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Thank you Cavs! The epitome of yoga.
Two days ago the Cavs won the NBA championship against so many odds: starting the finals down 3 games, playing out of town, and Cleveland’s seemingly indomitable will to always come up short. But not any more; the so-called curse is broken. What made me want to write about this in the Yoga Roots blog…
Read More“Let go of the fruits”
“Let go of the fruits” is a significant theme in the Bhagavad Gita, one of the great yoga texts of all time and the current subject of the YR Book Club (via the secondary source The Great Work of Your Life by Stephen Cope). The reader is told “you have the right to work, but…
Read MoreDon’t worry be happy
The 1988 Bobby McFerrin song might as well have been about the niyama of santosha. Review: the niyamas are one of the eight limbs of yoga laid out in the yoga sutras. They are considered personal observances that relate to our inner world. In other words, they are things for us to do. Santosha, or…
Read MoreEmptying Your Cup
There’s a well-known story about a Japanese Zen master. A university professor interested in learning more about Zen comes to see him. The master offers the professor tea, and as he pours tea into the professor’s cup, the professor talks on and on about his background, his current knowledge about Zen, and why he wants…
Read MoreDon’t just do something, sit there.
For some of us, sitting in stillness can be the most challenging part of practicing yoga. Or of daily life. I know it’s hard for me. I often get stuck in a cycle of believing I must be constantly doing to feel valuable and productive. Then, because I am doing so much, I feel stressed…
Read More50 days of meditation
My new years resolution for 2016 is 365 days of meditation. I passed the 50 day mark this past weekend and thought it a good time to reflect. I’ve been half-assedly (new word alert) committed to meditation for years. I know the benefits, mental and physical, are proven. I know from experience I feel really…
Read MoreLoving yourself into well-being
An unknown author said “You can’t punish yourself into change. You can’t whip yourself into shape. But you can love yourself into well-being.” Think about this idea applied to the asana practice. You can’t punish yourself into a handstand. Or whip yourself into a wheel pose (at least not without a serious risk of hurting…
Read MoreGetting to know your inner voice
Do you talk to yourself? If you said no, you’re wrong. We all do. Maybe not out loud, but we all have an inner voice. Sometimes it recounts our to-do list, sometimes it complains about the weather, sometimes it criticizes us, others and the world around us. Sit in silence for 60 seconds. Do you…
Read MoreDesigning Your Life
I just spent the weekend in a two-day Design Your Life Workshop put on by the Handel Group out of New York. If there is an area in your life that is needing a reboot, this is something to consider (or for you personal growth junkies like myself, a great bet too). Much of the…
Read MoreDigging deep
This morning I took Cynthia Chylik’s power vinyasa class (and it rocked – thank you Cynthia!). As we settled into child’s pose after a challenging standing sequence, she spoke to us about going deep, beneath the surface. Hearing the silence that lies beneath the chatter of our minds. She likened this to either riding a…
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