(First published 4/10/2008) At times our lives can be busy and even chaotic, while at other times, a sense of quiet and peace can envelop us – albeit it briefly. Yoga teaches us how to tap into that sense of stillness and peace on command and to switch off the chaos. This might not be easily done, but this is […]
more >(First published 30/08/2008) In yoga one of the most important keys that will unlock your understanding of this practice is the breath. In “Hathayoga Pradipika”, a practical treatise on yoga, the author stresses importance of breath by saying that “if the mind is the king of the senses, the master of the mind is the breath”. When we practice yoga […]
more >(First published 28/7/2008) Over the last few months I have introduced hatha yoga and its eight limbs or parts, with the aim of presenting an overview of yoga and hatha yoga. In the next chapters I intend to focus on various parts of yoga: returning in this chapter to hatha yoga’s third limb – asana (yoga postures). Classic yoga asanas […]
more >(First published 27/6/2008) All of us, to varying degrees, are aware of the different stages of the 24-hour daily cycle: there is dawn, the morning, afternoon, dusk or sunset, and night. But how many of us notice how the levels of energy fluctuate through this daily cycle, how there is a rhythm both outside of us, in the world around […]
more >(First published 25/5/2008) In this chapter of Inside Yoga, we turn to the final three aspects of Hatha Yoga’s eight limbs: dharana, dhyana and samadhi. As a reminder, the first five parts were yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, and pratyahara. The sage Patanjali, author of the yoga sutras, groups dharana, dhyana and samadhi under the word, samyama, which translates as the […]
more >(First published 5/5/2008) So far I have introduced the first four parts from the eight limbs of yoga: yama, niyama, asana and pranayama. The fifth limb is called pratyahara, which is usually translated as “withdrawal of the senses”. This is either the silencing of the senses and keeping them in their position passively, or the drawing inward of the senses […]
more >(First published 13/4/2008) Following on from the last chapter in which I introduced pranayama. Prana refers to “that which is infinitely everywhere”, it is the life force and the energy that is within us and in the world around us. In the ancient texts of India, it says that someone who is troubled, restless, or confused, has more prana outside […]
more >(First published 21/3/2008) In the first chapter of Inside Yoga I have introduced the first three parts in the eight limbs of hatha yoga: yama, niyama, and asana. There is a thread that connects the various aspects of yoga and that is the breath. Breathing is essential to life – it feeds us and sustains us. And in yoga, as […]
more >(First published 8/3/2008) Following on from the last chapter, which introduced the third limb of hatha yoga, asanas. Learning how to perform asanas does take time. I started learning yoga in India, at the start of 1995, and I saw the teacher every day, and would practice in my room every day as well. In the first six months I […]
more >(First published 24/2/2008) Following on from the first two, yama and niyama, in the eight limbs of hatha yoga, the next limb, or part, is the one the majority of us come across in yoga. It is called asana. The Sanskrit word, asana, translates as “posture”. The word is derived from the Sanskrit root as which means “to stay”, “to […]
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