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Yogini’s Path To Motherhood
Guest Post by Liat Pakes As of today, I have been practicing one year of motherhood. I never thought that this role would suit me or that I would find in it such contentment. We are a wandering family and currently we are living in Andalucía Spain. I would love to say that “I am a wandering yoga teacher” but honestly I am mainly a “wandering mother”. Here and there I teach but for the most part I am my own teacher. I am learning to let go of the “Yoga teacher” image and accept that my physical practice has changed. Today I practice Asanas 3-4 times a week for…
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Inspiration and Coveting
The line between being inspired and coveting is a thin one. You can tell the difference by how you feel. Inspiration, well, makes you feel inspired and lit up. Coveting what someone else has makes you feel dejected, anxious, envious, jealous, angry and frustrated. On my mat, I tend to be inspired when I am working with a new pose or I am watching people do poses I have not been given. I tend to feel like I am coveting after I have been working with a pose for a long time and I still can’t do it. The difference is expectations. When I have expectations that I can do…
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Yoga is not Religion
Yoga is not a religion. Now, some people have made it into one, but that is a whole “nother” post. The idea of infallibility comes from religion. In yoga, there is no heaven for people who do good and hell for those who do bad. There is just karma or the consequences of whatever actions you take. This idea that spiritual people are perfect has nothing to do with yoga. Yoga tells us that we will fall. We will will mess up. When, not if, but when we mess up, we pick ourselves up and get back on the path. One of the 9 obstacles of yoga, mentioned in Yoga…
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Burn, Baby, Burn
Tapas is not as popular as it used to be. Tapas the food is popular and quite delicious. Austerity in yoga, not so much. This generation is more about the yoga high, cute leggings, green smoothies, great selfies and good hair. “The Secret” has told us that whatever our heart desires, we should focus on it and get it. Decadence is in. Austerity is out. Is there a place for tapas in this generation other than in these few verses in the Yoga Sutras? 2: 1 Source: English translation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati) Yoga in the form of action (kriya yoga) has three parts: 1) training…
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Can You Do Too Much Yoga?
There is an article circulating about the detriments of doing “too much Yoga”. Here is thing. The article is about asana. Yoga is a system. A method. Water is good for you. However, if you just drink water, you will die. Your body is a system. The system needs a balance of nutrients to thrive. Water is important but it is not enough to balance out the system. Asana is important but it is not enough to balance out the system of Yoga. There are 196 Sutras in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Asana is found in only 3 of those Sutras. All the other stuff is important!!!! If you just…
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Yoga Sutras For Modern Life: Are You Ready For the Great Vow?
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali 2: 29-31: The 8 limbs of Yoga are: Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. Yama, or the 5 restraints, consist of non violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, sexual restraint, and non greed. These great vows are universal and not limited by class, place time and circumstance. Defining the Sutras Patanjali lists the 8 limbs of Yoga and the five Yamas which are part of the 8 limbs. The Yamas are called the “maha vrata” or great vow. Everyone, who is dedicated to the path of Yoga, take a vow to follow them. Modern Day Application: It is important to point out that these vows…
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Alignment and Injuries, Ashtanga Adaptability, Reblogs, Teaching Ashtanga, Uncategorized, Videos, Yoga Philosophy, Yoga Sutras
Asteya: Stealing a Yoga Practice
Photo above by Wanda Koch When our culture (our media, our power structures, our society) says, “people who look like you shouldn’t expect to have a life like that,” we’re stealing. Stealing from people capable of achieving more, and stealing from our community as well-Seth Godin I feel blessed to have started yoga with my Atlanta teachers. In my 5 or so years of working with them. Never once did anyone tell me that I could not do anything. There were never any talk about the short falls of my anatomy. There were never any talks about disadvantages of my body or body type. The message was always…
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Are we Giving Up on Yoga as a Spiritual Path?
I got this comment today on my sister blog, Wellness From Inside, and it saddened me. This is just a piece of a bigger question on spirituality and its place in yoga. I practice a lot because I enjoy it, and have to if I want to get anywhere with ashtanga. I think I gave up thinking it is a path to enlightenment a long time ago. Take a look at most teachers, clearly not enlightened. So many things came up for me. One of them was Are we as teachers failing our students? When I first started practicing over a decade ago, it was understood that yoga was a…
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Videos of Bikram Assault Victims on Nightline + What Makes a Good Yoga Teacher
By Shanna Small. This is also posted on my other blog Wellness From Inside These videos are really raw and my heart goes out to these women. One of the women said something that really hit me because I have heard people say similar things about yoga teachers I have refused to practice with. He may not be a very good man, but he is a good yoga teacher- quote from a Bikram employee Maybe we need to re establish what a “good” yoga teacher is. I truly believe that the need to belong, have a nice body, be part of the “in” crowd and have a strong physical practice,…
