Yoga as Coaching: Personality, temperament, samskaras and change
Are we innately inclined to certain temperaments? Am I “Just the way I am” or is there choice in change, discernment in action and impulse? Both Yoga and Science explore these questions and arrive at similar conclusions. The persistent nature and nurture interplay continues to evolve in our understanding. A recent article in Psychotherapy Networker [...]
Beyond Tribal: On Empathy, Wholeness, Yoga & Vedanta [books, J. Rifkin, video]
![Beyond Tribal: On Empathy, Wholeness, Yoga & Vedanta [books, J. Rifkin, video]](http://www.yoganexus.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/jrifkin_anmated-150x150.png)
For some years now I have been pondering ‘identity’ as I study and seek to practice Yoga and Vedanta. Identity meaning sense of self – in community, in society, in relation to spirit and divinity, in relation to our apparent tribal nature.
Yoga and Vedanta teach the nature of Wholeness, brahma vidya, knowledge of Brahman, and the practice of karma yoga…
Recent studies in neuroscience, psychology and behavior point to empathy and compassion being strong biological drivers[...]
Pepsi’s Nutrition blog inspires protest departures at Science Blog
Several scientist are removing their blogs from Seed Media’s Science Blog in response to a sponsored ‘nutrition’ blog by Pepsico wrote Columbia Journalism Review today. As publishing morphs with the times, as traditional credible print sources fall or adapt, as authorship and intellectual property shift with open sharing and free publishing, as we are glutted [...]
The Healing Wonders and Joys of Tulsi, Indian ‘basil’ [guest, book, buy tea]
![The Healing Wonders and Joys of Tulsi, Indian 'basil' [guest, book, buy tea]](http://www.yoganexus.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/tulsiclose-150x150.jpg)
GUEST Wellness Provider: Mahendra aka Briksha Ayurveda, Yoga Instructor and Coach www.Rays-mandala.org An invitation to learn proper breathing: Sunday, July 11th, Friday, 16th and Saturday, 24th, 6.00pm-.9.00pm Indian Live Food Prep class-1 of Series I – Cafe Gratitude Saturday, July 10 2010, 3:00pm – 6:00pm I am happy to have a piece from a colleague [...]
Beyond Belief: Yoga & Vedanta are for Understanding
It really struck me one year at Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s place when he said “Vedanta is not a matter of blind faith or unverifiable belief, but a matter of understanding.” It hit me then why his teachings sat so well with me. The primary message is listen, inquire, question, discuss and if you disagree speak [...]
Healing Schedule, plans for teaching again…
[updated July 9th, 2010] As many of you know, I was diagnosed with a curable cancer in mid May and am in chemotherapy treatments to heal. So through late July I will be focusing on healing. As of Friday July 9th I have one more round to do, and am now in the two week [...]
Top 5 Tips to Jumpstart your Home Practice
We all want to, but it just doesn’t seem to get off the ground, or out of the bed. An essential pillar in yoga is congruence in heart and mind, thought and action. There is what Swami Dayananda Saraswati calls the ‘knower-doer split.’ I know I want a home yoga practice, I know it is [...]
All is Given Pt. 2: Cultivating attitude of graceful acceptance – karma yoga is bhakti
Here I offer the principles and verses from the Bhagavad Gita that inform the principles in All is Given Pt1 and delve into the essence of Karma Yoga, which includes Bhakti, or devotion. There is no separate Bhakti yoga in essence. Again, I draw largely from Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s teachings. In essence Karma Yoga has [...]
Article on Meditation from Shambala. What do you want to do with your mind?
I found a good article on meditation by Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche at Shambala Times. It goes well with the “All is Given” blog post I wrote recently. “Meditation is not a recess or a timeout. It’s a deepening and strengthening of the mind, which affects our whole life.” It’s a brief but rich and eloquent [...]
All is Given Pt. 1: musings, Sutras & Gita, and free meditation mp3.
[NOTE: it's a long one, you may want to print from blog for better reading. You have to read all the way through to download the meditation in mp3 format ] Is my body mine? Does it belong to me, in terms of rights of ownership? Am I defined by my physicality (gender, species, health, [...]
Practice: Just because… appetite
” ‘For the past eighty years I have started each day in the same manner,’ wrote Pablo Casals in his memoir, Joys and Sorrows. ‘I go to the piano, and I play two preludes and fugues of Bach. It fills me with awareness of the wonder of life, with a feeling of the incredible marvel [...]
Keep squeezing the belt! Resources for Pelvic Floor practice, or Mula Bandha (books, tips)
As you know, unused muscle loses tone and strength. The mind is powerful, however thinking about doing pelvic floor exercises, and nodding ‘I know, I know’ will not a strong pelvic core make. Consistent, daily practice, “with no gaps” as Friday the Tibetan girl says in “How Yoga Works” will make for a rewarding practice. [...]
Emerson, Vedanta & Serendipity (Karl’s musings, book, conference)
So I’m reading a book on Emerson by Richard G. Geldard I saw reviewed in an old issue of Parabola (a magazine on world mythology and spirituality I’ve been into since high school). I have always been a fan of Emerson since high school or earlier, and Thoreau, Whitman… I realize now much of Emerson [...]
Practice: yoga now more than ever
Someone asked me recently if I missed my yoga practice. Actually I am more consistent and present and dedicated than I have been in a while. The practice is more meditation and intention and breath awareness, breath work and not so much asana (postures). And those practices plug me into the heart of yoga very [...]
Live Red-Tail Hawk’s nest cam: wow
I found out my 4 year old nephew is into birds like his uncle (I’ve been a bird freak since 8th grade), and apparently the Red Tail Hawk is his favorite. So I found a live cam of a Red Tail Hawk’s nest I watch every day now. There are 3 chick’s, lumbering about eating [...]
book: strong recommend. Good Story, Yoga Sutras and Great Teachings – “How Yoga Works”
I am reading a wonderful book a friend brought to me when I was in the hospital. The book, “How Yoga Works” has inspired me greatly in practice and kept students in mind as well. This book is perhaps the best I have ever read on Yoga, due to its genuine accuracy and truth of [...]
