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

Stamina and focus in yoga
ByAaron Fleming March 3, 2020October 25, 2021

Why do we want to build stamina in our poses? The poses are the playground for exploring how the body, mind and breath relationship. We first learn simple actions within simple poses. (such as the triangle pose, seen here above). Actions such as how to lift the knee caps or how to straighten the arms….

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Cultivate your narrative
ByAaron Fleming January 28, 2020September 9, 2021

At the intensive in India, this past December, Prashant Iyengar many times said that he wants us to become our own teacher. That we need to stop relying so heavily on our teachers to tell us what to do in our practice. Which doesn’t mean we don’t need a teacher. You need a teacher so…

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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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Are you intimidated by College Hill Yoga?
ByAaron Fleming January 20, 2018January 22, 2018

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…

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Learn to practice at home
ByAaron Fleming February 5, 2018February 5, 2018

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…

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Getting started
ByAaron Fleming April 24, 2015

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…

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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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