Practice Pages: Meditation I don't know about you, but when I meditate, my mind does not go blank. It’s an inner wilderness adventure. I close my eyes and blam, it’s wild in here. There is a whirl of thoughts and feelings, a hundred sticky notes of things to do. When I tend to each thought, [...]
Psalm Isadora photographed by Amir Magal The Inner Journey From Pain To Bliss, The Outer Journey From Practice To Giving Back Psalm Isadora's exposure to Yoga took place fifteen years ago when a friend invited her to a Yoga class at a gym. At the time, she was suffering from back pain due [...]
Bhakti Fest Rocks “The Woodstock of the kirtan movement ;” this was the tagline organizers used to describe Bhakti Fest. This weekend didn’t have the mud, the nudity or the crowds, but the idea of Woodstock was conjured up (on the fortieth anniversary, no less) and it had to do with the christening of an [...]
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month Yogastyles Provides Support Yogastyles founder Susan Nichols is a breast cancer survivor and she’s celebrating by supporting women during the month of October by donating a portion of sales to Right Action for Women, the Christina Applegate Foundation (rightactionforwomen.org). Right Action for Women helps women receive needed [...]
Attending the Dalai Lama’s teachings in Dharamsala, India, is quite a different experience from doing so in the West. Trade comfortable cushioned seats in a temperature-controlled environment for seats on a concrete floor under a covered rooftop exposed to the wild fluctuations of the Himalayan weather. Trade state-of-the-art bathrooms with the most basic plumbing alternative [...]
Around The World And On The Stage ONLY FIFTEEN MINUTES into the practice and we knew we were in over our heads. Guru Kal, (short for Kali), a powerful lion of a man, was barking out commands in a rapid and incomprehensible (to us) dialect of Malayalam. Following his direction, we awkwardly threw ourselves to [...]
PERHAPS YOU’VE HEARD SOME of the astounding claims surrounding kombucha: it helps the body fight cancer, detoxifies and alkalizes the system and reduces cholesterol. Though relatively new in the States, kombucha’s Far Eastern folklore stretches back 2,000 years. First mentioned during the Chinese Tsin Dynasty of 212 BCE, it was then called “The Elixir of [...]
Practice Pages: Meditation Japa Breath From The Radiance Sutras, A New Version of the Vijnana Bhairava Tantra AYURVEDIC PHYSICIANS ARE FOND of saying, “Have all six tastes on your tongue every day: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, pungent (spicy) and astringent.” Whatever your body type, by treating yourself to diversity of taste (rasa) you will have more [...]
Brother Achalananda speaking at the Self-Realization Fellowship annual convocation in Los Angeles. Self-Realization Annual Convocation in LA August 2 - 8, 2009 There’s something both powerful and inspirational about sharing an enormous room with nearly 4,000 people, all poised and sitting silently, creating a meditative space that vibrates far beyond the walls. This [...]
Practice Pages: Yoga Therapy Observing Habits and Affecting Change Through Conscious Direction THE ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE provides teachings to allow people to listen to the body’s habits in movement and posture and reorganizing our internal coordination. Like yogis entering a pose with specific actions such as anchoring the legs, Alexander students watch themselves stand, sit, [...]