tradition: ashtanga, vinyasa & 8-limbs lite™
The yoga history thread is on hold as I’ve picked up too many books on the subject to continue until they’re parsed. Much has been published since I first read up on it ten years back. If you must read something now I suggest Joseph Alter’s Yoga in Modern India. For a break, I’ll address [...]
yoga history & hatha yoga : 101x
Last week when I wrote the “Wait. What is Hatha Yoga?” piece, things got out of hand. My intention was to explain simply that Hatha yoga is all physical yoga, not a style of it. But that exploded. Hatha yoga has a long and complicated history, which has thankfully gotten much more attention in the [...]
v: hot dog performance art
the last installment. part v of why meditate, thoughts on my two 1-week back-to-back meditation retreats. part i, part ii, part iii, part iv, & part v. An abridged version for moderns exists at Shambhala New York. And that was it. After lunch there was a banquet to close the week, and a bit of [...]
when you sit on a cushion
Part iv of why meditate, thoughts on my two 1-week back-to-back meditation retreats. part i, part ii, part iii, part iv, & part v. An abridged version for moderns exists at Shambhala New York. A few days earlier, while making tea at home and fighting with myself about how to deal with the situation, I [...]
meditation 3: better, happier, more centered
This was not the only thing going through my head during the retreat, mind you. In fact, it wasn’t even near top billing. Each time I came around to the fact that my attention wasn’t on my breath, but in any of all sorts of places, maybe only 2% of the time on the Zka [...]
to cut through the nonsense of mind
Oh, look, that’s (the title) basically the second line of The Yoga Sutras. Totally unintentional. Wasn’t thinking yoga scriptures when I wrote it. yogash chitta vritti nirodhah ||2|| योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः ॥२॥ Yoga is the mastery of the activities of the mind stuff ||2|| Anyway, last time I left with some of the emotional process that has [...]
why meditate?
I had promised myself I’d do a meditation retreat back in May, when I’d finally have some time. But, May is a festive time for university people and I had a lot of celebrating to do. Then it was June and I am a summer girl. I couldn’t dedicate a week or more to sitting [...]
stone age mind in a digital world
I didn’t intend to go on about Jon Kabat-Zinn, but while folding—okay, refolding—my laundry, I listened to the On Being Jon Kabat-Zinn show. He is just gorgeous, and if you have any interest in meditation, your mind, or your humanity, you need to listen to this. And it seems that some of you do, because [...]
more yoga in the news::slim calm sexy spirit
Jon Kabat-Zinn is going to be featured On Being this weekend. I imagine you can listen here after it airs, or just check out where it airs in your area. In NYC it’s on WNYC-AM 820, Saturday at 3:00pm and WNYC-FM 93.9, Sunday at 7:00am & 10:00pm. The site has a number of excellent resources listed, [...]
MIT-trained scientist on meditation
Oh yes, you know I’m trying to lure you brain-mongers with that title. You know I don’t care if Jon Kabat-Zinn, one of my heroes, is a scientist or a car salesman, as long as he talks such good sense. I know we’re still on break and you just want to relax a bit. But [...]
mental exercise, physical exercise :: yoga and martial arts
This is a quick break from “yoga and weight loss,” which I’ll continue next week. I’m changing gears because Shaolin Kung Fu is popping up everywhere I turn. And it begs a question I can’t answer myself, because I’m too close to the subject: Are people in the West aware that yoga is a mental [...]
yoga in australia
Oooh, I’m off to summertime. Heading down under to investigate the yoga scene, which of what I’ve seen so far, is heavily ashtanga and iyengar based. I’ll be starting in Perth, then driving and camping across the southern coast and Nullarbor to Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney. I’ll be back in time for Spring semester, [...]
