health

by Ram Fern by Melina Meza In the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali we are introduced to the eight rungs/limbs/steps of yoga whose practice helps us to develop attention as a tool to discriminate between ignorance and awareness and between truth and illusion, which is the means for liberation or enlightenment. Pratyahara is rung five of the eight rungs. Verse 2.54 in the Yoga Sutras describes Pratyahara as: sva vishaya asamprayoge chittasya svarupe anukarah iva indriyanam pratyaharah When the mental organs of senses and actions (indriyas) cease to be engaged with the corresponding objects in their mental realm, and assimilate or turn back into the mind-field from which they arose, this is called pratyahara. �trans. by Swami Jnaneshvara .? Check any commentary or text on this topic and the term �pratyahara� would be defined as �withdrawal of senses.� However, the concept of withdrawal of senses may be difficult to comprehend for I have witnessed a few teachers in some of the yoga teacher�s...

by Nina "Holding on to one's thoughts is also a form of possessiveness�." �BKS Iyengar Untitled Drawing by Milton Zolotow, one of hundreds Ram's recent post on aparigraha (non-hoarding) left a strong impression on me. In it, he mentioned several meanings for aparigraha , including "non-possessiveness, non-holding, non-indulgence, non-acquistiveness." Recently I've been thinking a lot about the "non-holding" aspect of aparigraha . Non-holding has been on my mind because I've started to feel weighed down with possessions. That's partly because in the last few years, both my parents and Brad's parents died, and we ended up with a lot of their stuff. Some of the things were useful, like the beautiful dining room table we inherited from my parents. We are using that table now and gave our old table to our daughter who started her own household, so a kind of balance has been established. A lot of the other stuff isn't at all "us...

by Ram Naushon Tree by Brad Gibson In the Sadhana Pada of the Yoga Sutras by Patanjali we are introduced to the eight rungs/limbs/steps of yoga whose practice helps us to develop attention as a tool to discriminate between ignorance and awareness and truth from illusion, the means for liberation or enlightenment. One of the eight limbs is aparigraha , which has several meanings, including non-possessiveness, non-holding, non-indulgence, non-acquisitiveness. Verse 2.39 in the Yoga Sutras describes aparigraha as: aparigraha sthairye janma kathanta sambodhah When one is steadfast in non-possessiveness or non-grasping with the senses there arises knowledge of the why and wherefore of past and future lives. �trans. by Swami Jnaneshvara   Aparigraha comes from the word parigraha , which means reaching out for something and claiming it for oneself; the "a" prefix' before parigraha turns it into an antonym. Thus, aparigraha  is the concept of non-possessiveness or non-hoardi...

by Nina Horses Grazing by Brad Gibson It's a running joke in our family that when Brad gets impatient with me�because I often do various household tasks a bit slower than he does�he says to me, "Take your time!" He swears that Bill Murray said this repeatedly in the movie Caddy Shack, but when we watched it again recently, no one actually ever uttered that line. Regardless, I always reply, "You take your time." But many worthwhile things really do take time. For example, if you want to cook a really good meal instead of eating fast food, you need to shop for fresh ingredients and prepare everything from scratch. And if you want to turn a new acquaintance into a close friend, you need to spend a lot of time together, getting to know and trust each other. The same is true for seeing results from yoga practice. Obviously, one Downward-Facing Dog pose doesn't instantly make your arms stronger, though with regular practice, it definitely will increase your str...

by Nina Needle and Ice by Melina Meza When a man has mastered himself, he is perfectly at ease in cold, in heat, in pleasure or pain, in honor or disgrace � Bhagavad Gita , trans. by Stephen Mitchell We get many comments on our blog, but every once in a while there is one that makes me feel sad, like this one, which one of our readers left on a post about menopause: This will certainly be relevant for me (65). Besides ongoing extreme irritability, yoga is not the joy it has always been for me because of joint stiffness and pain. What little stability I felt in life came from yoga, and feel that slipping away when I need it most. My first reaction to this was to write to Shari and suggest that she write about menopause and joint pain because I knew that she, too, was currently suffering from joint problems (see Yoga for Menopause: Joint Problems ). But even after ensuring that this topic was going to be addressed, I was concerned about the underlying issue: yoga is not the joy it has al...

by Ram Dance by Marc Chagall Yoga and Ayurveda are sister sciences, with Ayurveda being the healing side of Yoga, and Yoga serving as the spiritual side of Ayurveda. Through the practices of Ayurveda and Yoga an individual is able to connect to his/her true nature through direct experience, and live a meaningful and purposeful life. This would mean following stable routines, having a balanced and nourishing timely diet (see You Are When You Eat ) and adapting the eight fold yogic path (ashtanga yoga). However, there are a number of obstacles that arise on the journey to a meaningful life that can prove to be a challenge. In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, verses 1.30-1.32 describe several distractions that serve as obstacles on the journey toward perfect health and enlightenment.   vyadhi styana samshaya pramada alasya avirati bhranti-darshana alabdha-bhumikatva anavasthitatva chitta vikshepa te antarayah �Nine kinds of distractions that are obstacles naturally encountered...