Downward Facing Blog

Exploring the connection between Thelema and Yoga
As long as I can remember I’ve been obsessed with religion, occult and mysticism. I’ve hung out with Hare Krishnas, Satanists, Christians, Occultists, and all manner of freaks with varying convictions. Before yoga totally had my full attention, my mystical exploration centered a great deal on the teachings of […]

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Bring the mind home to yourself with the simple, yet often overlooked process of Pratyahara
The fifth aspect of the eight-fold path of yoga, Pratyahara is considered by many great teachers to be the most important of them all. Pratyahara is the yogic technique to stop the outgoing movement of mind and bring it home, […]

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The male’s dark blue body represents “purusha” -the still witness consciousness.
The feminine is “prakriti” - the ever moving, changing material world. The difference between them, spirit and matter creates an attractive polarity which remain in constant “sexual” embrace.
Notice it yourself, you have the aspect of you which is “looking” and then you have what is […]

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The word yoga itself implies relationship, and the two becoming one. You begin with you and and your lover, or your body and mind, or ultimately your sense of individuality merging into cosmic unity. You strive for yoga- union, which you experience as wonderful and sublime.
That sounds like love, doesn’t it?
When people ask me about my own practice […]

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With reverence to the downward flow of energy in the body and the role it plays in health, we come to the standard yoga stance;
“Praise to the upward flow of Udana Vayu!”
What this means is, lifting up of your body and mentality on an energetic, directional level; both inside the body and inside your life.
Two […]

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To recap; the breath is the energetic link between the body and the mind. The inner breath flows where we put our concentration to, and generally in yoga there is a focus to draw the inner breath upwards towards the crown of the head. To help draw the energy upwards, the pelvic floor is contracted, and […]

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To recap; the breath is the energetic link between the body and the mind. The inner breath flows where we put our concentration to, and generally in yoga there is a focus to draw the inner breath upwards towards the crown of the head. To help draw the energy upwards, the pelvic floor is contracted, and […]

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I can explore the breath endlessly. The more I practice, the more I realize that the practice of yoga for me is contained in the exploration of the dynamics of breathing.
To understand why pranayama is so important, an understanding of the sheaths of your body is useful. First is the physical body, then the breath […]

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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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Yoga is a goal and a practice. Maybe our practice takes us to the goal, maybe it doesn’t. Like I’ve written on before, the more we immerse ourselves in altered states consciously; the greater the level of positive detachment, and the higher our creativity.
However, Yoga is a high level practice aimed at Self-realization and the […]

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