Iyengar Yoga is known for its creative sequencing. It is possible to go to an Iyengar Yoga class every week and never be taught the same sequence twice. In the beginning level classes there are similar poses taught week to week but hardly ever in the same order. Most times poses are sequenced so they […]
1.13 tatra sthitau yatnah abhyasah Practice is the steadfast effort to still these fluctuations. In this yoga sutra “these fluctuations” are the movements of consciousness. We experience the movements in our consciousness when our thoughts are bouncing around. We have a thought which sparks another thought which turns into another thought, and so on and […]
abhava: feeling of non-being, absence of awareness pratyaya: going toward conviction, trust alambana: support, abode, dependence on a prop vrttih: function, condition, thought-wave nidra: sleep without dreams Sleep is the non-deliberate absence of thought-waves or knowledge. In a dreamless sleep the consciousness is stilled without any effort.
Someone told my wife Sarah that they want to take class at College Hill Yoga but they feel intimidated. Sarah said they are worried they won’t know what to do in class. Of course, I think this is so silly! I think this is silly because I know that in Iyengar Yoga we teach the […]
sabdajnana: verbal knowledge anupati: followed in sequence, pursued vastusunyah: devoid of meaning vikalpah: imagination Verbal knowledge devoid of substance is fancy or imagination. Having an imagination is helpful (and fun) but we cannot live in this realm all the time. At some point the imaginary words or thoughts can become an untruth.
viparyayah: perverse, unreal mithyajnanam: illusory knowledge atadrupa: not in its own form pratistham: occupying, standing, seeing, beholding Illusory or erroneous knowledge is based on non-fact or the non-real. A false conception can generate wrong feelings. Our consciousness then responds to the wrong feelings by generating more thoughts, based on the original false impression. A vicious […]
pratyaksa: direct perception anumana: inference agamah: texts or scriptures, a person who is a scriptural authority and whose word can be relied on pramanani: kinds of proof Correct knowledge is direct, inferred or proven as factual. There are three ways to know something correctly: you can know from your own direct perception, from deduction, from […]
pramana: valid / correct knowledge viparyaya: inverted, perverse vikalpa: doubt, indecision, imagination or day-dreaming nidra: sleep smrtayah: memory They are caused by correct knowledge, illusion, delusion, sleep and memory. The five-fold fluctuations of consciousness.
vrttaya: movements pancatayyah: fivefold klista: painful aklista: non-painful The movements of consciousness are fivefold. They may be cognizable or non-cognizable, painful or non-painful. cognizable: perceptible, clearly identifiable. The movements of consciousness are either perceptible or not. They can either be painful or not painful.
Since we are offering a new Gentle class this fall I thought I would write some to explain what this class is like and who would benefit. The new Gentle class will be offered on Thursdays at 4:30pm, beginning on September 7, 2017. (You can sign up online or at your first class.) First let […]