The Sanskrit word guru has several meanings; the most common is teacher. Gu means darkness and ru is the light. The spiritual teacher referred to as a guru is one who can take away the darkness of ignorance and bring down the light of wisdom. Traditionally, the guru is someone who serves as a sacred [...]
Yab-Yum Images In Tibetan Buddhist Art One of the most provocative features of Tibetan Buddhist sacred art is the frequent depiction of male and female spiritual beings locked in intimate sexual embrace – referred to in the Tibetan language as “yab-yum” or “father-mother” aspect. Whether shown seated together in meditative equipose or standing in dynamic [...]
Chocolate has become the quintessential Valentine’s Day gift, representing love, sweetness, devotion and sensuality. Its origins as the go-to gift for romantic holidays are fairly recent and involve the magic of marketing and the ‘60s, specifically the 1860s. This was when the heart-shaped candies and the heart-shaped boxes were released in force. Before [...]
Ayurveda has been practiced in the US for only about 30 years, yet it is one of the systems of medicine native to India and is thousands of years old. Readers are invited to submit questions for “Ayurveda Q & A” to ayurveda@layogamagazine.com. Q: I was recently informed that applying onion juice to the scalp can sometimes [...]
Sacred and intuitive artist Rassouli often quotes Hafiz, Rumi or other mystic poets when he speaks, teaches and writes. At a painting retreat, he recently told a story that to welcome in the New Year, he approached Rumi’s verse as he would an oracle, randomly choosing words from the beloved poet to uncover [...]
At a recent Yoga retreat two questions were raised: “What do you want to gain from your Yoga practice?” and “What has Yoga done for you?” The answers, suffused with “I” and “me,” implied that Yoga tends to be an egocentric practice that endeavors to improve the sense of self. That being said, an often [...]
The first time I meditated, I fell in love with the world. I was sitting in a completely dark and silent room doing nothing, as a subject in a brain wave (EEG) experiment at the University of California at Irvine. There were wires all over my head, so I couldn’t move. I was a control [...]
Practice Pages : My Other Car Is A Yoga Mat I was lying in final twist, pulling my hip away from my ribs like a good little yogi, when the teacher, who didn’t know my practice that well, came over and gave me an adjustment. My back cracked. His eyes lit up; I could tell he [...]
Teaching Sanskrit Of The Hands When Lila Lolling was immersed in her Yoga teacher training program in the Sivananda Yoga tradition, she was aware of the interpreters who were translating the course material into French, Spanish and Mandarin, among other languages. Yet she noted a striking omission: There wasn’t an interpreter for the deaf. As [...]
The drought-ridden Indian state of Bihar is achingly poor, chronically dusty and famous for its corrupt politicians and gun-toting bandits. But Bihar has another, quite contrasting distinction, as the place where 2,500 years ago the thirty-five-year-old Guatama Buddha realized the innermost potential of the human mind under the Bodhi tree in the present-day city of [...]