What happens on the mat should be reflected in our vision of the world and our actions in it. When we think of inversions, those classic images of handstand (adho mukha vrkshāsana), forearm stand (pincha mayurāsana) and supported headstand (salamba śir …
The Yoga Sutras are extremely compact. Each sutra (translated to thread), using the power of the Sanskrit language, is defined exactly with just enough words and often conveys a profound meaning requiring copious commentary. This above sutra refers to …
Anyone who is engaged in serious yoga practice has come to yoga for the same reason—we’re fed up! That means we’ve had enough. Atha means “now.” But it’s more than just “now”; it means now in terms of “hereafter,” or “going forward.” The importance of …
The primordial nature is Shri Krishna. He is the supreme Being. Etymologically, krish means “being,” and na means “bliss.” Shri Krishna is the “all-attractive One,” and He tells Arjuna in the Gita, “O Arjuna, nothing is superior to Me …I am even grea …
Many people think a yoga practice is about acquiring something, a certain skill or the ability to do an asana. What you are really doing is eliminating the obstacle that prevents you from getting there. You’re stripping away all the excess. It is the r …
The streets of Calcutta were dangerous and dirty. Thousands were infected with leprosy, cholera, and other contagious diseases. At overcrowded hospitals, nurses were forced to turn away dying patients onto the cockroach-infested streets. A group of act …
In the practice of pratyahara, one of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga, we draw the senses inward to bring attention to the inner world instead of expending energy exclusively on the outer world. What we perceive in the outer world is just one part of …
Yoga practices are magical practices. Magic happens when there is a shift in perception—what you thought was real drops away to reveal a more expanded enlightened reality. Yoga practices, fueled by a sincere intention for Self-realization, will transfo …
Once upon a time, the strong, wise, out-of-this-world God of Transformation Lord Shiva was sitting with his companion, the great Goddess Parvati. He was telling her about the methods of yoga he had just discovered. He talked for a very long time, not n …
“The Prajñaparamita gives us solid ground for making peace with ourselves, for transcending the fear of birth and death, the duality of this and that. In the light of emptiness, everything is everything else, we inter-are, everyone is responsible for e …
You know the story of the student who says to the teacher, “I studied eight years with so-and-so and two years with so-and-so, and I know all about this and that and the other.” As he is speaking the teacher is pouring a cup of tea. The student is goin …
My friend Sting, the world-renowned rock star who gives hundreds of concerts a year, once said to me, “I put on a better show when someone I know and love is in the audience. It’s only natural, isn’t it?” I think he’s right—it is natural. It is difficu …