Tag: Yoga Nidra
Planting the Seed of Intention I believe intentions are powerful. Salkalpa is the Sanskrit word for our intention and is likened to planting a seed. Setting intentions has everything to do with what we feel we are worthy of in this world, and then having the courage to ask for what we want. Yoga is […]
Unfortunately, hard financial times often makes us feel like we need to circle the wagons, draw in our resources, and look out for our own interests. The scarcity of financial means sometimes leads to scarcity of good will toward each other. But even with tough times financially, there are perhaps more resources than you can […]
Where’s the Off Button?! In Walt Disney’s Fantasia, there’s a Mickey Mouse cartoon called the Sorcerer’s Apprentice. In this cartoon, the Sorcerer is going out for the night, probably to play D&D with his pals, and decides to put his apprentice, Mickey, in charge of cleaning up the joint. Mikey’s not too happy about this […]
I’ve been blessed to have many wonderful teachers in my life. One of my most influential teachers is Judith Lasater. She is a well-respected senior teacher living in the United States, a close student of yoga great B.K.S. Iyengar, and basically invented the concept of Restore Yoga. She was a founder for The California Yoga […]
This year has been rich and often difficult. We have all experienced the pain of the death of many things as well as the birthing pains of what’s coming next. It’s also true some of the pain we’ve been feeling is the birthing pains of a new age, one that is characterized by greater personal […]
Much of the pain that we are experiencing in the world right is the result of things dying, things like institutionalized racism, bigotry, sexism, and general lack for the environment. Like the immortal “crooning” words of Bob Dylan, “the times, they are a changin’.” It’s important to remember also that much of the pain of […]
The pain we’ve been feeling this year is both a combination of things dying and other things which are being born. With awareness, we can discern the difference and find a healthy pathway forward into a new life. This has been very challenging. It’s been Covid-19 with more than a million deaths around the globe. […]
Yoga Nidra is the yoga of sleep: its goal is samadhi, experiencing yourself as Oneness and achieves this through a method of entering the Nidra mind state, the hypnagogic, in-between state, of waking and dreaming, through systematized relaxation and layered Awareness. Yoga Nidra is the meditative process of learning to identify yourself as Awareness itself. […]
There are many ways to be in the world. It takes an open heart, a keen ear, and a discerning eye to feel into those way that one belongs in the world. I’m both a jazz musician as well as a career yoga, Yoga Nidra, and meditation teacher. I feel as if these pursuits chose […]
Did you know that when we say the word “yoga” it means two different things entirely? The experience of yoga is different than the practice of yoga. Knowing how one works with the other helps our journey in both. The experience of yoga and the practice of yoga are different things and both are different […]
The Spirit Playing Dress Up Ever since I began to practice yoga I’ve been asking this essential question: so what? What is yoga and why is it beneficial. I asked myself “Is it a health promoting regimen, is it meditation in motion, is it a physical ritual on my way to spiritual understanding? It could […]
The Samkhya school of classical yoga philosophy describes the universe and all its qualities using three main humors, called gunas. These are Rajas, Tamas, Sattva. Everything in the Universe from seasons to personalities demonstrates some combination of these gunas. Understanding the ancient but basic principle of the gunas can help you live a life that […]
On Busyness Are you busy? I’m busy. It seems like we’re all busy. And when your schedule is busy your mind is busy processing and planning and negotiating it all to make sure it gets done. And that is precisely the trapping of busyness: you get so harried, so scattered, that you can’t really focus […]
Self Witnessing In yoga, and Yoga Nidra we practice self-witnessing as we breathe, move through poses, and meditate. Without this self-witness you can’t see you. No amount of others seeing or perceiving you will supplement for a lack of knowing yourself. It’s the paradox of rock stars feeling so lonely. Like a friend told me […]
My teacher once said, “When you understand something all the way down to its root, you understand everything else.” This is one of those time-lapsed lessons, like a photo of the night sky, taken over several hours that shows you in one shot what actually takes a long time to occur. Enlightenment of […]
