on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean. He had all of these devotional practices that were half based on Hindu rituals and half what he had made up.
...its important to remember that your struggles with the difficult physical actions are merely a warm up for the stances that yoga ethics demand.
There are no easy or fast solutions to many of the problems we each face personally as well as collectively. There is often great complexity in the even the basic matters that we must deal with. The complexity that is inherent to acting skillfully and responding fittingly to whatever circumstances we face requires us to be patient, caring, and compassionate with ourselves and with each other.
I came across these words of one dancer: “The bravest thing a dancer can do is get old”. The same is true of a hatha yogi who dares to get old and keep practicing.
I practiced only Surya Namaskara for ten years. I recently had a student ask me what I was doing during that decade. Here is my answer.
Its important to remember that yoga can be a primary source of health and a main component of preventative and curative medicine
Abhyasa is a Sanskrit word that is defined as the effort to remain steady in a state of yoga (citta vrtti nirodha) and thus be able to see beyond the visible, material world to the sacred...
Every exercise in practice provides you with a microcosmic opportunity to advance along your solitary path to the macrocosmic pinnacle of yoga.
