Beyond Asana Blog

It seems like the perfect week to revisit the significance of the lotus in Eastern spiritual traditions.

In the Indian tradition, the goddesses of yoga are often depicted seated on a lotus throne representing purity, perfection, and the transcendence of worldly life. 

Similarly, the Buddha is also sometimes depicted seated on a lotus flower, symbolizing his state of self-realization.

The way the lotus floats on the water’s surface represents how spiritual teachings and practices help us rise above the fluctuations of the outer world as well as the turbulence of our minds, leading us to a more serene state of being.

The journey that the yogi undertakes is likened to...

May you awaken like the sun at daybreak,
Ready to make your sacred offering.
Set forth with delight, like a pilgrim on his journey.
 
O heroic one, move forward with resolve
To make this sacred offering of yourself to life.
May you plant the banner of victory
In the service of humankind.

- Rg-Veda

 
After living in India for four years, one thing I dearly wanted to hold onto was the idea that everything I do can be approached as an offering. I wanted to remember that, above all else, my deepest wish is to be of service to others.

To keep this intention alive, I placed a small candle on my desk and lit it each day when starting my work.

Over time, I stopped lighting the candle...

What better time than a sweltering July day to consider the paradox of the ice sculptor?

Imagine pouring your heart and soul into creating the most exquisite art you’re capable of, while knowing full well it’s destined to melt away.

It’s not unlike the challenge of living a courageous and wholehearted life. We're invited to give it our all, knowing everything is temporary.

Our practices can help us master both sides of this equation: creating with purpose and dedication, and gracefully letting go of the results.

Through watching the ebb and flow of your breath, the arising and subsiding of sensation and thought, and the progression of each practice, we attune ourselves to...

 
Equanimity cradles the immense sorrow & wonder of life at the same time.

- Sharon Salzberg, Buddhist teacher

Have you seen NASA’s image of Earth as seen from Mars? There’s nothing quite like the view of our planet from space to gain helpful perspective and remind us that we’re all in this together.

Intellectually, we might know that we’re a blip on the cosmic screen. But seeing our world as a tiny speck in the vastness of space evokes a visceral sense of our place in the universe; it’s both awe-inspiring and humbling.

I’ve always associated equanimity – the evenness of mind that characterizes yoga - with spaciousness. When you maintain...

I loved the practice that Dr. Jessica Barudin, Indigenous researcher and founder of the Indigenous Yoga Collective, shared during her recent conversation with Sophie Gregoire Trudeau.

She invited us to do something so simple, yet so profound – to really look at our hands. Not just glance at them, but truly see them. She shared that in her Kwakwakaʼwakw culture, one’s hands are seen as conduits of the heart’s healing energy. She invited us to breathe into our hands as a way of enlivening the flow of our innate healing power. 

In the yoga tradition, hands are one of the five karmendriyas, the organs of action. Your hands are how you reach out to the world, quite...

Although my days of performing 108 Sun Salutations, Surya Namaskar, are behind me, connecting with an inner source of vitality and light through my practices has never felt more crucial.

I vividly recall practicing Surya Namaskar on a vast, open field at dawn more than 20 years ago, during my time living in India. If you’ve done something like this, you know there’s nothing quite like it to align with the primal rhythms of the earth and the forces that sustain life on this planet.

Surya Devata, the Lord of the Sun, is the most ancient deity worshipped in the Vedic tradition that preceded yoga. Through rituals and hymns, the sun was honored as a sacred,...

Do you know why humming is so good for you?

Simple humming, which is related to the yogic practice of Bhramari Pranayama, or Bee-buzzing breath, can positively impact your heart, soothe your nervous system, lower blood pressure, and reduce stress levels.

These benefits stem from the calming effects of activating the parasympathetic nervous system and the release of endorphins in your brain. Just a few minutes of humming a day can improve your health and overall mood.  

But the benefits of humming go beyond these physiological effects. There’s a deeper, more profound significance to it.

Seismologists have discovered that the Earth itself emits low-frequency sound waves that...

Life, like the natural flow of the breath, moves in a continuous cycle of giving and receiving - the fundamental energy exchange that underlies every process in the physical world.

The Vedic culture that preceded yoga recognized the delicate balance of reciprocity inherent in the web of life, and honored it through hymns, sacrificial fires, and other rituals. These aimed to foster harmony with the natural world and place human beings in right relationship with the earth.

As yogic practices emerged, these outer rituals became interiorized. Recognizing that all the cosmic and elemental forces exist within the human being in microcosmic form, yoga sought to unify the individual with the...

When Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh was asked by his students what the most important thing we can do for the healing of our world is, he replied, “The most important thing we can do for the healing of our world is to hear, within ourselves, the sound of the earth crying.”

This sentiment resonates with the many enthusiastic responses I received to last week’s postabout thinking like a lilac. It affirms that the unity awareness we foster in yoga isn’t just an esoteric concept removed from daily life.

Rather, seeing ourselves as part of the living body of the earth is a natural evolution of our awareness that strengthens and deepens over time.

This shift - from individual...

Last weekend, I attended a Work That Reconnects retreat where we participated in a practice called The Council of All Beings.

In this ritual, people set aside their human identity and imagine what it’s like to be another life form. Speaking on behalf of that entity, they share what life is like for them, and the gifts they can offer us humans.

It was astounding how much wisdom and insight emerged from invoking our moral imagination and tapping into our capacity to empathize with the more-than-human world.

The power of the practice clearly impacted me, because upon returning home and seeing the lilacs blooming in my yard, I began to wonder: What would they say if they could speak? What...