Learn to practice at home

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…

What is Iyengar Yoga known for? (part 2: the best of the best teachers)

Iyengar Yoga is known for: being a method with roots in tradition creating the best of the best teachers accommodating a huge variety of students Regardless of the reason for taking classes, anyone who attends an Iyengar Yoga class is taught how to be a student of yoga. If you come to class because you…

Yoga as Therapy

The practice of Iyengar Yoga is diverse; there is a wide variety of approaches within the method itself. This variety in approaches is important because people are varied. People within the same age group are varied compared to each other — for instance, some people are fit and some are not. And a person will…

Getting started

In the 2nd chapter of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Patanjali states that in order to get started in your practice one should follow the path of Kriya Yoga. Kriya Yoga is the yoga of action and is comprised of three parts: Tapas (burning zeal / excitement), Svadhyaya (self-study) and Isvara Pranidhana (surrender of the…

Expect some obstacles

When an aspirant enters upon the spiritual life, he naturally does so with great enthusiasm. The first steps he takes are almost always accompanied by feelings of peach and delight. Everything seems so easy, so inspiring. It is therefore very important that he should realize, right form the start, that this mood will not continue,…

Obstacles to practice

All practitioners, either seasoned or just starting out, are well aware of the many things that get in the way of a regular and consistent practice. Patanjali outlines 9 obstacles to practicing. They are: Vyadhi: disease styana: lack of interest / mental laziness samsaya: doubt pramada: carelessness alasya: idleness avirati: sense gratification / over indulgence…