Blog Posts

The 8 Limbs of Yoga that comprise today’s branch of Ashtanga Yoga are taken from the Yoga Sutras. Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras around 400 CE as a synthesis and organization of yoga from older traditions.

The 196 sutras (some say 195) are made up of short simple verses compartmentalized into four topical books:

Samadhi pada (What yoga is)
Sadhana pada (How to gain a yogic state)
Vibhuti pada (Benefits of practicing yoga regularly)
Kaivalya pada (Liberation or freedom from suffering)

Ashtanga yoga is distinct from the Ashtanga Vinyasa style developed by K. Pattabhi Jois in the 20th century. This is also derived from the 8 Limbs of Yoga but synchronizes breath with movement as a flow (vinyasa).

The 8 Limbs of Yoga described in the sutras are Yama (abstinences), Niyama (observances), Asana (yoga postures), Pranayama (breath control), Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (absorption).

Read More »The 8 Limbs of Yoga

Many people have a regular gratitude practice. It could be a daily meditative check-in, journal entry, or exchange with family/friends.

Gratitude is an emotion that connects you to your essential being. Vibrationally it is the receiving aspect of love. This means you can use thankfulness to experience more loving energy in your life.

“The Magic” by Rhonda Byrne is a great resource that applies this aspect of the Law of Attraction. The exercises in this workbook direct your attention to all the experiences, things, and qualities for which you are thankful.

You can be grateful for every aspect of life. This includes your thoughts, feelings, actions, responsibilities and property, and even the things that you dislike. When you are appreciative “I’ve got to” switches to “I get to” and you switch from identifying with lack to claiming abundance.

What are the five ways to leverage the gift of gratitude?

Read More »It’s a Gift: Gratitude Brings Awareness to the Love in Your Life

Greater efficiency and productivity occur when you can handle tasks through to completion. This principle means you move tasks directly from your inbox to your outbox.

Occasionally, the task returns to the inbox multiple times. This means you repeatedly have to reestablish the point of continuance often resulting in lost productivity.

Tasks do not get completed when something necessary for completion is unavailable. You also have to revisit tasks when there is not enough motivation or time. When pieces are lacking our contribution is temporarily paused. If motivation is the issue we might be procrastinating or distracted and fundamentally are not fully committed to completion. When there is a shortage of time, it makes sense to chunk a project into distinct steps. This shifts the focus to completing each individual step.

What can we do in each of these cases? A good analogy is Tetris where you are working to create a shape that allows you to get to the outbox (drop off the screen).

Read More »Efficiency: Touch Once or Chunk

Anger often arises when others do not respond or interact with us the way we want. Maybe they are not delivering something we feel we deserve to receive. Perhaps they are not behaving according to social norms.

However, the idea that we should be treated a certain way is just a construct we have built.

We can release this reactance to not getting what we want by raising awareness of our ability to change our inner being. We can also step into being at peace with the outcome even if it was not our ideal. When we choose to embrace our unwanted experiences and let go of any blame we allow any irritation we might experience to just be.

Read More »Making Anger a Blessing

In a state of sadness, you are in a state of grief and hurt that wants to heal.

We feel sad when we personally identify with the problem and its solution and feel lacking in addressing it. This means we feel a sense of responsibility and blame ourselves for not having the means to make a difference. This helplessness and hopelessness feels awful and so often we do our best to minimize it by not fully acknowledging it.

Metaphorically, we are just hiding it away in the closet. Of course, this means that it still exists even if we turn our attention elsewhere. However, if we clean out the closet we can sort through the aspects that hold the sadness.

Read More »Making Sadness a Blessing