Beyond Asana Blog

Oh, our dear minds.

The mind is sometimes likened to a butterfly that flits around from flower to flower, never quite landing on a place to rest.

Until we give it one, that is.

Consider how your practice offers your mind a place to settle for a while.

Whether it’s the breath or the body,

A sensation, movement, or action,

An uplifting thought, a sacred sound, or presence itself.

Yoga gives the mind a chance to slow down and take a break from what is otherwise an incessant stream of usual activity.

What we do in yoga, of course, gives us tools to be kind to our minds throughout the rest of our day.

The breath is always there.

The body and its sensations are always there.

There’s ...

This year marks 29 years of yoga practice for me. My practice has taken on many different forms and phases over this time. I’ve experienced seasons of rich expansion and weathered plenty of dry seasons too.

There have been times when I’ve had the luxury of practicing 2 hours a day, 6 days a week. And other times when I considered paying attention to my breath as I did the dishes my “practice” for the day.

But one thing I can say is that I’ve continued. Despite all the times I’ve been distracted, disconnected, unavailable, or simply uninterested, I’m still here. 

This is why I know that yoga will always be there for me in some form. The past 29 years have taught me that I can count on m...

The Bhagavad Gita, arguably the most influential text of the Hindu tradition, starts with a yogi in crisis:
 
After becoming thoroughly disheartened with the world he lives in, Arjuna (the yogi) feels demoralized, disheartened, and deeply depressed. In his desperation, he turns to his guide and mentor, Krishna, and asks for help,
 
My mind is utterly confused. Tell me where my duty lies, which path I should take. I am your pupil; I beg you for your instruction. 2.7
 
This verse is a beautiful expression of a seeker’s yearning. What follows is Krishna's response that forms the exquisite and timeless teachings of the Gita. 
 
Like many, Arjuna turns to the spiritual path as a response to pa...

Try to fathom the huge range of experiences of this pandemic:

Some of us are feeling bored and isolated at home.

Some of us are busier than ever.

Some of us feel like we’ve been given the gifts of time and space.

Some of us are struggling to put food on the table.

Some of us are putting our lives and the lives of our families on the line every day simply by doing our jobs.

It’s all true. And we can learn to hold all of it.

A reflective yoga practice starts where you are, but it doesn’t end there.

It’s about getting bigger. It's about going beyond yourself to hold the full spectrum of our collective experiences with sensitivity and compassion.

A double rainbow can be a harbinger of hope, a symbol of transformation, and a sign of good luck. Or it can simply be a cool phenomenon where the light is reflected twice in the raindrops so you see two different reflections, coming from different angles.

The point is that meaning is where you make it. And the meaning we assign to events goes a long way toward determining our experience.

One thing we know about what makes some people more resilient than others is that the ability to find meaning in adversity partly determines how we fare following that adversity. 

Those who were able to find meaning in life despite the atrocities of the Holocaust, for instance, ended up being much more...

Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love. Rumi

As we close the page on this incredibly tough year, it’s understandable if mostly you just want it to be over.
 
But before you put 2020 in the dumpster and set it on fire, I bet there’s gold to be mined in the form of understandings and lessons learned.

Amidst all the challenge of the past year, many of you have shared with me the invaluable insights of this time:
 

• It’s become crystal clear what brings meaning to your life.

• You are stronger and more resilient than you might think.

• There are some things that don’t change, even when everything around you is changing.
   
• You don’t have fo
...

Thank you for welcoming me into your practice, for your trust, and for the honour of accompanying you on your journey in some way.  The opportunity to support dedicated practitioners like you is a privilege I don't take lightly. 

Thank you for all the ways you stepped up to meet the challenges of this year. Thank you for all the ways you cared for yourself and others. Thank you for bringing more goodness and light into the world.

This holiday season, I wish you moments of peace, tenderness, levity, and continued appreciation for the blessings in your life.

Being from a Jewish family, we never had an advent calendar growing up, but I just love the idea of opening up a different little window to find a new surprise each day.

This morning, I woke up with this exact feeling.

Isn't it true? We open our eyes every morning not knowing exactly what the day will bring.

Today, like most days, I pretty much know my schedule, my appointments, my to-do list. But here's what came to me as I thought about the advent calendar:

What if you approached every day as a mystery waiting to be explored?

What if you entered into each experience, every conversation, every task without expectation, as a new adventure, not quite sure of what was in store for you?...

Insight: The power of seeing into a situation; apprehending the inner nature of things.
 
Sounds like a worthwhile skill to build, don’t you think?

Insight takes us beneath the surface of a situation, conversation, or quandary. It allows us to penetrate deeper and become sensitive to nuances, motivation, and energy. In doing so, it brings the discrimination and clarity needed to shift our limiting reactions, habits, thoughts, and feelings.
 
I experienced this just today. Someone came to me with a choice that felt unfair. My habitual reaction would have been to look for someone to blame. And I did go to that place of blaming (internally) for a while. Then I paused. I withdrew from my hab...

I first became acquainted with Jim Dine's hearts as a freshman in university. I bought a print of this one, "The Heart, South of Naples," from the shop at the Hirschorn Gallery in Washington, D.C. 

Even back then, years before I knew anything about yoga, I was drawn to the energy and passion it conveyed, the tremendous activity taking place yet contained, as if life itself were being held in the heart.

All these years later, I still love to imagine the fullness of my life experience being held within a larger perspective. I envision the whole of my lived reality - all the ups and downs, ins and outs, upheavals, hopes, dreams, hurts, disappointments - as unfolding within in the ...