Downward Facing Blog

 
The other morning around 6AM I got a call from my brother Ian telling me that my Dad had an accident in the Taiwan airport- he fell suddenly on a set of stairs, cut his head , arm, and shoulder on the sharp edge of the stairs. He was knocked unconscious and couldn’t remember anything.  […]

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Hello again, sorry for the long absence… was in Europe teaching yoga for a month! I think I forgot how to write in the absence
In case you’re around, I am doing a meditation on Sundays at 1PM, material I have not taught previously.Since the Sunday afternoon mantra meditations are only thirty minutes, and […]

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(Saraswati as the principle of divine sound and speech)
You chant mantras all day long, so why not make it useful?
First the basics:
Mantra comes from two words: man and tra. Man stems from the word for lower mind: manas. Tra means to protect. So a mantra is a “mind protector”.
The mind has a kind […]

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When you chant OM with the right understanding, it becomes a powerful yoga practice in it’s own right.
Chanting OM has it’s own effect, and can be a powerful meditation. While it is a general mantra that does not require initiation, it is useful to know WHY we chant OM when beginning the practice of […]

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Get high on your own supply
(or, how to free yourself from the usual mental rut)
Since I blogged a bit about pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, and dhyana, I think it’s time to touch on what samadhi is. I’ll have to divide this post into two or three I can imagine, since it’s a subject that takes […]

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How and where meditation fits inside of the eight limbs of yoga practice
Meditation builds upon the preceding 6 limbs of yoga as a simple, natural state of mind.
 

Adherence to social disciplines (yama)
Following personal discipline (niyama)
Yoga posture (asana)
Yogic breathing (pranayama)
Pulling the mind inwards (pratyahara)
Concentration […]

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How my dog friend taught me to be a better yogi
Without concentration there is no meditation. Without the ability to concentrate yoga simply won’t happen. That doesn’t make concentration some special skill however. Nor is it sacred.
My favorite teacher of concentration is my friend Todd’s dog named Buster. Buster is totally obsessed with food, to […]

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This little blog post may make a huge difference in your yoga practice
(the five levels of the spectrum of prana and why you should know about it)
 
The ancient hatha yoga texts teach that the breath should be made to travel UP the spine as you inhale and DOWN the spine as you […]

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I’m getting less dogmatic (I think) about what yoga is or needs to be. As I understand it, yoga is a state in which we access the unlimited field of potential, and perhaps, for a brief moment or longer we merge with it taking back just a bit of light to use in the objective […]

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