Downward Facing Blog

 
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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Recently one of my students and I got in a conversation about marketing and business and the BBC documentary “Century of the Self” came up. I hadn’t yet seen it, and he was gracious enough to make me a copy, which I’ve been watching with great interest.
I tend to get kind of obsessed (hurrr as […]

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Any yoga adept can quickly recite the first verse of Yoga Sutra without as much of a blink and give an elaborate explanation on its meaning.
The word ‘atha’ is especially meaningful. Literally it is translated as ‘now’ or ‘hereafter’. Personally I am partial to ‘now’. This very word itself speaks command: it summons our immediate […]

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Teaching and practicing yoga in Bangkok has always been interesting when I found words in Thai that are the same or very similar to Sanskrit.
For example, the second yoga sutra: “yoga chitta vritti nirodha-ha”… easy for Thais because they know the words Chitta = jit (”consciousness”) and Nirodh (”not being born/ceasing”)
Some recent inspiration has had […]

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