Category: Yoga Sutra
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Yoga Sutra – Chapter 2 Sutra 29
I’ve been dancing around Sutra 2.29 in two recent articles. The first was “Tapas & Relationships” and just yesterday as I was exploring Sutra 2.31. I didn’t have any intention to write about it until a recent debate began between myself and Bob Weisenberg on the comment thread of one of his Gita Talks posts.…
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Yoga Sutra – Chapter 2 Sutra 31
An article I recently published on Tapas & Relationships continued to reverberate within me for days after I published it. I was particularly caught up with Sutra 2.31 which seems to describes a relationship between the first two practices on the ashtanga list – Yama & Niyama. Ashtanga: Eight Limbs of Yoga Sutra 2.29 (second…
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Yoga Sutra – Chapter 4 Sutra 34
A couple of days ago I had a conversation with a caring relative who was worried about me / for me. She was referring to an unpleasant period I had gone through recently. She asked if I considered seeking professional/medical help and suggested that medication may be helpful. I replied that I did not consider…
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Tapas and Relationships
This post was inspired by a post titled “Let Them Eat Harmony” by Joe Gerstandt. What I liked about it and caught my attention was this: “… tension is a catalyst for learning, for change, and for evolution … “ Friction Joe’s post is focused on relationships between people and the idea of “tension” is…
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Yoga Sutra – Chapter 1 Sutra 1
atha yoga-anusanam “Now begin the authoritative teachings of Yoga” Translation by TKV Desikachar This sutra has been on my mind for a few weeks now until a recent conversation with my teacher brought clarity to my thoughts. This is the sutra that opens the Yoga Sutra – a text that is well known for it’s…
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Yoga Sutra – Chapter 2 Sutra 46
Have you ever watched someone thread a needle using funny and useless facial expressions – as if that would help to get the thread into the small hole? In a way that’s what this sutra is about sthira sukham asanam “Asana must have the dual qualities of alertness and relaxation” Translation by TKV Desikachar This…
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Yoga Sutra – Chapter 3 Sutra 6
This post started with an intent to share a chant, one of the first I learned. When I began to prepare it, I found a new link, one I was given many years ago, but only now did it shimmer for me and I took the time to assimilate it. This chant (see below) is…
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Low Down Yoga Sutra – Chapter1: Clarity
What is Yoga? Now begins the teaching of how everything comes together It’s all about the ability to focus steadily on one thing without any distractions Then that thing appears for what it truly is Instead of what you want to make it out to be Activities of the Mind There are five activities through…
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I Should Have
During my morning Yoga practice, a thought came to me about a change I should make in it (something about it’s energetic qualities). It was a special moment – a new, fresh and subtle perspective – a crystallization. It happened in an instant and then, within a few seconds, a second thought appeared in my…
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Yoga Sutra – Chapter 1 Sutra 20
“For others Faith precedes firmness, remembrance, integration and insight” Translation by Paul Harvey This sutra describes a kind of positive feedback loop which is rooted in and nourishes faith: Faith leads to resolve, a focused quality of energy. Resolve acts as marker, it highlights the things that need to be done – right action. Right…