“If you practice yoga every day with perseverance, you will be able to face the turmoil of life with steadiness and maturity.” ~BKS Iyengar

This was passed to me by a friend. I am not sure who the proper author is.

What appears to be an immediate appeal to stand up, act and perform ones duty, becomes a philosophical eulogy over the many types of Yoga and how an individual may find that steady place from within as the very support of all ones activities. Act with greater clarity and become free from the opposing dualities of good and bad, right and wrong etc. and find a steady support in Yoga. Gandhi suggested that the external battlefield depicted, was a metaphor between the good and evil forces within man and a proper study of the text would help us to better discriminate between the opposing forces that operate within us. How to be more centered, see more clearly, become free from the endless patterns of opposition, awaken to dignity and eventually become free to realize that the source of Yoga is already present within us – if we can only remove the patterns of ignorance that obstructs it.

Read more — here.

From Sharath Jois conference January 8, 2012:

The Baghavad Gītā is a very big, is a beautiful book. It says – eighteen chapters – it all says about yoga practice. How one should learn yoga through paramparā. Paramparā is learning through a lineage. Like how Krishnamacharya learned from Ramamohan Brahmachari, Pattabhi Jois learned from Krishnamacharya. You know it’s a lineage, its not like a cell phone booth you open here (pointing outside). Every street has a cell phone booth. A correct Sādhaka (practitioner), Sādhana (practice) is very important to transmit from a teacher to his students. For a teacher to transmit the knowledge to his students, first he has to learn it for many years. He has to experience it within him[self]. Then only it is possible to transfer the correct method to his students.

Now days you get so many videos on You-tube, it is very difficult to make out which is circus, which is yoga, which is what. All crazy yogas. All different stupid yogas. For everything they join yoga. Nakid Yoga! What is this nonsense? Kookoo yoga. Hot Yoga. What is Hot Yoga? Hoot Yoga, Heat Yoga, Bang Yoga, all these crazy yogas, for everything they join yoga. But it is our duty, being a practitioner of yoga. Some of you are also teaching. It is very important to keep the purity. If we don’t keep the purity within us, in another ten years, fifteen years, yoga will have a different meaning. Yoga is described in many different ways:

Check out more of his words — here.

I always feel a pang when I hear a shala is closing; distance is no matter, so the closing of a Jois studio makes me sad for the students.

My very first Ashtanga class was at Yoga Path in Irvine, California–across from where I worked. I blundered into the Ashtanga class by accident; the Iyengar class was full. I had flirted with yoga off and on for a few years. Suddenly I found myself in a class unlike anything I’d been in before. I was totally lost. I couldn’t do any of it. I didn’t understand the Sanskrit. I was in love.

After that, I went to Ashtanga classes exclusively, and never looked back. A short while later, I bought a special annual membership to save money. It was the most I’d ever spent on such a thing.

The next time I went to class, I found the door locked and the lights off. A sign on the door informed me that Yoga Path was closed, had filed bankruptcy, and suggested I go to 24 Hour Fitness.

I was crushed, and panicked. I had just begun to feel some hope: A way out of constant pain. Even that this practice might offer me a higher study, a philosophy.

A quick search revealed that a YogaWorks close to home offered an “Ashtanga Prep.” So it was that I met Shayna Liebbe, who all by herself, with limited time and resources but unlimited energy, gave me my first sense of what the word “shala” means, and why it’s so important.

I thought I’d take a minute and reflect on what I miss in a shala, or school, for Ashtanga, now that Steve and I are practicing at home.

Number one, I miss the directed study. After my first class, Shayna handed me a little packet of information. It had all the poses (both in diagram and listed in Sanskrit with translations), the opening and closing prayer (and translation), the role of breath, what the bandhas are, whatdrishti does, and so on. I left with homework. Shayna, in other words, was a teacher–she used to make us recite the yamas during navasana and do backbends to the niyamas.

Small, focused workshops, weekend intensives, Sanskrit and diet classes—Ashtanga shalas have these. All supervised by an experienced teacher. One experienced teacher. And connected to the daily practice.

Most of all, I miss Tim. That 100-mile trip sometimes seems more like a million. I wish I were one of those lucky folks who can roll out their rugs in Tim Miller’s Ashtanga Yoga Center every morning, those that use their practice to contribute to Tim’s ongoing research.

Research. I miss growing and learning with an enthusiastic teacher, who knows my practice, and will adjust according to the progress of my learning, or even how things seem that day—the adaptable teacher.

Of course, there’s also the community (Diana Christinsen, whose shala I called home for two years, uses a Buddhist term: sangha). There’s something really comforting about practicing next to someone you see every day, yet have barely spoken to, but still find solace in the shared experience of the practice.

So I hope the Ashtangis that found a home at Jois find a new home soon…the home that is a shala, and its teacher.

Via the Confluence Countdown

I’ve had the chance to go to Jois Yoga in Greenwich a few times for a meeting they put on every month called “Chat and Chai.” We first heard that all the teachers in the Shala were heading out to India in early October. At the last “chat and chai,” Aliyah let the group know that Jois was closing. While there were tears and it may be sad that an ashtanga based yoga shala is closing, this is where we incorporate aparigraha into our lives.

Good luck to Aliyah, Kathy and all the great people at Jois. I was excited to read that Jois’ program will continue @ the University of Virginia. To all the young yogis out there who want to create a life around yoga….Jois Foundation is working on incorporating yoga into education. Whether it be public school yoga classes or university led lectures, with the help of Jois Foundation there will be many ways of bringing yoga to the world.

Most importanly, thanks to our buddy Quinn, for introducing us to Kathy, Aliyah and the great work Jois Foundation is cultivating.

Check out USA Today’s article — here.

Some excerpts:

On how she’s learned to embrace her age and stay in the present: “Modeling, I realize, is how we see beauty, but I try to look at people in my life: my mom, my grandmas. I associate wisdom and grace with age. I’m 44. This is midlife. The way I try to live is: Be here now. Be your best self now.”

On how yoga has taught her to be a better person, parent and philanthropist:“The biggest thing I’ve taken from yoga is: It’s so not about asana (the physical postures). It’s living yoga daily. And I do that every day to the best of my ability. There are always challenges. As a parent, I can get so frustrated. Any parent can! But then my yoga that day is parenting. It’s learning patience. With my advocacy work, too, there are so many obstacles. So the yoga is sticking with it no matter what.”

On integrating the yoga practice and mind-set into every aspect of her life:“I’ve done marathons and given birth and felt stressed out about this or that — and the yoga is there. It’s about the equanimity of any moment, no matter how hard. You find that first on the mat, and then the mat is everywhere. You bring it with you. It sounds esoteric, but to me, it’s actually very practical. People say things like ‘I’m not flexible … I can’t do yoga.’ You know what? Then you won’t be flexible. The power of the mind — yoga teaches you about that. I also love the collective piece of it. Sure, I have a self-practice. But I prefer the sweaty, stinky room.”

We recently blogged about a Q & A from The Atlantic on awareness and attention span in modern society. The interviewee, Linda Stone said makes the point that cultivating a relaxed state of presence leads to what we perceive as “good luck.” Stone points to an experiment:

“A U.K. psychologist ran experiments in which he divided self-described lucky and unlucky people into different groups and had each group execute the same task.   In one experiment, subjects were told to go to a café, order coffee, return and report on their experience.

The self-described lucky person found money on the ground on the way into the café, had a pleasant conversation with the person they sat next to at the counter, and left with a connection and potential business deal.  The self-described unlucky person missed the money – it was left in the same place for all experimental subjects to find, ordered coffee, didn’t speak to a soul, and left the café.  One of these subjects was focused in a more stressed way on the task at hand.  The other was in a state of relaxed presence, executing the assignment.

We all have a capacity for relaxed presence, empathy, and luck.   We stress about being distracted, needing to focus, and needing to disconnect.  What if, instead, we cultivated our capacity for relaxed presence and actually, really connected, to each moment and to each other?”

This state reminds me of what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyidescribes in his book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Csikszentmihalyi defines Flow as a person being fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.

Does mindset determine luck? How do you feel during the state of Flow?

The Top 10 Colleges for Yoga:

10. Ball State University, Muncie, IN: often quoted in Yoga Journal, home to an annual wellness summit that includes Laughter Yoga, and blocks from Lotus Alternative Pain Center. Well played, Muncie.

9. Pratt, Brooklyn, NY: more than just an elective PE credit or fitness program, Pratt sees yoga as part of a holistic approach to healthy learning. Namaste to that.

8. SUNY Purchase: they keep a Kundalini lecturer on staff at this artsy campus, and if you need the counseling center to work on your dosha, they’re down with Ayurveda.

7. Reed College, Portland, OR: situated in a super green, creative nexus with an entire curriculum dedicated to ‘inquiry and self-inquiry,’ with a populist approach to yoga.

6. Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT: in addition to the campus’ attitude of radical acceptance, they offer a course in AcroYoga. For credit. Seriously.

5. Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO: the faculty is in the middle of a study on the benefits of Bikram and the students are winning Yoga Asana Championships. Go Rams!

4. University of New Mexico at Taos: in addition to the Holistic & Healing Arts degree program, UNM-Taos offers accredited yogateacher training on campus.

3. Oberlin College, OH: consistently rated one of the healthiest, most liberal, most veggie-friendly and best colleges for “Birkenstock-wearing hippies.” Case in point: Yoga for Singing?

2. University of Vermont: the word ‘yoga’ appears on nearly 1,700 pages of the UVM website, which sounds about right on a campus with a Mind-Body Wellness Department and local yoga/meditation center directory.

1. University of California at Santa Cruz: 7 faculty mind/body teachers, dozens of weekly classes from meditation hikes to warrior yoga, in a city with possibly the most yoga studios per capita and a sunny, healthy disposition year round. They even claim to be the birthplace of organic farming!

Via YogaDownload

Interesting article on our attention habits, click here for full article

JF: When people talk about attention problems in modern society, they usually mean the distractive potential of smartphones and so on. Is that connected to what you’re talking about in early-childhood development?

LS: We learn by imitation, from the very start. That’s how we’re wired. Andrew Meltzoff and Patricia Kuhl, professors at the University of Washington I-LABS, show videos of babies at 42 minutes old, imitating adults. The adult sticks his tongue out. The baby sticks his tongue out, mirroring the adult’s behavior. Children are also cued by where a parent focuses attention. The child’s gaze follows the mother’s gaze. Not long ago, I had brunch with friends who are doctors, and both of them were on call. They were constantly pulling out their smartphones. The focus of their 1-year-old turned to the smartphone: Mommy’s got it, Daddy’s got it. I want it.

We may think that kids have a natural fascination with phones. Really, children have a fascination with what-ever Mom and Dad find fascinating. If they are fascinated by the flowers coming up in the yard, that’s what the children are going to find fascinating. And if Mom and Dad can’t put down the device with the screen, the child is going to think, That’s where it’s all at, that’s where I need to be! I interviewed kids between the ages of 7 and 12 about this. They said things like “My mom should make eye contact with me when she talks to me” and “I used to watch TV with my dad, but now he has his iPad, and I watch by myself.”

Kids learn empathy in part through eye contact and gaze. If kids are learning empathy through eye contact, and our eye contact is with devices, they will miss out on empathy.

JF: So can people find ways to “disconnect”?

LS: There is an increasingly heated conversation around “disconnecting.” I’m not sure this is a helpful conversation . When we discuss disconnecting, it puts the machines at the center of everything. What if, instead, we put humans at the center of the conversation, and talk about with what or whom we want to connect?

Talking about what we want to connect with gives us a direction and something positive to do. Talking about disconnecting leaves us feeling shamed and stressed. Instead of going toward something, the language is all about going away from something that we feel we don’t adequately control. It’s like a dieter constantly saying to him or herself, “I can’t eat the cookie. I can’t eat the cookie,” instead of saying, “That apple looks delicious.”

Thanks to James Fallows and the Atlantic for this article