Don’t Cling to Equanimity
It is common that a practice becomes like spiritual Tylenol for people seeking solace from a difficult world. It’s true that the practice can work like a sedative, in fact, for years I have used my own yoga as a means to self medicate. Yoga and Spirituality A yoga practice …
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Radical Acceptance
The celebrated narrative of Jesus Christ living and dying on the cross strikes me as more powerful than ever this year. For here was a man who was compassionate and kind, who embodied what we would today call “radical acceptance”. Yet he was condemned by authoritarian figures seeking control and …
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No Comparison
In our minds we divvy up the world into bits and pieces—plus or minus, good or bad, right and wrong. Our small, insecure mind frets, “am I good enough,” or “she is so much better than I.” This can drive any reasonable person crazy and result in grinding mindsets of judgement and competition. …
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Be the Ocean
Sometimes I feel a little queasy. Here in the digital age there is just so much out there, always available at the tip of your finger, a deluge of information providing entertainment– or education– 24/7. From YouTube to Twitter to Teachable to Amazon Prime, possibilities are endless. Today’s access to information is …
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Question Reality
I think the best lesson in yoga that a young person can do today is to call into question what is real. More important than getting into handstand, doing down dog or reciting a mantra. Because now, more than ever, the media landscape is full of contrivance and disinformation. With …
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The Other God
In the course of a daily shuffle it is easy to walk around in a trance. Our small, comfort-loving minds are happy to remain cocooned in the cozy-wozy of the familiar. That is, we all have a bit of Bilbo Baggins in us. We love our private Shire fully furnished …
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Going Against Gravity
Each day when you wake in the morning, devote time to rising up against gravity. Hatha yoga counters its downward drag, the quintessential anti-gravity pose being the cobra, where the spine and head are drawn upward from the horizontal. You are no doubt familiar with these types of instructions in …
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Within You Without You
I was four years old when Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band came out in 1967. I remember being intrigued and somewhat spooked by the wild, cacophonous cover with all the face cutouts hovering above the Beatles in their decked out, dayglo, marching band attire. The carpet of flowers in …
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Love is a Free Fall
These days people say they love everything and anything. “I love my new toothbrush!,” “I love my coffee maker,” “I love this brand of kim-chi,” “I love this ad on t.v.” When love gets objectified, it gets put into a box. When love is made literal, we become identified and …
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Getting Out of Your Own Way
The best thing you can do is to get out of your own way. Simply step aside and, like opening the sluices of a dam, let the current of each day flow through you. Ha! but easier said than done. Truly getting out of your own way could be the …
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