Category Archives: Philosphy of Yoga
The Conundrum of Discipline and Letting Go
Here Sarasvati discusses the problems of actually living a Yogic life. The first conundrum is, “What is surrender?” (not what you might think) Sarasvati supervises Anatomy and Asana teacher training for the Australian College of Classical Yoga. Her own Yoga … Continue reading
Comfort, Discomfort, Both OK
View Post Generally we choose comfort over discomfort, and that seems wonderfully reasonable, doesn’t it? But just consider, whenever you choose comfort you are pushing away about 99.9% of what is available. Reality is vast, while your comfort area is … Continue reading
Yoga Retreat, or Yoga Treat?
When I was in fourth grade, our teacher left the room for a bit, and told us to be very quiet as we were now on retreat. Another teacher came in, and I proudly wrote her a note saying that … Continue reading
Spirituality and Women
Prior to Vedic times, women were fully equal participants in ritual celebration – then along came Vedic Brahmanism and women were not even permitted to hear the vedas recited. I heard this when attending an address by the scholar and … Continue reading
Shivaratri
Shivaratri – the night of Shiva, the dark night of the moon when God makes his presence felt most strongly… ahh, don’t you feel it somewhere deep and intimate? Of course I want to stay up all night and welcome … Continue reading
Chatting with Patanjali
Patanjali explains himself in this conversation. What are the Yoga Sutras really about? Is Patanjali non-dualist or dualist? what difference does it make? Continue reading
Monistic not Monastic
Trying to put “swami” into a Western context is like trying to squeeze a tomato through a keyhole. Sometimes a swami is regarded as a monk. That seems easy at first, as many spiritual traditions have an established and accepted order of … Continue reading
Christmas, Jesus, Yoga
Another Christmas… it is often represented by children’s faces glowing with wonder and anticipation as the presents start to pile up under the tree… followed soon by the predictable gripes about the commercialisation of Christmas. I don’t remember it exactly like that. … Continue reading
Yogic Solutions
All of us have difficult situations and unpleasant people to deal with throughout our lives. If only we could find yogic solutions for having loving engagement with others, easy truthfulness, powerful articulation, clear insight into issues, untouched by manipulative ploys. … Continue reading
Query on aspects of the Yoga Sutras
This is a discussion on the notion of “vrtti”in the Yoga Sutras, prompted by a query from a student. The phrase, or paraphrase, for “vrtti” as “ideational choice making tendency of the mind” is from P.Y. Deshpande, The Authentic Yoga … Continue reading