Obstacles to practice

ByAaron Fleming March 13, 2015

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
bhrantidarsana: living under mistaken notions
alabdhabhumikatva: missing the point
anavasthitatvani: backsliding

Sticking with it
ByAaron Fleming October 29, 2013

One of the many reasons I love teaching is because the students challenge me to clarify my thoughts. Sometimes the answers to their questions come easily – like “should the legs be straight in Trikonasana”? The answer is yes. Didn’t take much brain power to come up with that answer. But every once in awhile…

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Asana as fact finding mission
ByAaron Fleming January 16, 2019January 17, 2019

In the yoga sutras of Patanjali, yoga is defined as the cessation of the movements in the consciousness. There are five classifications of the movements in the consciousness, they are: correct knowledge, delusion, illusion, sleep and memory. At any time your consciousness can be fluctuating in one of these classes. We hope though to get…

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All students should start out in the Introductory class.
ByAaron Fleming February 9, 2016

The College Hill Yoga classes are set up so that everyone begins in the Introductory classes. Students should take a least one session of the Introductory class before moving on to the next level. Students should start out in the Introductory class because in those classes we learn some preliminary actions that are necessary for…

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Yoga as Therapy
ByAaron Fleming May 18, 2017June 7, 2017

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…

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Ease and Steadiness
ByAaron Fleming February 28, 2015

This week we were discussing the third limb of yoga: Asana. Sutra II.46 is sthira sukham asanam. sthira = firm, steady skham = happiness, ease asanam = postures, poses This sutra defines asana as a posture that is done with steadiness and ease or comfort. In his book The Core of the Yoga Sutras, BKS…

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Practice solutions
ByAaron Fleming May 28, 2019May 28, 2019

Students are still sending me feedback about their struggles / obstacles for getting going in their home practice. I want to share their feedback with you. I think it will helpful for you to hear. Last week three separate students told me they have a hard time practicing at home because they miss hearing my…

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A vast majority of people, even those of us who are not that stiff, are stiff to some extent. We ALL have tight spots but some of us have to...
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I have been writing a bit in other articles (and this one too) about how the pandemic has impacted my practice. Specifically, the stress of the pandemic has impacted my...
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Back in December of last year I wrote that I thought the stress of the pandemic had shown that my mindset needed improving. I am writing now to give an...

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