Life, Happiness and the Pursuit of Liberty?
So what comes first – freedom or happiness?I’ve been thinking lately of something B.K.S. Iyengar wrote in Light on Life, his summary of yoga wisdom at the age of 87. A great boon of yoga, even for relative beginners, is the happiness it brings, a state of self-reliant contentment. Happiness is good in itself and […]
What’s locked in your ribcage?
On the day my yoga life officially began, sometime in June, 1987, I took a private class from Wende Davis. She taught me spinal stretch, with my hands resting on her upright piano. Then she tapped her fingers along my spine and asked me to notice the different qualities of the flesh. My lumbar spine […]
Ninety days of shoulderstand: the end is nigh – or is it?
Well, at least it’s coming into view – and who knows, I might just keep going.Sixty-five days into 90 days of shoulder stand, I find myself thinking about a New Yorker cartoon I saw a long time ago, and by that I mean 30 years. The drawing is of a street prophet, in beard and […]
Five-Minute Yoga Challenge: clasp your hands to open your shoulders
Want to transform your shoulders without help from a magic frog? Read on. “It is no over-statement to say that if a person regularly practices Sarvangasana he will feel new vigour and strength and will be happy and confident. New life will flow into him, his mind will be at peace and he will feel […]
What’s the difference between movement and action, and why does it matter?
In everyday life, there’s not much call to distinguish between movement and action. Sure, a man of action sounds impressive, and a man of movement not so much. But trust me, you can live a full and happy life without ever giving it another moment’s thought. In yoga, on the other hand, being clear on […]
How do you work with the yamas and niyamas?
On Tuesday afternoon I spent an hour in a coffee shop near the studio with a teacher trainee, talking about the first two of yoga’s eight limbs, the restrictions (yamas) and the observances (niyamas). The yamas are the great vow of yoga, non-violence, truth, non-stealing, Brahmacarya, which is often translated as celibacy, and non-grasping, or […]