Blog – Wisdom For The Journey
How Yoga Changes Your Mind
When we talk about Yoga, what we’re really talking about is the behavior of the mind. This is clear from the first chapter of the Yogasūtras, in which Patañjali says: yogaś-citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ (YS I.2), or “Yoga is the restraint of the activities of the mind.” In...
The Effect of Perception on Experiences
Experiences come in many forms — the laughter of a child, the discomfort of a bed in a hotel room far from home, another car cutting in front of us while driving to work. While it can be tempting to describe these experiences as inherently positive or negative, the...
Everything You Do Is Yoga — Or Can Be
Every time I come back to the Yogasūtras, there’s always another ‘aha’ moment, like another puzzle piece magically fitting into place. Except the puzzle is not only a classic Yoga text, it’s also my life and all the relationships that tether me in the world. Yoga is...
How to Face Difficulties Without Becoming Stuck
Life is filled with many difficulties. You get sick, your car runs out of gas on the way to work, you don’t get the promotion you had been hoping for. Or a big one — you grow older and can no longer do the same things you could when you were young. Many difficulties...
Yoga Bodies, Yoga Minds
The violin is a popular instrument in South India just as it is in the U.S. However, the way it is played in South Indian Carnatic music traditions is so different from the way it is played in Western symphonic traditions that it is practically unrecognizable as the...
Doshas of Āyurveda
Āyurveda, the science of life and longevity, is an ancient medical science from India based on the Five Elements (Space, Wind, Fire, Water and Earth). The Five Elements are grouped into 3 pairs, called doṣa (pronounced dosha) that together describe all bodily...
Lightening Our Path
Out walking this morning, with the sun still low in the sky, I noticed what looked like diamonds shining on the path before me. It was the sun, reflecting on bits of broken glass that littered the trail. It’s interesting how light reflecting on the glass changed my...
The Principles of Āyurveda
Āyurveda is an Indian medical science of ancient origin. In Sanskrit, the word āyus means life or longevity, and veda means science or knowledge. Āyurveda, the science of life and longevity, is able to address myriad health concerns through the use of diet, lifestyle,...
9 Common Obstacles
In the first chapter of the Yogasūtras (sūtra I.30), Patañjali presents a list of 9 life difficulties. The list is extremely interesting and includes different sorts of challenges. For example, there are things that happen to us, like illness (vyādhi), mental fatigue...
An Introduction to the Yogasūtras
Patañjali’s Yogasūtra is one of the most important texts on the practice of Yoga and essentially an instruction manual for living a satisfying and meaningful life. Of course, as the gold standard of yoga manuals, it presents the principles of Yoga as well as the...
