8.14: Whenever you meet someone, ask yourself first this immediate question: "What beliefs does this person hold about the good and the bad in life?" Because if he believes this or that about pleasure and pain and their constituents, about fame and obscurity, death and life, then I shall not find it surprising or strange [...]
Author: hannahmaria
Stand like a mountain
Mountain pose, tadasana, teaches you how to stand firm and tall. But the posture rarely gets the attention it deserves, both in and out of class. Image credit: BKS Iyengar Yoga - The Path to Holistic Health Tadasana commands awareness and attention towards the body in time and space as you experience it off the [...]
Vinyasa Krama
This is the name of the Yoga I have been taught to teach, so it’s the name of my classes. Someone asked me what it means. I am tempted to explore the Sanskrit etymology because it’s really quite fascinating, but I’ll keep it reasonably short and to the context. Here, Vinyasa means to place in [...]
Resistance to change
In Yoga philosophy, there are five types of suffering, referred to as the 'kleshas'. The kleshas can be thought of as afflictions, negative mental states, or obstacles to enlightenment. When we overcome the kleshas, we overcome our mental suffering and experience Yoga. Here I want to talk about just one of the kleshas, the final [...]
Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.
A farmer and his son owned a beloved stallion who helped the family earn a living. One day, their horse ran away and their neighbours exclaimed, “Your horse ran away, what terrible luck!” The farmer replied, “Maybe so, maybe not. We’ll see.” The next day the horses returned, with more wild horses. The neighbours exclaimed, [...]
Sukha Pranayama
Sukha pranayama is one of the simplest yogic breathing techniques you can practice, as its Sanskrit translation implies: Sukha means 'ease' and pranayama is 'breathing technique'. I have come to think of it as an ‘entry level’ pranayama practice suitable for beginners since you work with an even number of natural-length breath counts as opposed [...]
The directing mind
9. 15: Mere things stand isolated outside our doors, with no knowledge or report of themselves. What then reports on them? Our directing mind. This is the third in a series of blog posts attempting to thematically extract from the 12 books of the ‘Meditations’, the personal and philosophical diary written by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor [...]
Yoga in London, a studio guide
Dubbed the Yoga capital of the West, London is home to a growing number of Yoga centres and purpose-built studios. Those with a regular practice usually follow a specific teacher, regardless of where they teach, but for those just starting out choosing a studio can feel overwhelming. To help navigate what's on offer, I put [...]
