Tag: #mindfulness

Imagine a close friend who comes to you in some distress, and tells you they’re struggling and feeling bad about themself. How do you respond to your friend? What kind of words do you use, what body language, what tone of voice? Now, imagine yourself in similar distress, when you are struggling and feeling bad […]

It’s been said that when the Buddha was asked what the difference was between folks on the path of waking up, and those not on the path, the Buddha first shared what everyone has in common – we all get hit by “first arrows”. That is, everyone gets hurt from time to time. This, he […]

Even the idea of sitting in meditation can spark discomfort – imaginations of an achy body, restless mind, challenging emotions… Thich Nhat Hahn  offers an alternative. Just taking our seat, he posits, is an opportunity to arrive into joy. “When you sit, sit in such a way that you feel you have already arrived. To […]

We all possess powers and gifts that, when expressed, have a positive impact on more than just ourselves – an ease in appreciating beauty or tenderness, an ability to speak out against hurtful acts, the capacity to see a project through, etc. Earlier this month Anne Phyfe Palmer wrote about the yogic concept tapas, energy […]

Stress. It’s having a moment. Stress is a word we use to describe an experience, or a feeling, of being strained or tense due to difficult or demanding circumstances. It may come from the French word estresse, which means narrowness or oppression. What I’d like us to consider is what stress actually feels like, when we […]

“I want to do with you what spring does with cherry trees.” – Pablo Neruda Yoga in its full expression is a lifestyle. It invites us to fully express our being by nurturing our bodies and minds, in the context of an interconnected and natural world. Ayurveda (Yoga’s sister science), offers a wonderful tool to […]

A couple years back, during a guided meditation on retreat, I was given the prompt, “Why are you here?” I don’t remember exactly how I silently answered that question but I think it was something along the lines of, to deepen my meditation practice. Whatever it was, it was a pretty standard response for the setting. And […]

Our 2019 theme, Roots of Yoga, comes from a commitment to link our modern day practices of yoga to their source teachings and teachers – both to show respect and to inspire a deeper understanding of this powerful lineage. This blog will be updated daily. We’ll share kriya (cleansing) practices on Fridays, postures from the Hatha Yoga Pradipika […]

Despite what many headlines imply, mindfulness doesn’t fix us. Mindfulness is a translation of the Pali term sati, to remember. It relates to a particular type of remembering, one that is compassionate, contactful and clear seeing. It calls us to drop beneath the stories we tell and look beyond conditioning that may have kept us […]

Stay close to anything that makes you glad you are alive. – Hafiz With temperatures dropping, we’ve been reflecting on ways to stay warm. Below are three small things we invite you to try. We’ve also included a six-minute guided warming meditation. What warms you up? Upon waking, light candles instead of turning on lights. […]