Stillness, breath, reflection, knowledge, gratitude. These are my working words, the ones that today I am calling upon to deepen my daily practice. Do I repeat them, listen to them, or roll them around in my body through each yoga pose? Am I meditating on them before, after, or during? Or perhaps I am just thinking too much of how to “think” about them?

How do we use meditation in our practice? (more…)

A consistent yoga practice has long been attributed with achieving a more flexible and toned body. But how does it affect your brain?

In an article in the Canadian paper The Gazette, entitled “This is Your Brain on Yoga” by columnist Donna Nebebsahl, (more…)

From sunrise to sunset we are beseeched with everyday images, sounds and the voice of our own intuition, each clamoring for our attention. The influence of these sometimes causes us to be endlessly caught drifting from one thought to another without a point in sight.

Sometimes our spirits need this wandering to recoup from our hectic lives. But how do we manage this when we are seeking to focus our awareness? (more…)

Two recent news articles made me realize how widely accepted meditations techniques may become. (more…)

The way I learned it, “maya” was the veil of illusions that keep us from the Real. “Real” meaning the knowledge that all is divine and therefore we are divine and because all the “stuff” of the physical, material world, like our houses, our relationships and even our dreams fluctuate, we become distracted away from this deeper knowing.

But maya has many more dimensions. In a sense, we need maya to function and fulfill our lives in this world. (more…)

Yet another famous person is singing the praises of yoga. In the Sunday issue of The New York Times Magazine, “Hip-Hop Guru” Russell Simmons confesses to practicing yoga and meditation every day. He also says he has read “The Autobiography of a Yoga” by Yogananda (although he claims he can barely read). (more…)

Basia asks:

“When exactly does the peace and good will to all kick in?”

(more…)

Nico asks:

“I’d like yoga to get me into spring since the weather won’t cooperate–Saraswati do you think you need to be fairly strong in yoga practice to be able to properly meditate?” (more…)

Sleep is the best medicine. (And I don’t mean the medicated kind, despite the annoying pop-up ads that may find their way onto this web site. My apologies, I have no control over these ad searches but I repeat I do not advocate use of sleeping pills.) Even though we’re still not quite sure what happens during the sleep state, we know when we’ve gotten enough sleep to feel healthy. (more…)

Every yoga pose (asana) can also be a meditation. These two functions of a yoga practice are often isolated. In fact, meditation can occur naturally while in one of the hundreds of asanas when you settle into the pose for an extended hold. (more…)